Peace family! I am a young college student in this movement and I have noticed something that is both concerning and promising about the current movement for Black independence and freedom. In the past, where the freedom of Black people is concerned, the charge at the head of the movement was always led by the energy of young people. Both college students and the working-class young people were the vanguards of the revolutionary spirit in terms of rhetoric, politics and social movement. This can be seen in the popularity of Malcolm X during his rise, the example SNCC set for the tone of the civil rights movement and especially in the case of the Black Panther Party and the Black Power Movement. Today, although I think my generation is itching for a revolutionary change, I can't help but notice that the major organizational activity is not coming from us, but from the elder generations. It seems to me there is a sense of apathy in my generation for actual organizations, whether they be religious, social, political or otherwise. This is concerning because ORGANIZATION is the key to the success to any community. The enemy is highly organized and I see this even at the college level; they have a tried and true system of funneling their young into the powerful institutions and acclimating them into the culture of organizations while at the same time feeding on their youthful energy to push them forward. However it seems that in our section of existence a lot of our movements are relying on the veterans to do both the groundwork, maintaining the routine posts, maintaining creative energy AND being at the helm as the captain and mouthpiece. This paradigm is ripe for exhaustion, fatigue and the nasty spiritual and spiritual side effects thereof.
The positive side of this equation is that it leaves so much room for growth!!! My question to everybody is: how can we better address the fear of my generation to organize and at the same time address the fear the elder generation may have of young leadership? Thank you to all those who took the time to read this post and all who plan on responding. Thank you and peace!
Brother Matthew, having conversations and building on that energy can put things in perspective as you described.
ignore the typos lol!