Elbow Room?

There is a growing divide between young black leaders and the old guard. How come people don’t retire anymore? When I get old, I’m ditching it all for some lakefront property and Jack & diet.

In a tacit endorsement of Obama, Jamal Simmons writes at theroot.com:

More often than not, it seems, African American leaders are playing "Keep Away" with the next generation…the savvy members of the Civil Rights generation should spend more time looking for opportunities to support the next generation of leaders and start planning an orderly transition

Back in ’06, I did a speech at the DNC African American Leadership Summit that caused quite a ruckus when I questioned why all the old fogies had left the room once the youngins took the stage.

We gotta be about grabbing the reigns of leadership, as Jamal goes on to say:

the Obama campaign has added a lot of new people who are voting,
volunteering and learning how to raise the money without the full support of the black political establishment. Soon, these Obama supporters may be ready to put their new knowledge to use, and rather than wait for the torch to be passed they may just snatch it away

Yep.