The African drummers play music after the lighting of boathouse row in honor of the Kwanzaa holiday, Dec. 26, 2018, in Philadelphia. (Steven M. Falk/The Philadelphia Inquirer via AP, File)
By George Burrell
Some thoughts as 2024 draws to a close:
Holiday aspiration
My prayer for Christmas and Kwanzaa: Black power unapologetically focused on Black people and paving pathways for children, grandchildren, and future generations with the understanding that constitutionally funding public education, putting top-tier teachers, Black, brown and white, in every classroom, positioning our children to realize their God-given potential, is the KEY to reducing poverty, harnessing crime and hopelessness, and creating Black level playing field access to the middle class, wealth and the American Dream. Imagine the smile on Connie Clayton’s face in Heaven when her life’s work is realized and Gussie Clark’s when Philly actually becomes the City of Brotherly Love and Sisterly Effectiveness. I believe our mayor, council president, and Black council majority have been put in office for a time like this. I think about the challenges they must overcome and pray for them daily. AMEN!
Friendship — West Baptist Church’s Rev. Frederick Haynes
In a recent sermon, “I’m Here For It,” Rev. Haynes calls for Black activism. He reminds us Black equity is neither a gift nor guaranteed and that doing the impossible is Black DNA when exercised with unselfish intent. To not be “circumstanced” requires work and faith. The Bible instructs, “By works man is justified, not by faith only; faith without works is dead; and by works was faith made perfect!” Blacks are not short on faith, but comfort zones — occupied as insiders in white America — have dampened appetites for aggressive leadership with a Black-specific agenda. Incremental progress and patience are accepted as constructive outcomes, despite contributing to Philadelphia remaining America’s poorest big city.
Rev. Haynes challenges his congregation and Black churches to get off pews and engage. What would Martin and Malcolm do if Walmart and Target shut down DEI before Christmas? Blacks who are blessed must do for the poor what they can’t do for themselves. Blacks are called to be heroes and walk in dignity, not shame. Who is organizing young Blacks to be radical activists, partnering with older generations? Rev. Haynes makes clear more is required than speaking truth to power. White folks are not listening.
A quiet storm
Donald Trump is a clear and present danger, determined to turn Black sinking sand into quicksand. As he sets the table, poll numbers are improving; Republicans are intimidated, and white America is in sync with his “anti-WOKE” agenda. Black pain will be immediate. Education funding will shrink. Corporations will continue shutting down DEI. Black CEO, C-Suite, white- and blue-collar jobs will decline. HBCUs will lose federal funding. Black healthcare, housing, and minimum wage pursuits will be deferred. White supremacy will be an available white asset, and where Black progress should accelerate, it will be reversed.
Without transformative Black leader intervention, countess Blacks, including children, grandchildren, and unborn generations, will wind up in Smokey’s quiet storm, blowing in the wind. For the foreseeable future, Black gut punches will be the norm, not the exception. This is the intersection where our heroes did their most memorable, courageous and historic work.
Get Ready: Play More Than Defense
Trump believes he has unbridled authority to disrespect Black America. January 20 will release Trump on steroids with an anti-Black Black Friday, Small Business Saturday and Cyber Monday mentality, pursued with Alabama pep rally passion. Prayerfully, Black Trump supporters will realize they are MAGA targets, not allies, and come home. Treat them like wounded veterans, not deserters. Failing to partner with them and progressives is a mistake.
Black business owners and professionals need to preserve white business, professional and union relationships, including bankers. Your world is changing, but so is theirs, and screwing Blacks could be their chosen path of least resistance. The African American Chamber and Black CEOs should convene the Chamber and CEOs to confirm inclusive growth remains a priority and collectively sign an action plan. Blacks are at win or go home, so there’s no time for good faith. City government should work with the law department and outside council to create a game plan in the changing environment and assemble a rapid response team. As Rev. Haynes preached, we cannot allow ourselves to be circumstanced.
Black Voter Frustration
Declining Black turnout over multiple elections is a problem. Non-voters can be criticized as disrespecting Black history, but they are frustrated and refuse to be taken for granted by democrats, who have promised — but failed — to change their lives. Bill Clinton in a 2015 speech, applauding New Orleans Katrina recovery, legitimized their frustration.
“What your very best efforts did should make you burst with pride, but it should not stop you from erasing the last manifestations of the color line, economic indifferences or healthcare differences,” he said.
Philadelphia 2024 mirrors New Orleans 2015. Even if voters are wrong, Black leaders are responsible for solutions. Continue to ignore and dropouts plus gentrification will change the complexion of Philadelphia political leadership.
