HELP WANTED: African American Leaders
Matthew A.M.E. Church in Orange, NJ and Executive
Director of the Black Ministers Council of NJ.
Rev. Jackson Is pastor of St. Matthew A.M.E. Church In Orange,
NJ and Executive Director of the Black Ministers Council
Originally published October 2007
In violation of the public trust. Unfortunately, many of the accused are African American males. A total of five African American males out of a total roster of ten in the state legislature, have been removed either by themselves, through retirement, or by the court of public perception leading to resignations. Almost on a monthly basis, New Jersey citizens await press conferences announcing the latest rounds of investigations and wiretaps. All of this attention to the alleged criminal activity of African American public officials, who are bound to protect and serve, has prompted this preacher to wonder if the state of New Jersey needs to hang an African American Male Help Wanted sign on our capitol building.
A revealing aspect of the current state of affairs is the number of smart, moral African American taxpayers who feel that somehow these investigations are not coincidental; that maybe the conspiracy theorists have it right, “they” are out to get “us”. Black people are used to being persecuted, used to being the target of a different standard of behavior, so it is no great leap to a high level of distrust of the system, especially the criminal justice system, which has routinely failed African Americans.
The more telling aspect of these investigations is that the quiet whispers of a double standard of behavior has not given rise to a careful. thoughtful, considered debate of the impact of the lack of African American leadership in the halls of Trenton and the impact back into urban cities, like Newark, Camden, Paterson, or my town of Orange. What does it mean to public discourse if African American males are missing from the debate? Will the absence of African American male voices serve a conservative purpose of reversing the civil rights gains of African Americans? Or perhaps, this political genocide has the purpose of enabling new leadership to emerge and a new 21st century African American agenda to rise as a result.
I don’t have the answers. I have been one of the more vocal critics of African American political leaders in New Jersey. I often times have the feeling that many black politicians choose the safe route to placate constituents without offering real leadership around the issues that continue to vex New Jersey’s urban communities such as lack of access to a quality education, quality healthcare, and jobs. It is the selfserving, self-interest of some of these politicians that caused them to defend systems that rob our young people of either hope or opportunity that make my blood boil, and I have spoken out often about it.
I am equally concerned however, when not only is there no one who looks like me to debate about the unfairness of the urban condition, but no one who has offered any first or second thoughts on the issue. And that, my sisters and brothers, should trouble us all.
