During the recent insurgent community action around Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick and his nine month fall from grace and power, a Detroit City Councilman produced a performance event at City Hall in the large auditorium on the 13th floor.  He had a few months earlier produced a similar event in a local church.  Both were typical of black so-called leadership's response to serious social issues or urban challenges.

To respond to crises, Detroit's pundits, preachers, spokespeople, elected officials, candidates, leaders, wannabe leaders and anyone else loitering nearby have a set formula regardless of the conflict.  They resort to the tried and true, to what we're good at producing based on decades, if not centuries, of practice: rallies, meetings, marches, speeches, praying and singing, all of which have little material value or measurable results though they may provide some psychic relief or spiritual uplift.

We are noticeably short on: agenda development and communication, study, research, debate, planning, recruitment, organizing, coalitions, clean-up, written reports, critical analysis, financial underwriting, follow-through or archiving.  No surprise then, that our problems recur with each generation.  So these are areas of growth that we all need to pay in-depth attention to.  We can all address these topics at the public library on a weekly basis, on the Internet on a daily basis, and personally or in a small group with a mentor or mentors (a teacher, not a leader).  Once we have reached some level of skill, we need to put our knowledge into action with a cadre of colleagues operating within our community. 

The proverb states, "Fine words will not grow wheat."  Thus, when the people are hungry and must go to community pantries, we don't need speeches, we need farmers.  When the people are homeless, we don't need spokesmen, we need builders.  When we need mechanics to repair bicycles, cars, trucks, buses and trains, we don't need singers.  When we need instruction in math, English and science, we don't need meetings, parties and award ceremonies. 

In the 60s the slogan was, "Power to the People."  In the 80s it was, "Fight the Power."  Now it should be, "Production to the People."  Six examples of production operations, among many I could cite, to use as models include: Black Masks Magazine, publisher, Beth Turner, New Federal Theater, producer, Woodie King, Jr., Project BAIT, producer David Rambeau, National Black Theater Festival, producer Larry Hamlin (dec.) Timbooktu.com, publisher Memphis Vaughn, Jr. and the Metro Business Information Guide, publisher Chris Woodard.  These can be researched in depth via your local library or on an Internet search engine.  You are invited to add to this list or develop one that suits your interests, background, support or participation.

You should also pick seven (7) organizations (not individuals) in our community that you can personally vouch for, that you would recommend for study, for use as a model, organizations that have a track record, that have had an uplifting impact on our people.  Next, let's examine how these organizations (not individuals) productively network (not socialize) with other organizations.  Then let us continue our discussion of solutions.   Such an exercise will deepen our productive insight and hopefully, our practice.    

At the Detroit City Hall show, speaker after speaker took the podium and rhymed and rapped to an eager audience who were quite familiar with the standard script.  Each in succession tried to match, if not outperform, their predecessor.  Because the show was performed in a public hall no donations were collected.  Because it was sponsored by a councilman, no rent was paid. 

When the rental tab falls due, it will be picked up by Detroit's overburdened and exploited taxpayers, like most of the lawyers' fees, the settlements, the court costs and the wasted work time spent on the mayoral scandal of Team (Detroit Mayor Kwame) Kilpatrick.

What occurred at the rally was formulaic, ritualistic behavior, easy to digest, limited to a comfort zone of the least common denominator.  Nothing much in it to learn, just a repetition of what everyone already knew.  However, rallies do provide some opportunity for networking, entertainmnet, and the development of social contacts. 

Vendors, too, can benefit from the sale of products, particularly fast-food and beverages.  T-shirts and other memorabilia might be hawked to supporters of the "cause".  Clean-up personnel and security can also gain employment, since the sponsors never think about cleaning up the mess their followers create when they willy-nilly discard flyers, napkins, wrappers, bags, banners, signs, plastic bottles and trash of all kinds. 

