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Opinion

Need for strong black leaders is greatby 

TIMOTHY O'BRIEN 
Opinion Columnist

Martin Luther King Jr.'s life and the holiday celebrating his legacy remind us how important it is for our country to have effective black leaders. With Sen. Barack Obama announcing his candidacy for president, it is an opportune time to observe how desperately America needs someone of King's caliber to bring racial healing. 

Black leaders are needed at all levels, from local to national. Here at UH blacks make up almost 15 percent of the student population, yet our University does not offer a bachelor's degree in African-American Studies. 

The African-American Studies Program has been in existence for 38 years, yet it has not achieved departmental status and cannot grant tenure to professors. This is an injustice that must be corrected. 

The city of Houston has a black police chief, Harold Hurtt. Under his reign, however, blacks have been victims of Taser stun guns more than any other ethnic group, making up 620 of the 982 suspects tasered since 2004, KTRK-TV reported. 

The Houston Chronicle reported that a Houston police officer shot and killed a black man just last week. An eyewitness has testified that the victim was handcuffed when he was killed. Hurtt reacted to this incident by refusing to meet with the hundreds of protestors demonstrating outside police headquarters on Martin Luther King Day. That is not leadership. 

On the city government level, outspoken black City Council member Ada Edwards has not used her time to lead on black issues. She was pictured in a daily paper last week at a Martin Luther King Day event with her fist raised in a black-power salute. Posing as a black leader is one thing; being a leader is something entirely different. 

Then there is Carol Galloway, a black City Council member and president of the Houston branch of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People.

In a recent interview, Galloway said that it's not about her race, it's about her. If a black person is in a leadership position, race should be important. She cannot effectively lead with that mindset.

On the national level we have Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and her predecessor Colin Powell. Rice is enabling the sacrifice of U.S. black soldiers by propagating Bush's war on terror. Powell lobbied the United Nations on behalf of President Bush's war of aggression against Iraq. This is certainly not the kind of leadership that Martin Luther King Jr. demonstrated. 

Whether it is fighting for educational equality here on campus, fighting against abuses of power in the Houston police force or fighting to stop a war in the Middle East against people of color, we must act with King's legacy in mind. 

Harvey Pittman II, the 10-year-old winner of this year's citywide Martin Luther King Jr. speech contest, said, "The fight I'm dreaming about is the fight for a better education, caring parents and honest politicians." Pittman is looking for a fighting black leader. 

Next time you look in the mirror, ask yourself, "What am I fighting for? What have I done to fulfill King's legacy?" Or as Pittman so eloquently put it, "Are you a dreamer or a fighter?" 

O'Brien, a Ph.D. candidate in history, 
can be reached at tjobrien@uh.edu.