BESIDES AL AND JESSE

An interesting piece in Newsweek on the dearth of black activists under the age of 50. People are tired of the Jackson-Sharpton-West-Gates establishment, but who else is there? The author, David Evans, a Harvard official, makes some legitimate points, but he misses a more obvious one. Haven’t Sharpton and Jackson understandably turned younger blacks and whites off their kind of activism, with its corporate shakedowns and media pyrotechnics? Maybe younger African-Americans look at these leaders and wisely give such methods a pass. Or maybe younger blacks and whites believe that the era of political activism of this kind is behind them. The best way to advance black equality is by moving up the social hierarchy, succeeding in the law and medicine and the media and politics and business in a post-racial paradigm. Notice how Evans doesn’t acknowledge Colin Powell or Condi Rice or Oprah Winfrey. The problem here is a boomer generation that still associates minority advancement with special pleading and ’60s style protest. There are other ways, and the younger generation is exploring them.