PHOTOS: Pre-Grammy Gala Becomes Whitney Memorial
Simon Cowell: Whitney Would've Been The Ultimate 'X Factor'…
This is an excerpt from the book,"Black American Money: How Black People can Thrive in a Capitalist Society", set for release on July 15, 2009.
"Most Black scholars have tremendous talent. But the saddest part of it all is that we have been duped into thinking that by sitting at some ivy league institution writing research papers that no one ever reads, we are actually doing something worthwhile. Being a Black academic at a predominantly White, research-based university is like being an expert chef who is cooking for the wealthy family down the street while your mother is at home starving to death.
Our community needs our expertise, but like Black basketball and football players, there is a tremendous brain drain from the Black community which draws our most talented resources to places that have no impact on those who got us here. Black scholars at majority universities who work to reconnect with their communities in a meaningful way are deemed "unscholarly" and promptly fired from their jobs once they go up for tenure (Syracuse University tried to do that to me, but fortunately, other Black public intellectuals prepared me well for the backlash against my work). While scholars might think that we are intellectually superior to Black athletes (who are equally disconnected from their communities once they get to college) the truth is that we are all in the same boat.
This fear and apprehension of Black scholars is rooted in the same fear which paralyzes the rest of the Black community: the fear of losing our financial security. We become petrified of losing our high paying jobs at allegedly prestigious universities, which therefore leads us to the pits of social castration. We live and die and no one ever knows we were here. Rather than banding together to do something meaningful, we hide in our offices and attack one another."
Dr. Boyce Watkins is a Finance Professor at Syracuse University. This was an excerpt from the forthcoming book, "Black American Money" to be released on July 15, 2009. To get more information, please visit www.BoyceWatkins.com. To have Dr. Boyce commentary delivered directly to your mailbox, please click here.
The New Black Leadership
Barack Obama
Barack Obama is the first African-American president of the United States. His charm and charisma have been well received around the world, making him an "icon" for change in America.
Getty Images
Oprah Winfrey
Oprah: the name is as powerful as her brand and image. The media mogul has made it her mission to inspire millions of people to be who they aspire to be through her television show, movies, magazine, and a radio show. She even reached out to help educate struggling kids in Africa by opening her girls-only boarding school, but even that wasn't enough for her. Next year, she'll launch her own network, leaving no doubt that Oprah is a leader in every sense of the word.
George Burns, AP
Jesse Jackson
Arguably the most well-known black leader, Jesse Jackson has been on the front lines for black people since witnessing the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr. However, the reputation of this former presidential candidate has been tarnished with time and by the discovery of his marital infidelity, which produced a love child. Then, there are his controversial comments: the one about Jews that killed his White House bid, and recent ones about presidential hopeful Barack Obama. Is the leader of the so-called "old guard" still relevant in the black community? Only time will tell.
Lefteris Pitarakis, AP
Condoleezza Rice
Rice, a former professor at Stanford University, is the first black woman to serve as Secretary of State in the United States. She's also just the second black American to hold the post. Prior to this, she served as George W. Bush's National Security Adviser. Her political acumen isn't the only thing that distinguishes her leadership. Rice is also a classical pianist who can speak five languages fluently. Still, many black commentators have concern about Rice's stances on the war, handling of Hurricane Katrina and statements on various issues. But nonetheless, Rice is truly a remarkable woman that deserves recognition as a leader and pioneer. But will her next job give any attention to the needs of the black community?
Haraz N. Ghanbari, AP
Deval Patrick
On Nov. 7, 2006, Patrick was elected as the first African American governor of Massachusetts, and the third black governor in United States history. More recently, he signed a landmark bill that allows gay non-residents of Massachusetts to tie the knot in the state, circumventing bans in their own states.
AP
Dorothy Height
A civil rights activist, Dr. Dorothy Height has spent a lifetime fighting for equal rights for African Americans and women of all races. Chair of the National Council of Negro Women, she recently received the Congressional Medal of Honor, a testament to her reputation and leadership skills. At 96, she's still going strong as the chair of the Executive Committee of the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights. She is a tireless leader who will keep fighting injustice until her last breath.
PAUL J. RICHARDS
Corey Booker
The current mayor of Newark, N.J., has been a dynamic force in the resurrection of one of the Garden State's largest and most-beleaguered cities. Booker has taken a hard line on crime in the city. In 2008 Newark has had 37 murders so far; that's on track for a dramatic low for the city which had 105 murders in 2006. Additionally, he was at the forefront of a new arena being built downtown along with a city renovation. He took over for Sharpe James who was at the city's helm for 20 years, but was recently convicted of federal corruption charges.
