Modern day Black Leaders

In light of the mike brown situation I’ve been asking myself, where are our modern day black leaders? We all know Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson are going to be there. No disrespect to either of them, but they are damn near 70 yrs old. My generation identifies with them but there is definitely no connection there at all. Who are their successors? Who takes the torch as the voice of leadership for us when they pass away? Have they not groomed people to take on this role? The closest thing we have to leaders today are entertainers.

The only people who my generation identifies with in a position of power outside of President Obama are musicians. But, where are all these mega stars who the fans have created when the fans need a voice the most? Where are they to be the voice of the black community like they claim to be in their music? Or is that just something to say when its convenient and time to sell records. Where’s Kanye West? Where’s Rihanna? Where’s Jay z? Where’s Beyonce? Where’s Drake? Where’s Nicki Minaj? Well she has been active. She just released a video with her legs spread wide open, ass in the air twerking. Yea, that’s exactly what we need at this moment. Another degrading distraction for our community.

What do these celebrities really do for our community? Besides get rich off of them and occasionally donate money. Lets not forget that charity donations are a tax write-off. Is that not equivalent to a parent paying child support but never spending time with the child? These are some of the most powerful celebrities in the world and they have all faded into the shadows. When we need them the most, when we need people of power to bring our communities together, they have all gone silent. We give these entertainers too much praise. People treat their birthdays as if they are national holidays. Putting them on the same plateau as Martin Luther King Jr.. For what? They haven’t spoken out for us. They’re too worried about offending their sponsors to stand up for us. You mean to tell me people actually have created a religion for Beyonce but she won’t speak out on our biggest issues? People jokingly call her Beysus, a comparison to jesus, but I can guarantee she is not putting her life on the line for any of us. I’m not trying to knock them because they are great at what they do, they are great entertainers. But we put these people on a larger than life pedestal. Why, because they make catchy songs? They are worshipped like Gods but really they have no substance. I’m not really sure why people have this love affair with them. Our biggest stars do not stand up for us.

Maybe it isn’t their fault, its not in their job description. Maybe they didn’t want to be these big larger than life icons we have made them out to be. Maybe I expect too much of people in such powerful positions. They never said they wanted to be role models, but they are. These are the people that our community looks up too. These are the people that we will defend without having a clue who they really are. People will almost fight you for talking bad about their favorite artist. Somebody is reading this right now and getting upset, ready to defend Beyonce or Nicki Minaj about these comments, when you should be offended that someone you idolize isn’t defending you. My point is these are the people that shape the minds of this generation. They have the voice and status to make a huge impact, but very rarely do they. So the questions still remains, who are and where are our modern day black leaders?