Step Out of Comfort Zones
Philadelphia has great public and private sector leaders, leadership and media organizations. Why are we the poorest big city in America? In part, because leadership organizations with the infrastructure to be transformative have trended to becoming service providers, dependent on corporate citizenship and philanthropic funding. Black elected officials, more often than not, work in environments controlled by white votes, making transformative outcomes difficult. Black clergy, unions, public housing and community activists have become more focused on ministries and siloed programs, operating within their sphere of control. Black media has become more analytical and fact providers than critics and aggressive advocates. Black wealth that does exist has to a large extent parked on the sidelines.
That an extraordinary number of Black families, children and businesses are helped, saved and transformed by Black leaders, leadership organizations, businesses and individuals is unquestioned. That work must be sustained, but Black demographics demand new thinking and new sustained leadership behavior. Black response to “Being White in Philly,” less than a year; the Union League and Ron DeSantis, less than a month; Philadelphia Chamber Recharge & Recovery member pledges, committed to accelerating Black inclusion, no reported outcomes; and private sector leaders convened to craft a Black-specific agenda, faded into oblivion.
On January 20, when Trump, the most powerful man in the world, positioned to behave with racial indifference, pulls the rug from under Black folks, the question should not be how he did it, but why we let him, knowing he was coming for us. If there is going to be a transformed Black Philadelphia, Black leaders — friend and foe — and multiple generations must convene and act with a sense of urgency. The path forward is uncharted, but we must step out of comfort zones and into Rev. Haynes’ Black DNA and mission impossible.
The Community Stakeholders, chaired by Sam Staten and Ryan Boyer, working with Black Clergy, the Black Women’s Leadership Council, WURD and Tribune could be the conveners of Black leaders who organize and develop real time responses to Black inequities and Donald Trump. Black leaders need to know who Governor Shapiro will partner with in Black Philadelphia to confront the Trump threat. Is the Chamber, corporate Philly, colleges and universities, etc. on our side, or protecting themselves through escape hatches? Conversations must be held with Black business owners and professionals about financing the struggle. Black athletes and entertainers, who could be financial game changers, should be engaged.
Saturday Morning Group and the Philadelphia Equity Alliance.
Saturday Morning Group and Philadelphia Equity Alliance meetings are a challenge for me as a Black man. Watching and helping the most transformative work prioritizing Black equity in Philadelphia being driven by a white majority is hard, even though I respect the leaders and their work, despite our substantive and strategic differences.
The Saturday Morning Group was convened with a North Star of making Philadelphia the most equitable city in America. Monthly meetings have more than 150 invitees, disproportionately white. The Philadelphia Equity Alliance, a nonprofit outgrowth of Saturday, has drifted from that founding North Star to siloed committees in public safety, public school infrastructure and Black business public sector participation. No focus on private sector procurement and employment or issues, like conscious and unconscious bias. A new executive is working on next steps, but early briefings suggest work continuing on a road of incremental progress and patience. A new Alliance board co-chair should be appointed, if Ryan Boyer’s schedule precludes full attention, and the Board should be reconstituted.
Pay-dirt
Given Saturday and Equity Alliance white participants with real access and influence with republicans, not available to Black leaders, a diverse advocacy window, favorable to Blacks, opens. Persuading the governor and General Assembly to constitutionally fund education in a scheduled time frame would be a historic bipartisan win, establishing the ladder to Philadelphia becoming the most equitable city in America. Only white leaders, as partners, can empower the team to get the Republican votes necessary to check the box.
Last year $1B of the $5.4B necessary to constitutionally fund public education was appropriated. Because Governor Josh Shapiro is a [possible] presidential candidate, Republicans will be hard-pressed to give him bipartisan victories. Enter a Philadelphia Black/brown/white partnership that could lead to a game changer — Saturday Morning Group and Philadelphia Equity Alliance.
Black Leaders: Ball in Our Court
As the Black community prepares for Trump, remember Rev. Haynes’ challenge to do for the poor what they cannot do for themselves. Pastor Waller doubled down last Sunday in his sermon, “Do Not Forget the Poor,” which he closed by singing Gregory Porter’s “Take Me to the Alley.” What we do for the poor must be substantive, not just feel good, no matter how well intended. Come January 20, 2025, when white supremacy is back in the saddle and police again get free passes, any Black woman or man could find ourselves in the Alley:
Increasing Black male teachers and new schools are important, but the number one priority is full funding that puts great teachers in classrooms to educate students, who show up daily looking to maximize their God-given ability. Dr. Watlington consistently affirms that priority. We must stop failing students, families and ourselves.
