Crisis of Leadership

It was the late scholar and historian Dr. Manning Marable who once sagaciously suggested, “The power of a democracy depends upon its informed citizenry.” Those who participate in the experiment of democracy, in the American project, must be aware of the logistics of the political realities at any given moment. What we don’t know and fail to understand can be the direct and primary cause of the perpetuation of our own oppression, discrimination, and disenfranchisement. As African Americans, our vote is critically important because it has never been our inherited American privilege but our blood-purchased right that can never be taken lightly or for granted. That’s why the clergy who are encouraging their parishioners to stay home and not exercise their democratic capacity in the voting process is extremely troubling, counter-productive, and tremendously flawed.

With that being said, those who disagree with the President’s Obama’s stance for the equality of marriage for same sex couples are indeed entitled to have an alternative opinion. The privatization of the moral ethos of the Black Church has been conservative in its orientation for the majority of its followers. The major flaw I see is the confusion between religious proclivity and constitutional authenticity. If you don’t agree with the President’s view because of your religious beliefs, that’s fine but now is not the particular moment to engage in a narrative that contributes to negative political backlash because of one disagreement. This is a terribly narrow and nearsighted. Even if your religious views may cause you not to agree with the Same-sex marriage issue, you should still want and fight for all citizens to enjoy the same benefits of society that you have. I agree with Dr. Otis Moss Jr when he says,” There is a difference between religious rites and constitutional rights.” Sometimes our doctrinal orthodoxy blinds us to democratic opportunities. High-profile ministers who have been quiet in the midst of pervasive injustice are now realizing that their microphones are still working and are fired up on this issue. How theologically expedient.  There is too much at stake to not galvanize our churches, mosques, temples etc.  Education, healthcare, mass-incarceration, mandatory minimums, student loan debt, stand your ground laws, woman’s rights, and job creation are issues that some unthoughtful, uncritical, pious, religiously obsessive clergy are encouraging their members to walk away from.

E. Franklin Frazier said that the black church was the first place of Black Americans to engage in “social cohesion.” That’s still true. The church has the authority to legitimize and validate sociological movements in the Black community. So if Pastors are telling their flocks to stay home on Election Day, that Pastor is holding a position he or she is not qualified for and has consequentially disqualified themselves from future leadership in our community. This displays the ultimate crisis of leadership that is so prevalent in our religious communities. I believe it’s that crucial. Roll out of that church. Our ancestors died for the right to choose to vote not so we could choose not the vote. The duality of the Black vote is an extraordinary event. We vote for those who never could and for those who we hope always will vote. These ministers are historically ignorant, politically irrelevant, culturally disembodied, and theologically deficient.