“Why is Black America’s leadership allowed to do as they please without answering to the people they represent?” — Maria Lloyd

As the chaos in Ferguson, MO continues to unfold leading up to the announcement of the grand jury’s decision concerning Darren Wilson, a white police officer who fatally shot and killed an African-American teen named Michael Brown, I couldn’t help but wonder if policies on Capitol Hill could’ve prevented the racial tension America is experiencing in Ferguson, MO and throughout the rest of the nation.

That thought immediately led me to remember the two closed-door meetings Rev. Al Sharpton, National Urban League President Marc Morial, and then-NAACP President Ben Jealous had with Pres. Obama to discuss a “Black Agenda.” The first meeting convened in February 2010, after renowned commentator Tavis Smiley challenged the aforementioned for publicly stating Pres. Obama should not address the needs of Black Americans (despite chronic joblessness). The meeting left much to be desired as neither of the attendees publicly stated exactly what the Black Agenda they pitched to Pres. Obama consisted of.

It was after the second meeting that convened in December 2012 that Morial published an article on Politic365 detailing the specifics of the Black Agenda which included a reintroduction and passage of the Urban Jobs Act, reintroduction of the American Jobs Act, a ban on assault weapons and high capacity magazines and a call for universal background checks, a call for citizens to mobilize around the February 27th Supreme Court case challenging the constitutionality of Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act, and a reform of the nation’s dysfunctional and discriminatory criminal justice system.

There was even an under-reported third meeting that convened in February 2014. Attendees included Sharpton, Morial, National Coalition on Black Civic Participation President Melanie Campbell, Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights President Wade Henderson, NAACP Legal Defense Fund President Sherrilyn Ifill, National Bar Association President Patricia Rosier, then-interim NAACP President Lorraine Miller. The topics discussed during that meeting were criminal justice reform, income inequality and the Affordable Care Act, My Brothers Keeper, Black unemployment, job training, minimum wage, restoring and protecting voter rights, and state laws that threatened civil rights (e.g. Stand Your Ground).

The phrase “black America’s leadership” should ALAWAYS be used loosely and with caution since majority of our “leaders” are self-appointed. Read the rest of Maria’s article, to find out how much “progress” has actually been made since the “black leaders” discussed the “Black Agenda” with Obama in February of 2010.

Source: Maria Lloyd. “Hey Sharpton: What Transpired from the Black Agenda Meetings with the POTUS.” November 2014. http://kulturekritic.com/2014/11/news/maria-lloyd-hey-sharpton-transpired-black-agenda-meetings-potus/.

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