The Old Leadership vs. the New Crowd

Unfortunately, Mychael Bell is still in prison awaiting a new trial as a juvenile. I have no idea why the judge can't grant this kid bail. He's been in jail for ten months and his conviction just got tossed. Is he a flight risk? Give me a break.

Many still question the point of yesterday's protest. Will is actually help the six teenagers? Does it really indicate the birth of a new era of African American political activity?

I wrote yesterday about what made this protest different.
Or you could read this, about internet organization. Or this, about the role of black radio.

Here is a related anecdotal story:

At around 8:00 AM yesterday, in Jena, a large crowd was gathered in front of the La Salle Parish courthouse, where a podium was erected. The crowd was outraged but also excited and celebratory as leaders gathered at the lectern.

First to grab the microphone, were members of the Southern Christian Leadership Council, which was a stalwart organization of the 1960s Civil Rights Movement, founded by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Of three or four gentlemen standing there in their yellow SCLC hats, one came forward and began to address the crowd, noting the historical importance of the SCLC, and his own personal intimacy with Ralph Abernathy and Dr. King. Largely, he seemed to be attempting to give as much credit to the SCLC as possible for their role in bringing about the Jena protest. People around me rolled their eyes, these guys were clearly past their prime, especially as far as their ability to connect to the hip hop generation is concerned.


As he spoke, another group that shared the stage began to shout over him, with the help of megaphone. This group was the New Black Panther Party. One woman, in particular was clearly uninterested in what SCLC had to say and continued shouting slogans through the megaphone as the SCLC official with the microphone pleaded with her. "Please, everyone will have a chance to speak. There is a certain way that we're going to do things."

The crowd became annoyed and chanted "We are United! We are United!" while the two groups were talking over each other. The woman with the megaphone showed no interest in waiting her turn, so the SCLC vacated the podium in disgust.

Now, with access to the microphone and its speakers, the woman stepped up. The crowd cheered along as she lead chants and slogans and applauded her as she introduced herself as a representative of the New Black Panther Party.

Next, she began to criticize the direction of the protest. She laid into radio host and protest organizer Michael Baisden for "selling out" the protest by bringing in Al Sharpton and negotiating with corporate interests by agreeing to hold an afternoon rally in Alexandria. She implied that by doing so, Baisden and protest organizers were short-circuiting the campaign to free Mychael Bell. While her critique of protest tactics may have produced valid points had she continued, the crowd was clearly upset by her attacks on the other organizers, booing her rigorously and renewing chants of "we are united."

She regained the favor of the protesters by chanting for Mykael Bell and handed the microphone over to another Panther. The damage was done, however, and his more radical statements were met by more booing and chants for unity and against "hate."

The microphone then went to a seemingly unaffiliated Reverend who got the crowd's undivided attention and admiration for a great speech that lauded the protest and the beauty of seeing so many different people together for one cause, etc. The SCLC returned to share the stage and the speeches continued without similar incidents throughout the day. The Panthers remained and seemed to adopt the unity rhetoric during their other opportunities with the microphone.

What is remarkable to me about this particular incident was the crowd's disinterest in these historic bastions of African American leadership. Throughout the day, I noticed that people posed for pictures with those dressed in the traditional uniform of the Black Panthers. This, to me, speaks volumes about their modern relevance as an organizing force. Members of the SCLC seemed like relics too, as they spoke about their own organization's importance and significance.

For me, this particular incident really underscores a shift in the way African American political organization is occurring in this country. These old movement organizations, SCLC and the BPP, are largely antiquated and provided little substantive mobilization momentum, particularly in comparison to the critical role of the blogosphere and radio. This is why I think so many people that have followed this issue closely or were there yesterday are so excited about this particular protest. It is easy to be dismissive of claims about the dawn of a new civil rights movement as fantastic or sensational. However, to shrug off the significance of the Jena mobilization misses a real chance to analyze a breakthrough in internet-driven political activism.