Who Will Lead Us Into The Future?

On Election Day, the Fort Greene/Clinton Hill community joined the rest of the country at the polls or glued to some news outlet. We all wanted to learn who our future leader will be: Biden or Trump? Irrespective of which candidate wins, we must ask a deeper, more critical question. The question isn’t who will be our future chief leader, but which of the two candidates and parties can lead us into a more inclusive, civil, and innovative future? As much as I hate the fear, boredom, and resentment we’ve endured for the last several months, the pandemic has done us an unexpected favor. It’s allowed us to be able to document – anecdotally and objectively – that we have a scarcity of imaginative, strategic, and innovative leaders. The evidence seems to prove that we don’t have leaders who can manage crisis, seize opportunities inherent in every crisis, and rally diverse audiences around a progressive vision, albeit in ways which may be risky but also rewarding. However, I’m willing to wager there are voices within both political parties, both in the Beltway and on their way, which have been muted and ignored but have much to share which is transformative.

However, part of our problem might be that we are looking in the wrong direction. I continue to find scores of creative, dynamic, and critical thinking people known at the local level. Some of them are elected officials. Others are aspiring thought leaders and public servants. However, most of them are our neighbors, co-workers, heads of community-based organizations, educators, and religious leaders. These are persons who “see problems as opportunities with thorns in them.”

Whoever leads must imagine and paint a picture of an achievable, better America. We crave inviting and inspiring vision. We need vision which includes the reconciliation of the great divides in America. The existence of Red States and Blue States is not new. What is new and scary is these ideological and political labels ignore — or worse still, erase — the common thread which is supposed to connect us, nationally and globally. Whether we’re Democrats, Independents, or Republicans — don’t we all want the same tangible things: safety, food, shelter, health, and education? Don’t we all aspire to enjoy some of the same intangible, yet invaluable things like love, peace, and happiness?

As a nation, our salvation will partially depend on having competent, sane, compassionate leadership in DC, especially in the Oval Office. Harmful policies, domestic and foreign, must be realigned with a vision for not simply a better country, but for a better world. New, just laws must be implemented and wrong-headed and wrong-hearted ones removed. Citizens must be retrained to compete in a global marketplace, where creative and strategic thinking and well-calculated risks are taken. Many things will need to be addressed to end the nightmare of the last four years. We must begin to dream a new, more inclusive, compassionate, and just dream. It’s more than just changing the parties in power. It’s a matter of importing people with vision, courage, and values while exporting leaders who cling to perspectives and policies which have been tried and found wanting. Our task is that hard and that simple.

All these goals are attainable, our birthright, but also our multi-generational burden. To translate these dreams into reality, we must be willing to dream, plan, and work. However, these things will remain elusive because we refuse to acknowledge the ugly part of our national narrative: the “isms.” (e.g., racism, sexism, classism, etc.) These “isms,” despite avoidance and denial, are real and so deeply embedded in American culture and collective psyche that they’re seen as normative, acceptable, and even inevitable. These “isms” continue to haunt and hinder us. Admitting the ugly part of our history doesn’t deny the beauty of America’s potential. Quite the contrary, such an admission should make us stand in awe of how far we’ve advanced as an experiment in democracy and pluralism, given the dark and damnable parts of our story.

Some claim to not see race, gender, sexual orientation, nor class. I don’t have that privilege. I see life through technicolor, HD lenses. To say one doesn’t see any differences between people makes one’s narrative a little disingenuous, naïve, or both. Whether we admit or not, we recognize and respond to others based on their demographics. I connect with those who acknowledge the different hues, shapes, sizes, and ages which make fellow citizens interesting and inviting. We cross a dangerous, explosive, divisive threshold when we see ourselves as normative and all others as deficient and inferior. When we, as Americans, begin to see others as both like and different from us, we’ll be well on our way to making America stronger, better — even “Great For the ‘First Time.’”