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"There are no African Americans in the Senate," Ron Walters points that fact out not just to emphasize that there is still a disparity when it comes to racial equality but also to highlight the difference in how white Americans and African Americans lead. "In a society where whites are the dominant majority, black leadership is going to be different."
Walters should know since he has made the majority of his career a study of African American leadership in one form or another. He began his career as an assistant professor at Syracuse University and went on to work as a professor of political science and African American studies at several universities, including Howard and Brandeis. He is active in the political arena as well, having served as a deputy campaign manager for Jesse Jackson and advising members of Congress.
Currently, he is the director of the African American Leadership Institute and Scholar Practitioner Program, Distinguished Leadership Scholar, and professor in government and politics at the University of Maryland. He has authored a number of books, among them African American Leadership, and writes a weekly opinion column for a number of newspapers and web sites."
In American society, whites have far more control over black leadership than in societies where blacks are dominant. This fact makes a major difference in how African American leadership works. African American leaders influence others to get what they need rather than control the leading institutions."
He also points out that white American leadership has tended to spring from the legal and professional areas, which are based on a robust economic infrastructure. African Americans, on the other hand, have not had the time to build that kind of infrastructure in this country, given the legacy of slavery and the institutionalized discrimination that followed for many years.
The problem is one that continues today. "Businesses owned by African Americans are increasing, up to 1,000,000 today from 250,000 in 1980 but most of those businesses have no employees." In a society with a structure of leadership that is essentially business-oriented, says Walters, the lack of a business base is a distinct disadvantage to the exercise of traditional leadership.
While that has clearly been a disadvantage for the African American community, one that Walters believes must be addressed, it has also given rise to a different kind of leadership. "Historically, the emphasis in American leadership has been on the individual," he explains. "But in the African American community, leadership has been group-oriented. The focus has been on the interaction between leaders and the people."
"African Americans have relied on bodies rather than dollars," Walters says, explaining that Jesse Jackson is the best example of traditional African American leadership. He knows how to bring a community together to demand what it needs.
The need for African American leaders to influence rather than control has not always been well understood or received by the African American community, Walters points out. "African Americans have tended to have an unreal set of expectations about the difference their leaders will be able to make and they are very critical when leaders don't deliver what is expected of them."
In many ways, however, that kind of leadership, based on the ability to mobilize a community rather than exercise power over it, is one that is used more and more today in many areas of American society by African Americans and whites alike. Walters points to Kweise Mfume, the head of the NAACP, as an example of an effective leader. "He's had experience in political institutions, he's worked with the community in various roles and he knows how to work with people. He's an articulate visionary who understands how to set goals, initiate plans, and carry them out in effective ways."
Walters believes that young people today could benefit from the same leadership "immersion" he experienced as a young person in the '60s. "I was the chair of the political science department at Howard University and got swept up in a lot of leadership action during the time of the civil rights campaign." Since then, Walters has continued to use his education and experience to both lead and to work with established leaders for one main goal: enhancing the life condition of the community.
Past Profiles
Dr. Joseph O'Rourke