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I am listening to the audiobook version of Four Hundred Souls, a series of essays edited by Ibram X Kendi and Keisha N. Blain. In this essay, I discovered words by Ella Baker that resonated strongly with me.
This lines up nicely with my own pat phrase - Never believe your own press - without the "oppressed peoples" aspect, of course. Ms Baker was a strong proponent of organizing from the bottom up, emphasizing the "roots" part of grassroots in an organization. I am fascinated by the other quotes I have found about her and intend to study up more on her life. I have put a biography of her life on hold at the library.
Relating to the above quote, she also said
While it is a quote on standing on its own without context, a little digging has shown it came from King setting up the management of his church and that this stems from "an unconditional willingness of the people to accept the pastor's leadership." While he goes on to say that nothing can happen without the enthusiastic participation of lay members and their assumption of equal responsibility for implementing his plans, it appears in what I am reading that the emphasis is on HIS plans. So naturally, I lean much more towards Ms Baker's mindset.
In many ways, this is an almost stereotypical male/female thought process on leadership and this freeform documentation of my thoughts on an especially cool quote that resonated with me has definitely taken an unexpected turn!
"I have always felt it was a handicap for oppressed peoples to depend so largely upon a leader, because unfortunately in our culture, the charismatic leader usually becomes a leader because he has found a spot in the public limelight." ~ Ella Baker
Relating to the above quote, she also said
"There is also the danger in our culture that because a person is called upon to give public statements and is acclaimed by the establishment, such a person gets to the point of believing that he is the movement."
In direct contrast, Martin Luther King, Jr stated"Leadership never ascends from the pew to the pulpit but invariably descends from the pulpit to the pew."
While it is a quote on standing on its own without context, a little digging has shown it came from King setting up the management of his church and that this stems from "an unconditional willingness of the people to accept the pastor's leadership." While he goes on to say that nothing can happen without the enthusiastic participation of lay members and their assumption of equal responsibility for implementing his plans, it appears in what I am reading that the emphasis is on HIS plans. So naturally, I lean much more towards Ms Baker's mindset.
In many ways, this is an almost stereotypical male/female thought process on leadership and this freeform documentation of my thoughts on an especially cool quote that resonated with me has definitely taken an unexpected turn!
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