Where, Oh Where, Is Black Leadership

Les Payne takes aim at Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson by contrasting them with W.E.B. DuBois and other black leaders of the past.

“Who indeed are the black leaders these days? Two pretenders to the throne were to enlighten the National Association of Black Journalists last week in Indianapolis. The Rev. Jesse Jackson thought better of his appearance and left the defense to his erstwhile protege.”

“Proving that he is as immune to irony as he is to shame, the Rev. Al Sharpton strutted onto the stage as a panelist for the annual W.E.B. DuBois Lecture. That most vital American scholar of the last century would likely have viewed the Rev. Al Sharpton as a noisy answer for which there is no known question.”

TheStateOf . . . Black Leadership. Black leadership is diffused, spread among the states and among the subject matters, as it should be. Sharpton and Jackson are caricatures, the mandatory invitees of white elites who know absolutely no black people.