Crisis of Leadership and the Role of Citizens in Black America
Subtitle: Leaders of the New School
Publisher: Lexington Books/Fortress Academic
Published: 2016
Language: eng
Number of pages: 202
ISBN-13: 9780739197905
Subjects: African americans, politics and government; African americans, social conditions
Description: A theoretical examination of the concepts of the citizen, citizenship, and leadership, A Crisis of Leadership and the Role of Citizens in Black America: Leaders of the New School proposes to develop a prototype or model of effective Black leadership. Furthermore, it examines "citizenship habits" of the Black community based on their economic standing, educational attainment, participation in the criminal justice system, and health and family structure. It tracks data in these four categories from 1970 to today, measuring effective leadership by the improvement or decline in the majority of African Americans, standing in these four categories. This book concludes that African Americans have negative perceptions of themselves as US citizens, which thus produce "bad citizenship habits." Additionally, ineffective Black leaders since the Civil Rights Era have been unwilling to demonstrate the purpose and significance of service, particularly to the poor and disadvantaged members of the Black community. Contemporary Black leaders (i.e., post-Civil Rights Era) have focused primarily on self-promotion, careerism, and middle-class interests. A new type of leader is needed, one that stresses unity and reinforces commitment to the group as a whole by establishing new institutions that introduce community-building. -- Back cover.