Repositioning Race: Prophetic Research in a Postracial Obama Age

Part I: The Pitfalls and Possibilities of Prophetic Race Theory

Part I • The Pitfalls and Possibilities of Prophetic Race Theory Cultivating Leadership Since Africans were initially brought to North America as indentured servants and forced into slavery shortly thereafter, myriad theories have emerged about Black Americans’ experiences as racial minorities, adaptive strategies and resilience, and the process of cultivating individual and collective racial identity. For nearly 400 years, macro- and microlevel theories on race and leadership have emanated in diversity and intensity from pulpit preachers, academicians in ivory towers, politicians at city halls, everyday people, and grassroots activists. Whether anecdotal, empirical, situational, or experiential, each paradigm provides a glimpse of the complex legacy of people of African descent in the Americas and the rise and fall of their various leaders. Since the historic election of the first African American President of the United States, Barack Obama, in 2008, and his reelection in 2012, additional theories about race and leadership have been created. Furthermore, existing theories have been reexamined and reimagined. Two imperatives have been central to these theories of the relationship between race and leadership: (1) people of African descent must provide authentic, culturally relevant descriptive and proscriptive leadership models, and (2) they must craft counternarratives against controlling images and negative structural forces. To 17 18 • Part I achieve these imperatives, numerous Black leaders have engaged in a prophetic process of thinking, writing, teaching, and living that challenged the status quo; pushed back against inequality in its many forms; fostered critical dialogue and community engagement; and unabashedly reflected a lifelong process of informing society about what it means to be of African descent. However, these leaders also confronted the recurring pitfalls and possibilities of Black leadership, which frequently had consequences for Black communities. This part examines three notions of prophetic race theory and leadership. Each theory emphasizes the significance of being dedicated, proactive, and uncompromising in confronting the challenges of a racialized society. Each chapter considers what constitutes a Black leader; how critical race theory can inform the relationship between race and leadership; and ultimately how laypersons can become equipped, educated , and empowered to take on leadership roles in the fight against racism. Through a critical lens, the chapters in this part provide clarity on multiple theoretical models that can be used in this postracial era (which some scholars refer to as neoracism): that is, an era where traditional forms of racism (i.e., lynching, mob rule, and race riots) have given way to more subtle and nuanced forms of race-based inequality linked to color-blind racism, ambivalence, psychic violence, microaggressions , ethnocentrism, and class-based intraracial disagreements over the continuing significance of race. These postracial manifestations of racial animus exclude undesirables from White and “honorary White” spaces, as well as from positions of power and privilege. The race paradigms presented in these chapters undergird and inform the empirical studies in parts II and III of this volume. In the face of both traditional and postracial sentiments, and buttressed by an African American male’s ascension to the most powerful seat of leadership in the Western world, Eduardo Bonilla-Silva, Earl Wright II, and Robert L. Reece argue for new understandings of the possibilities and pitfalls of prophetic race theory and how it can translate into self-reflection, self-efficacy, self-empowerment, collective racial uplift, and minority leadership. Eduardo Bonilla-Silva offers a critical assessment of contemporary minority leadership in political and academic arenas that, consistent with W. E. B. Du Bois’s call for collective reflection and social engagement, emphasizes self-sacrifice and the recognition that injustice must be challenged by every person of good will regardless of their station in life. The prophetic vision of Bonilla-Silva’s theory on leadership amidst the new racial terrain in the United States mandates an uncompromising challenge to existing racial and cultural barriers in the Part I • 19 seemingly postracial world he refers to as “Obamerica.” Far from simply applauding the political, economic, and social advancements of a cadre of Blacks and minority leaders, Bonilla-Silva argues that many of these accomplishments are superficial and have come at the expense of Black and brown persons whose concerns are not seriously engaged by Black elites. Instead, many Black and brown political and professional leaders, according to Bonilla-Silva, take the masses for granted, often actively engaging in efforts antithetical to the best interests of their base racial or ethnic group(s). Using President Barack Obama as an exemplar, Bonilla-Silva...