The Messianic Complex

In my last post I referred to the ways in which each Black person can contribute to our collective benefit. Making moves on behalf of Black people isn't terribly complicated but we have suffered from a messianic complex for a considerable amount of time. I'll address both the complex and the ways in which we can all contribute (and thus conquer the complex) in a second. First though, the let's deal with the problems of the messianic complex. The problems (at least these days) can be summed up in three words: Al and Jesse. Not to pick on these two, but the only reason that anyone still listens to them is because of our messianic complex as a people. For those who aren't up on the messianic complex concept, I'm not referring to any sort of religious themes, I'm actually talking about the psychic need of Black people to have a savior figure come and lead us to the "promised land". Al and Jesse exist as political and cultural entities because they are holdovers from the "golden days" (read: the Civil Rights Movement) and the leadership vacuum in the community has made allowed them to persist. Black people feel like we need a leader. We need someone to tell us what to do. We need one of our own to rise up and take charge. This complex is by no means exclusive to Black Americans but I'm not really in the business of worrying about everybody else (let's handle the issues at home first, ok?). The messianic complex poses some serious problems. It allows relics and demagogues to represent Black people in public and somehow empowers these in the minds of our more impressionable brothers and sisters, preventing some Black people with means of improving our situation from doing so based on a "lack of direction" (read: no messianic figure telling them what to do). Look, Al and Jesse don't have any better idea of a holistic plan for improving Black life than anyone else, and though the problems are complicated and challenging, awaiting a word from "on high" is fruitless and no longer an excuse. I'll even propose a couple of ways people can be agents for the improvement of our people. For those of us who are interested in politics, you don't have to be Barack Obama to effect change for Black people, as a matter of fact some of the lower positions in the political ladder allow people like aldermen and city council members to affect real change especially in urban settings. Businessmen can support local aldermen and city council members in their efforts to affect positive changes in Black communities by holding fundraisers or allowing them to hold community meetings in their business areas or even just selling buttons to support the candidates. But to a degree these things are already happening, so what more can be done? By decreasing the level of attention on these messianic figures (Obama included), Black people can improve our communities from within by focusing on improving each individual situation at the grassroots level. And as a man very skeptical of politicians, I propose that we support individual policies, not necessarily the personalities behind them. If we can be more judicious at the local and national level concerning what policies we support, we can earn a lot more in the way of support (both financial and otherwise) for initiatives that benefit us. What that means is detaching ourselves locally and nationally from personality politics. No more political figures whom we support regardless of what they do or don't do, we need to think critically about if these politicians and other leaders are providing what they promise to us or if our loyalty is leading us to essential disenfranchisement (because our votes and/or support are assumed). This means looking critically not only at our community leadership but also at our beloved democratic party. I am far from a republican and definitely not very conservative but if the Republican Party is proposing policies that benefit us, there is no reason not to sell our votes to the highest bidder. This perception of Black people being married to the Democratic Party or to a specific set of obsolete "leaders" needs to die with Jesse's career. So, let's rid of ourselves of this messianic complex and leave the saviors alone until Jesus comes home.