Ever been to a conference? At NYU there are many conferences. In the black community the Gentlemen of Quality (GQ) have one intended to promote the advancement blacks in many aspects of American society including health, education, government, business, and family. The student NAACP has a conference on similar topics, and the graduate black organization, Students of African Decent Alliance (SADA), has another one aimed at again, many of the same goals.
Why not combine? combine our ideas, combine our passions, combine our thousands of dollars worth of budgets, combine our people power, our advertising power, our networks, our publicity efforts, our attendance, our intellects, our power and our influences?
The Gentlemen of Quality and the NAACP were open to the idea, the graduate program was not. "Undergrads are at a different point in their lives. This is tailored more to those already in the job market or about to be in the job market and the issues they have to face being black." There were undergraduates present when the president of SADA made these comments. The undergrads replied that they were interested. "Still," SADA continued, "the reception has alcohol and that may present a problem."
I'm sorry, but I thought the point of these conferences were to help make the type of lasting change that will enable equal access and opportunity to people who have been historically and systematically discriminated against. But alas, alcohol rears its ugly head. I guess they couldn't get armbands for those under 21, or just bar those under 21 from attending the reception or... dare I say, not have alcohol at all!
By the day's end Transform America was unable to broker a commitment to combine these conferences. We made some headway though. The groups agreed to try to put on a small collaborative project so they would get a feel for each other's operating style. they also agreed that they would support each other's conference by attending.
The two undergraduate organizations both attended each other's conferences. The undergraduate organizations and Transform America then attended SADA's conference. It was nice. About 60 people in attendance, a distinguished panel, a comfortable location, and of course... a filling reception with lots of alcohol.
The president of SADA is a very cool guy and as are many of its members. The crazy thing though, is that at this conference one of the panelists talked about how there should be greater unity in the black community, about how we should come together to support each other and build institutions. The panelist received a round of applause.
As this year comes to a close, the state of blacks in the work place, and at universities nation wide, or even city wide has not changed. Here's an idea. Maybe one reason for the maintained status quo is the status quo nature and mode of operation of the organizations who are responsible for changing it.
This is why Transform America's Wing organizations are so important. Organizations that are part of Transform America are open, they are attuned to the benefits of collaboration, and are ready to put their missions and their objectives above their organizational ego and pride. Out of the three organizations mentioned, only GQ is a Wing of Transform America.
We've done conferences, we've done protests, we've done letters. Let's try something new. Let's try flying together. Let's try seriously transforming how we operate in order to transform our society.
"I have a fool-proof method for controlling your black slaves. My method is simple, any member of your family or any overseer can use it. You must pitch the old Black vs. the young Black male, and the young Black male against the old Black male. You must use the dark skinned slaves vs the light skinned slaves, and the light skinned slaves vs. the dark skinned slaves. You must use the female vs. the male, and the male vs. the female. You must also have your servants and overseers distrust all Blacks, but it is necessary that your slaves trust and depend on us. They must love, respect, and trust only us."
Willie Lynch
But I'm lucky, because I'm not alone. I think you're tired too. You're getting tired of the odd ball looks when you suggest that poor people should be able to own a home. You're tired of the dismissive sighs when you say that people should have fresh, nutritious, affordable food in their communities. You're tired of a world that doesn't live up to its own ideals.
