The community’s angry response to Superintendent Art McCoy Jr.’s abrupt suspension by the Ferguson-Florissant school board reveals something very basic about this community. This community needs leaders, especially young leaders, and we know that we need these leaders. We also have enduring memories and very deeply felt wounds about losing our leaders in their prime. The birth of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. is now celebrated as a national holiday, part of our national culture, but many of us dwell more painfully on his death and the circumstances surrounding his murder. We also have not forgotten Ossie Davis’ tribute to the slain El-Hajj Malik El-Shabazz (Malcolm X) as “our own shining black prince.” These words speak to our strong feeling that we need leaders, especially young leaders, and without being in any way chauvinistic, we feel the need most particularly for young black men who can lead us.
We are speaking about the real psychic needs of a community, not intending any comparison of McCoy to these transformative historic figures. At the same time, there is no need to diminish the up-and-coming young leaders of today by saying they are “no Dr. King.” The St. Louis American Foundation honored McCoy with our 2013 Stellar Performer in Education Award precisely because he has the belief, commitment and energy that convince people that great things are possible. When the leadership of such a promising person is very publicly throttled as the result of a closed door meeting held by people who – because of poor voter participation – do not truly represent the community McCoy serves, our community grieves and gets angry. We need more “shining black princes” and were certain that in Art McCoy Jr. one had emerged.
There are others emerging, and we advise these young men, with love, respect and concern, to be wary of every choice they make and every word they say in a world where shining black princes shed light that is unwelcome to many.
On Tuesday Orvin Kimbrough, the young new president and CEO of the United Way of Greater St. Louis, convened the year’s final First Tuesday meeting of the United Way’s de Tocqueville Society, a group of the most generous individual donors to the United Way. Kimbrough is a young leader with an interest in the perspectives of other young leaders, and he challenged a small panel of his peers to address this distinguished group and outline for them one big idea to transform this region for the better. In an impressive group that was diverse by gender and race, the Rev. Starsky Wilson, the young president of the Deaconess Foundation, stood out as another of our promising, shining black princes. Our community needs these young, black men to help lead us. And while we should protect them, they also are compelled to be their own best selves at all times.
That is why we are so dismayed by news such as the downfall of state Rep. Steve Webb, a skilled politician and former chairman of the Missouri Legislative Black Caucus. It may not be uncommon in Jefferson City for $3,000 to end up in the wrong bank account, but if you are an assertive young black man in public life you can expect someone to catch and broadcast any mistake and misdeed. And finally, that is why we are so sorely disappointed in the self-absorbed officeholders who have been put in the position to lead us, yet too seldom look out for anyone but themselves.