Chris McGrath, Getty Images
Cynthia McKinney
The former U.S. congresswoman from Georgia has become the new face of the Green Party within the last year, as the party's nominee for president. Unfortunately, her leadership in recent months has been overshadowed by Sen. Barack Obama's presidential run. In Congress, McKinney was recognized for pressuring lawmakers to release records relating to the killing of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and Tupac Shakur, as well as for her Hurricane Katrina activism.
W.A. Harewood, AP
Benjamin Jealous
Who is Benjamin Jealous? If you don't know now, you soon will. At 35 he is the youngest ever national leader of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. His challenge? Bringing the civil rights organization back to the forefront and making it relevant to younger generations. Perhaps Jealous will give the organization an infusion of youthful energy.
Earl Gibson III, AP
Faye Wattleton
As the youngest ever president of Planned Parenthood, Wattleton became a leader in family planning and reproductive health. She has also been at the front of the pro-choice movement. As if that wasn't enough, Wattleton is now taking her inspirational message to all women as the president of the Center for the Advancement of Women.
Scott Wintrow, Getty Images
Comments: (3)
Add a comment
By: aamilah9 on 6/08/2009 9:50PM
I think this is a case of "live by the sword, die by the sword". If Black scholars find success in institutional systems (in this case, academia)that are deliberately exclusionary and racist, how can they expect the support of those institutions when they attempt to empower the very people those institutions exclude and discriminate against?
I speak as a teacher - education in this country does not seek to create empowerment. Empowerment leads to social progress, and social progress threatens the very existence of institutions. If institutions truly served the masses, there would be no concentration of power in the first place. There would be no real social or political distinction of power between a scholar and a drop-out. That's the last thing Ivy League universities in this country would want. Institutions need power differentials to survive.
But the problem here is not that scholars' jobs are threatened. The problem is that "the talented tenth" want to have their cake and eat it too. You cannot have the fringe (financial) benefits of success in the dominant socioeconomic strata, and still maintain your street cred, which in the paradigm of academia means that you give back to the community that by necessity you had to disconnect from in order to achieve your success. Is there an upper class Black version of white guilt?
The problem is that Black people are still stuck in the institutional dependency created in the Willie Lynch era. We still need the support of "legitimate" institutions to validate us. Why can't we find financial and spritual success in the creation of our own institutions? Who says that Black scholars have to be socially castrated? By whom are they being castrated? In 2009, why should it still matter what a white college administrator thinks? Who says our community needs experts trained by "predominantly white, researched-based institutions"? We have plenty of experts trained by real life in this country! We survived 500 years of slavery and still make America talk how we talk and walk how we walk! What help do we need from a Harvard textbook? We do not need this deficit-based approach to social intervention. Black people are not lacking in potential or aptitude. White institutions told us that we were not smart enough, not capable enough, not good enough. And we believed them. And sadly, we still see ourselves needing their support to take care of our own people.
If Black scholars want to serve the community, they have to be a part of the community. Spiritually and physically. No one is saying that the scholars and other members of the "talented tenth" need to live in the 'hood to be productive. And I certainly don't advocate poverty as a lifestyle choice. But when our elite begin to get used to those 6 and 7 figure paychecks, and pack up and move out of our communities, they achieve the very opposite of what they claim to want. What meaningful connections do they hope to sustain when they abandon their communities and choose to become part of the power structures that have disenfranchised and oppressed those communities?
Lastly, how very naive neo-intellectuals are to believe that university credentials actually give them power. The extent of their power ends with the final pages of their last best-seller. I will make a bold statement here: Black scholars will never be able to empower people in a White institutional system, because they were really only pawns in the first place.
The question is, do Black scholars choose to be pawns in someone else's game, or do they sacrifice some their own pieces of the pie to be kings and queens in our own game?
Reply to this Comment | Report This
By: Kwame on 6/08/2009 10:36PM
Looking forward to reading more - we are on the verge of something big, this could be teh very thing to kick it off.
Reply to this Comment | Report This
By: blackwellethel on 6/12/2009 10:21AM
i hate it when black woman are always put as a bases black person not wanting to get ahead as i see it the more we work the lesser we get paid and we work our butts off but still don;t get the hour to make it.most of us have pride in ourself' work hard do the job right'we don't make enough money from one paycheck to the other to make it but we make too much to get help!by the way that goes for some white woman to.everyone not lazy
Reply to this Comment | Report This