I cannot say that I know a whole lot about the origin and initiatives of the Black Leadership Roundtable, but I read with great interest and took issue with aspects of Sylvester Brown’s Post-Dispatch column criticizing the group.
My frustration is with the tenor of the article. The tenor can be summed up in the statements “real [back] leaders are dead leaders – those who history has confirmed led lives worth noting” and “who anointed them St. Louis black leaders.” I view this as an attempt to tear down and not build up African Americans in this region.
After reading the article, I was compelled to Google the St. Louis Black Leadership Roundtable. And if the website found at www.blackleadershiproundtable.org is accurate, then the group meets the standard by which Al Sharpton (whom Brown quotes) and Brown deem to be acceptable for leadership groups. The group is comprised of many “people with expertise in different disciplines.”
Regardless of whether I agree with black folks who are connected to the Roundtable – or, for that matter those involved in politics, leading community organizations, helping shape young people through sports or forming opinions in the media through radio and print like Brown – they are indeed leaders. Leaders, who are alive and well!
Orvin Kimbrough, executive director
Interfaith Partnership and Faith Beyond Walls