With the nation clearly polarized by politics, many Black Americans are wondering where are the leaders who can bring the country together. From Frederick Douglass to Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., past Black political thinkers and activists have always rewritten history and reshaped the Black experience in the U.S. But, where are the leaders of today?
The Root spoke to Texas Rep. Jasmine Crockett on the matter, and according to her, the country is facing a crisis we haven’t seen in decades. “This may be the closest that some of us have ever been to a Civil Rights Movement,” she said. Between President Donald J. Trump rescinding diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) efforts and continuous concerns about police brutality, socio-economic divides, and education, many fear the path to progress is drastically slimming.
“Lord knows it feels like the Jim Crow laws are all coming back,” Crockett said. “It seems as if they want to make sure that I have more encumbrances to upward mobility than say somebody else who just happens to lack the amount of melanin that I have.”
But with that, the Texan argued the problem isn’t a lack of modern day leaders. “We were used to the photos of Martin Luther King leading everybody, and we know that we had other amazing figures like the John Lewises of the world,” Crockett said, and according to her, similar voices exist today.
“I think people are looking for the visual again because that’s really the only thing that we know,” she continued to The Root. “But the reality is that a lot of this has been decentralized.” The solution, according to Crockett, isn’t to try to recapture Malcolm X and Rosa Parks. Instead, she said Black Americans are “allowed” to choose which leaders they want to follow.
She pointed to local leaders like Pastor Jamal Bryant who’s been “leading the charge on saying, ‘You know what? Don’t spend your money at these particular stores.’” And other folks like Minority leader Hakeem Jeffries and journalist Don Lemon that continue to speak out against the Trump Administration’s targeted efforts against protected civil rights.
As one of the few Black members of Congress, Crockett also realizes many Black folks are looking to her and her colleagues to drive political efforts for the people. “I’m still only the 55th Black woman to ever be sworn into the United States Congress,” she said. Crockett has made waves throughout her political career with her fiery tone, memorable clap backs, and constant calling out of Trump and the MAGA movement.
At the same time, the congresswoman acknowledges that everyone is not like her. “I think that there were definitely people who signed up to go to Congress or go into elected office,” she started. “They didn’t sign up because they were activists. They didn’t sign up because they knew how to be activists. They signed up because they wanted to legislate in some way.”
Crockett said all good politicians aren’t good leaders. And that’s more than okay. In fact, she argued that trying to force some folks into the leadership mold is “kind of where we go wrong.”