Clean-up is not an overhwelming task.  Throughout American history we've been relegated as maids, prisoners, janitors, busboys, street sweepers, garbagemen, yardmen and assistants of all kinds to cleaning up after somebody.  Why can't we clean up after ourselves at home, in our neighborhoods, at our meetings and at our rallies?  You tell me.  Better yet, don't tell me, tell yourself or your black brother. 

If one is socially alienated, rallies can relieve one's isolation or stress, and place one in a crowd of sympathetic congregants all humming the same tune.  The basic idea is to indoctrinate the true believer, not to educate.  "Leaders" are there to pontificate, stroke their own egos and to reassert their "leadership".  Thus, programs are designed not to have a q & a period, or to hold one briefly at the end as an irritating afterthought.  Lord knows the "leaders" don't want anybody to point out any mistakes, to make points on their own, or to provide new information that the "experts" don't know.  Anyone who dares to do that is castigated, labelled a trouble-maker, or verbally abused by the audience of the faithful.  Sometimes "security" is summoned to quell the so-called disturbance.

My attitude in recent years has been to hope the speeches are skipped and that the performance procedes directly to the Q & A.  The audience frequently knows as much, if not more, than the speakers, and the members of the audience aren't nearly as pretentious.  This is especially so at city council rallies.  Elected officals seem to think they're ''all that'' using titles which grow longer by the rally.  Every other elected official is called "my dear friend" even though they use less affectionate introductions for their peers offstage.  (e.g. the instance when Detroit City Council woman Monica Conyers called the then City Council President Ken Cockrel Jr. "Shrek".  Subsequently, when Cockrel became mayor, she hugged him lovingly.)   It's all an act, which is ok for the experienced who know the game and the script.  Meanwhile, the affectations grow as each election approaches, while the courtesy to and respect for the voting public may also increase, at least marginally.    

Marches frequently preceed the rallies.  In and of themselves both provide public relations for the "Cause", turn the heads of on-lookers, and sometimes earn media attention.  What marches are really good for is exercise, but how often have you heard a group announce they're holding an exercise march, after which they'll host a rally for some community purpose or another.   

Praying is another component of the formula.  Prayers can build the spirit, relieve personal tension and affirm personal beliefs.  However, if a group is called to prayer, no one ever considers the varied individual beliefs that might be present in the crowd.  How often are Hindus asked to present.  Or Buddhists?  Or atheists?  Not likely. 

And singing.  If the rally is held in a church, singing is a sine qua non.  When the attending choir is capaple, singing can be the best part of the show.  When you have to depend of the audience, you never know what level of quality you'll receive. 

In truth, rallies, and the other items on their agenda, are a sign of social, economic and political weakness.  When the rich or the powerful march or hold rallies then you'll know it's a sign of material, political and social strength, and be something the poor or the weak should work on.  Until then, which time will never come to pass, we might as well prepare ourselves for another march, another rally, and more of the same to confront another problem facing our community. 

Of course, these actions are culture, class, resource and skill appropriate for their developers, so I can hardly offer a negative critique of what they do.  It has been suggested that at the zenith of community action in the 60s only 2% of the black populace participated in The Struggle.  So any level of involvement today represents significant consciousness, and that I applaud.

I have made some marches and rallies in my day (and missed some too.)  If I hadn't, I would be silent.  So I suggest that you too should go through an acquaintance period with rallies and marches, singing and meeting, and then move on.  As for me, at this point I'll leave them to another generation and wish them well.

Some of my readers may ask where are the "solutions" in this essay.  Four brief paragraphs above do contain some alternative suggestions.  But, that said, why should I provide you with "solutions".  I don't owe you any, nor do I intend to suggest (though one could easily think otherwise) that those I critique should, can or will ever change, or that I want them to.  Wouldn't it be better, if you want "solutions", to discover them for yourself.  I'm merely interested in analysis, and I think I've  provided enough of that.  

The likelihood is that you're reading this essay in a free media, so there's only so much one should expect for free.  You can always contact me for consultation, but expect to pay for that.  Warmest regards.

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