My gift this season has been movies, like “Bayard,” “Hidden Figures,” “Tuskegee Airmen,” “42,” “Marshall,” “Malcolm X,” “Just Mercy,” “Harriet,” and Rosa Parks stories. A roller coaster, raising the question, “ave I paid my gifts forward?” I co-founded Black Alumni at Penn, the Next Generation, Black men pursuing political, civic and economic leadership and Operation Understanding, sending Black and Jewish high school juniors to Israel and Africa; chaired and financially supported Black leadership organizations; led a multi-year multicultural networking breakfast to connect Black, brown and white aspiring leaders; initiated the Urban League’s Black leadership program, and negotiated the deal that ended early morning vendor wars on Center City street corners. It is a 50-year legacy of which I am proud.
Paying it forward — not really. Became sidetracked and distracted, pursuing status and ambition, i.e., running for and holding elected and cabinet level offices; being named powerful by Philadelphia Magazine and the Tribune; and being a regular on “Inside Story.” Became what folks hear me routinely joke, as a legend in my own mind. My grandmother “Mom Mom” used to say things said in jest usually bare some truth. With the Trump time bomb ticking, I cannot go back but still feel a responsibility to help transform Black futures. My solutions may not be yours, but as Black leaders, provide help beyond family and friends.
The woman-man divide must be reconciled. Black women recessing from politics, as recently suggested on WURD and a Daily News opinion, would be a Trump present. Black men have election remorse, but the campaign should also. At a meeting that included Kamala Harris operatives before the election, I argued the campaign’s failure to have a Black-specific message, akin to a woman’s right to choose and Jews, was a potentially fatal mistake. Help the VP become governor of California, return to the Senate, or run for president.
Philadelphia’s Black community is best served if state politics do not become dysfunctional. Governor Shapiro, likely running for president, must rebound from Democrats losing Pennsylvania and navigate being Jewish. Lt. Governor Austin Davis and Philadelphia Mayor Cherelle Parker logically see themselves as the Governor’s successor. A number of Council members eye being mayor. All with ambition must be teammates, not competitors, for the foreseeable future. Trump and Harrisburg Republicans will work to exploit vulnerabilities. Avoid taking the bait.
Pennsylvania Black elected officials and Black leaders statewide should convene in the first quarter of 2025. Develop a statewide substantive and political game plan. Schedule communication and ZOOM meetings. Blacks will benefit from coordinated power, statewide and locally, and it would be valuable to State Party Chair Street.
Elected officials should send more substantive communications without requests for contributions. Consultants have created a culture where campaign solicitations are masked as substantive communications, suggesting elected officials cannot do their jobs without voter financial support. Some supporters believe they have been reduced to ATM machines.
Philadelphia’s independent Black political movement in the 1980s delivered transformative political outcomes. Wilson Goode and Bill Gray, nominated in primaries, after defeating endorsed Democrats, believed with Black inside power, the good times would roll. Why did the electoral strategy succeed, but projected/promised outcomes not get delivered? Blacks continue to win elections and hold powerful positions, but voters still hold markers on transformative outcome
As long as we keep doing what we have been doing, we will keep getting what we have been getting. This year, as the irresistible force collided with the immovable object, Kamala Harris lost a winnable White House, and Trump won. As much as Trump turns my stomach, he is masterful, relentless and successful at exercising power and imposing consequences, important political tools, i.e., Nancy Pelosi derailing Alexandra Ocasio Cortez’s bid for ranking committee member. Blacks must use those skills strategically, fearlessly and with better intent.
Black leaders — friend, foe, democrat, progressive — need a shared and detailed Black-specific plan structured to deliver transformative outcomes. The plan should be made public, as an accountability mechanism.
Black Philadelphia leaders should aggressively engage in selecting the DNC chair and ensure the party has a Black-specific message.
When Wilson Goode, Charlie Bowser and Bill Gray became the faces of a long-shot, independent Black political movement, Black clergy, labor leaders, lawyers, accountants, doctors, dentists, business owners, McDonald’s owners, insurance agents, women public housing activists, restaurant and club owners, funeral directors, radio show hosts, disc jockeys, money managers, architects and bankers got in on the ground floor, time and money. Blacks financed the majority of Black independent political campaigns with no assurance of winning. Blacks in many respects need to get back to yesteryear.
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