Black Lives Matter organizers reject single-voice leadership as a dead model.

Evidence

Something deeper is going on here than a generational split. The young activists who challenged Sharpton questioned the very model of leadership he represents. For them, the idea of a single male voice that stands in for the interests of all black people is a dead option. Even one of Sharpton’s youth leaders acknowledged the problem: “The issue with my generation is we’re more the Occupy organizing model. You know, everyone can be a leader, that kind of thing.” Sharpton bristles at such an idea. He has been working hard for most of his adult life to be the “Head Negro in Charge” (HNIC). A democratic model of leadership does not jibe with that aspiration. But, in one sense, Sharpton is right. The way race works in this country, if black people refused the idea of an HNIC, someone, somewhere would invent one and force him down our throats. — Eddie S. Glaude Jr., Democracy in Black, 499

Categorization

• XREF: The HNIC-versus-sprawling-leadership tension echoes debates over decentralized organizing in other social movements; the ‘someone would invent one’ claim connects to how media and state seek a single negotiable black voice. — connects to: Leading race theorists saw representative democracy as a dead end for black politics.; Unelected black leaders claiming to represent all black people kill black democratic life — Eddie S. Glaude Jr., Democracy in Black: How Race Still…, 484; Ferguson’s decentralized protest model rejected conventional march permits and charismatic leaders — Eddie S. Glaude Jr., Democracy in Black: How Race Still…, 592 (+1 more)
• yield-rescued: below the book’s yield-target cutoff, included anyway for connecting to: Leading race theorists saw representative democracy as a dead end for black politics.; Unelected black leaders claiming to represent all black people kill black democratic life — Eddie S. Glaude Jr., Democracy in Black: How Race Still…, 484; Ferguson’s decentralized protest model rejected conventional march permits and charismatic leaders — Eddie S. Glaude Jr., Democracy in Black: How Race Still…, 592 (+1 more)

Broader Connections

• Ferguson’s decentralized protest model rejected conventional march permits and charismatic leaders #exemplifies (0.92) — Eddie S. Glaude Jr., Democracy in Black, 592