Black Leadership Imperiled

In the history of America, there has been no time, no season in which Black leaders have been exempt from danger. It’s impossible to recall any Black prominent leader who in their lifetime was spared physical attack, verbal abuse, character assassination or being impugned by the press and the mainstream media.

The latter condition seems to be the current mode of limiting the impact and influence of Black leaders, and this is particularly true for those elected officials in high places.  One would have to be recently out of a cave not to see that a Black man in the White House fuels this growing discontent. And to witness the extent to which he has been mercilessly assailed by right wing pundits, conservative thinkers and talk show hosts, and Tea Party fanatics suggests something more than political or ideological differences.

No one in this racist culture should be surprised by the epithets hurled and spit spewed at Congressmen John Lewis and Emanuel Cleaver during an incident a few months ago as they entered the Capitol Building. Nor should we be astonished that at the moment Representatives Charles Rangel and Maxine Waters have been charged by the House ethics committee with a number of violations and slated to be tried.

Neither Rangel nor Waters are without their imperfections, but that they have been singled out among hundreds of representatives, given the meager number of African-Americans in Congress, is a stunning disproportional statistic and the matter becomes all the more amazing when you consider that more than half of the two dozen or so members of the House recently under serious investigation by the ethics committee were black.

In Rangel’s case—and it may be true for others—the genesis of the investigation in his alleged wrongdoing was triggered by the National Legal and Policy Center. With partial funding from Richard Scaife, a billionaire publisher and a Mellon heir, the right wing NLPC relentlessly pursued Rangel, including trips out of the country where they hoped to dig up enough dirt to pass on to the media, which they did to the New York Post. The Post used the information to launch a series of articles in the same way the New York Daily News did several years ago during its hounding of Rangel and the late Percy Sutton and the Apollo Theater Foundation.

Governor David Paterson has also been targeted by the media, particularly by the New York Times that assigned a team of reporters to investigate his involvement in the affairs of a trusted aide charged with domestic violence. Despite the overzealous pursuit of the Times to “bring the governor down,” a judge cleared him of all criminal charges.

And New York City council members are not immune to attacks from the press. Last week, the New York Times featured a front page story on the Greater Harlem Chamber of Commerce’s development arm, implicating some baseless irregularities and shady dealings between Councilwoman Inez Dickens and the Chamber. What is most astounding is that the paper chose to put a local story on the front page above the fold where ordinarily national and international articles are placed.   

It seems the more blacks acquire positions of power where they can exercise both political and economic clout—whether at home or abroad—they are soon in the crosshairs of the media, wing nuts on the right, and other organizations who feel threatened, believing their own sense of well-being and authority will be diminished.

A recent editorial in the Amsterdam News succinctly captures the essence of our concern here: “For the entire history of Blacks in politics, we have been under greater scrutiny than our white counterparts. And few in the media have questioned the process or the motives of those managing the process. So it is no surprise that our folks are quickly and unceremoniously convicted in the court of public opinion rather than a court of law.”

Black elected officials and other leaders should understand that much of the mainstream media—and especially those that provide forums for such toxic hosts as Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, Glenn Beck and Laura Ingraham—is not their friends or allies. The end result of their accusations and allegations, in our so-called system of justice, is tantamount to conviction.  

What is happening to Rangel, Waters, Paterson, and even Dickens are cautionary tales and African-Americans in high places cannot for a moment believe their sensitivities, the conventional measures taken for their constituents will go unnoticed.  

Black politicians cannot do what white politicians do, and, for the most part, they shouldn’t even want to.