As expected, we’ve gotten some negative responses from African-Americans because of our extensive coverage of the reparation controversy. Especially from those inclined to see Quanell X as a Malcolm X wannabe who has never met a TV camera that he didn’t like, rather than a young idealist willing to risk his life to demand equality and justice for his people.

And, yes, perhaps we did go a bit far in our last edition when we ran pictures of the 15 pastors who evidently had no problem with having their Black faces being in prominent places on City Councilman Michael Berry’s campaign flyer. But, if you really think about it from a Black perspective, the flyer speaks volumes. If the pastors’ endorsement was important enough to a politician that he featured them on a campaign flyer, he must have concluded that their influence, in their neighborhoods, was worth paying for. In other words, the pastors pictured evidently were recommended (by Black politicos), as movers and shakers who could make things happen in the Black community.

God knows, good pastors should be able to lead their congregations to the polls to vote for candidates that they endorsed. If that be the case, it becomes incumbent upon African-American News&Issues, Texas’ widest circulated Black newspaper with a Black perspective and the editorial voice of our people to tell it like it is. And if it is, that the pastors made a mistake, or were beguiled by a crafty, forked tongue politician, it should be their obligation as leaders (that ideally influenced a large number of their congregants and/or people who trust their judgment), that’s how it is. Nobody is perfect, so why can’t the pastors confess their mistake and promise to make a concerted and dedicated effort to provide more politically-astute leadership in the future?

Nevertheless, before you applaud us for preaching to preachers, We Must Understand many of our political and community leaders endorsed Michael Berry too, therefore they are not without sin. After all, Black voters had no idea who the man was.

Berry was introduced by the leaders as a moderate vote that would help Mayor Lee Brown get some of the things done for “all of Houston,” during his final term, that term-limited R-7 Council-members prevented him from accomplishing in his first two terms. Therefore, it’s safe to say every leader owes less informed and political unsophisticated citizens who followed their lead, an apology for helping to elect a candidate that conjures that old snake story.

We’re sure most of you in the ‘hood remember our elders telling the story about a compassionate man who picked up a frozen snake that eventually displayed its true nature as soon as it thawed out and bit its benefactor? It is also human nature to follow a leader, therefore it might be a good idea to define leadership from a Black perspective to avoid being bitten by politicians we help in the future.

Leader, as you know is a generic term, which is defined in the dictionary as: “One who leads, or goes first, to prepare the way for.” As a result, when broken down into categories, such as Black leaders, the leaders role must be refined. More specifically, we tend to break leaders down into specific arenas, depending on what profession they represent. Okay, since we are not without sin, it wouldn’t be fair to cast stones at other professions if we don’t start with the media. The media’s job description is to be a community’s lines of communication, i.e., watchers on the wall, clarions, informants, signal corps. In essence, when it comes to news and issues impacting our community, Black newspapers and other media should be first to report it.

We can’t speak for all other Black newspapers, but we at AAN&I have proven in the past that we are really leaders when it comes to news and issues impacting African-Americans. We feel our job description, our primary mission, our prime directive is to report all news without fear or favor and ask the hard questions from an uncompromising Black perspective.

We are obligated to tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth, just as it happens. And we feel that we do our job very well and aren’t about to apologize for doing what we’re supposed to do. So perish the thought that we have a vendetta against our spiritual leaders, because they historically have paid for space in the White media, although they expect us to give them even more space free. Conversely, we admit we wanted to make a point when we published the “Berry patch.” The point we want to make is that much of the confusion in the Black community is spiritual, therefore at the forefront should be our spiritual leaders. If you’re confused about a spiritual leader’s job description, let’s go back to the dictionary: “Pastor, a clergyman in charge of a congregation, or flock—relating to shepherds or pertaining to spiritual care or guidance.” We doubt if anybody will argue that most Black churches accept the shepherd-sheep concept of leadership. If there’s no argument, then it shouldn’t be considered an insult to infer that it’s within a shepherd’s job description to protect his flock from wolves in sheep’s clothing.

Space won’t allow us to expound on the job descriptions of our educational, political, business and other professional leaders. We Must Understand nonetheless, that everyone who takes on the mantel of leadership is obligated to lead his or her followers in the right direction.
Even so, we would be remiss as Black Houston’s editorial voice not to say loud and clear: endorsing candidates for political office is not part of a pastor’s job description. On the other hand, we historically have given our pastors plenty of latitude to do their own thing, but if their job description requires them to lead their flock, they were conspicuously missing in action when they failed to show up at City Hall.

They should have been up front, looking into the windows of Michael Berry’s soul when he voted against an issue that is important to the flocks they tend. And if telling it like it is, is wrong, African-American News&Issues will never be right.

AFFIRMATIVE ACTION must be taken by African-Americans to seek retribution against public officials who oppose reparations.