It was during the mid-to-late 1950s and early ’60s, at the height of the civil rights movement, before the rise of the Black power movement, many older and once radical Negro leaders failed to support and even, in some cases, lobbied against a number of the young, dynamic and up and coming leaders including people like John Lewis, Kwame Toure (Stokely Carmichael), Bernice Johnson Reagon and James Foreman, who were all leading members of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC). They even bad-mouthed a then young preacher by the name of King.

SNCC and SCLC were committed to a strategy of “nonviolent direct action” that openly challenged America’s version of apartheid, particularly in the South. The old heads of the movement, who were once young leaders themselves, were often resentful of the young lions as they, in the minds of the old-timers, had suddenly “stolen” their hard earned limelight through their dynamic speaking, writing and electrifying sit-ins, boycotts and freedom rides.

SNCC and SNCC-like organizations profoundly accelerated the human rights movement in the United States, inspiring millions both here and abroad, through their new and dramatic media friendly tactics. Several of the older, well-heeled, leaders with long-cultivated connections to “liberal” white folks, watched as their influence among young Black people and their credibility among whites began to fade right before their eyes. Panicked, they called on the younger, more innovative and now more popular leaders, who they had not anointed, to “slow their roll”, insisting that they weren’t yet ready. SNCC and other “New Negroes” responded, “If not us, then who? And if not now, then when?”

Cheered on by heroes and legends such as Ella Baker, Fannie Lou Hamer, Myles Horton, Gwendolyn Brooks, James Baldwin and a host of others, the young lions blew past the old-timers and established themselves and their young white allies as leaders of a fresh and modernized sector of the movement with a more global perspective, tactics suited for TV news and all supported by a Curtis Mayfield soundtrack. To thoughtful young people around the world, the well-dressed warriors were clearly “a winner”. Born was a movement that was far more critical of America’s status quo and the Negro leaders who had, in most cases, unintentionally, become part of it.

Decades have passed since then. Yet today, another version of the same dynamic is at play. Sometimes when people have been in high profile positions for a long time, they have a tendency to lose track of the ebb and flow, the energy and mood of their most necessary constituents. Enter Barack Obama and his movement to capture the White House.

Now a Congressman, John Lewis, who in 1961 was brutally assaulted, and kicked in the face by a white mob during a stop over of a Freedom Ride in Rock Hill, South Carolina and who in 1965 was viciously beaten into unconsciousness and near death, by the police, in Selma, Alabama as a result of his leadership in SNCC and support of Dr. King, fully understands the nature, weight, and motion of historic change. A long-time friend and ally of the Clintons, whom he had endorsed, Lewis reassessed the relationship and his role in this, urgent and historic moment. After changing his mind, lucid, the super delegate struck a Samurai pose and bravely retracted his support of the Clintons, delivering a powerful blow against the dreaded Billary. Still wielding his righteous sword, he then turned and knighted one of this era’s young lions, Senator Barack Obama.

Always the statesman, Lewis said that he chose not to be on the wrong side of history and the people. He said he wanted to further Dr. King’s vision of “the beloved community”. It’s true that the Clintons won the 5th District. But that was, to large extent, the result of Rev. Cleaver’s endorsement. It is also true that without the votes of everyday Black people, who Cleaver once referred to as “Joe Blows”, he would not have been Mayor and certainly not a Congressman. Approximately 3 out of 4 African Americans in Kansas City and across Missouri voted for Obama. But Cleaver, despite the Clinton campaign’s, cynical and misleading statements, lies and race baiting, “throw a rock and hide your hand” attacks, continues to serve as a mouthpiece for them. He is still prepared to vote against a man who millions of Americans believe is this country’s best chance to make some changes in its direction and the first Black person who actually has a chance to become President. Rev. Cleaver has said that it’s a matter of loyalty. Is he suggesting that he’s more loyal to the Clintons than he is to the people who propelled him from a City Councilman, to a Mayor and then into Congress? Maybe at this point in his career he feels he doesn’t really need our votes anymore.

When presented with greater knowledge in a new circumstance, a wise man, a good captain, changes the ship’s course. John Lewis did. Many of us in the 5th District hope Congressman Cleaver will come to a similar conclusion before it’s too late, before as Omar Khayyam put it, “The Moving Finger writes; and, having writ, Moves on: …” I understand that Brother Cleaver might be afraid of disappointing the Clinton Gang. They can be vindictive. Ask Bill Richardson. But he doesn’t seem, at all, worried about disappointing thousands of his most loyal and essential supporters, the working and working poor people hoping for change, upon whose shoulders he rides, the ones who bought him his tuxedo and brought him to the dance.

Editor’s Note: Lloyd Daniel is a writer, educator and a former member
of the Missouri State Legislature. To read, watch and listen to more of
his work, logon to his website. The address is www.lloyddaniel.info