A time to take leadership to next level

[Times photo: Kinfay Moroti] Last week, civic leaders and elected officials debated about Midtown subjects from economics to drugs to police presence. Uhuru leaders Chimurenga Waller, right, and Omali Yeshithela, center, encourage resident Bertha Peeples to share her thoughts. Recently, a drug suspect ran through Peeples' home during a police pursuit.

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By ELIJAH GOSIER, Times Columnist

© St. Petersburg Times
published February 5, 2002

Before the debate over crime in St. Petersburg's Midtown spirals further into absurdity, let's make sure we know what the topic is.

Then, let's make sure it's debatable.

The topic couldn't possibly be whether police should erase Midtown, or any other part of the city, from their patrol map. The majority of residents in Midtown -- and every any other part of the city -- want criminals out of their midst, and they want the police to play a major role in removing them.

The notion, foisted by some who are more infatuated with rhetoric and discord than with reason, that anyone wants to make his or her community a protectorate for drug dealers is just plain silly. The drug trade is inherently dangerous: Users are volatile, irrational and chronically desperate. Sellers are fearful, trigger-happy and live their lives in other sellers' cross hairs. No one wants any of them as a neighbor.

Even drug dealers don't want their communities made safe for drug dealers. That would just increase the already overcrowded field of competitors, drive prices down and dramatically shorten their life expectancy. They are happiest when demand is high and suppliers are scarce.

The topic of debate couldn't be whether the police or the National Guard should occupy Midtown -- or any other part of the city. Police exist to enforce the law, not to interfere in the normal course of citizens' private lives. History, including America's, especially America's, has shown that police entrusted with too much power can be at least as dangerous as a handful of lawbreakers selling drugs.

The debate is not whether steps need to be taken to improve the economic standing of Midtown. Even the most accomplished fool knows that anyone who has some sense of security and a feeling of worth is not likely to jeopardize either by standing on the corner selling $5 pieces of crack or by putting a gun to a cab driver's head for the few dollars in his pocket.

Last week, the NAACP and several leaders from other traditional organizations and governmental bodies held a press conference urging residents of Midtown to declare war on drug dealing and to support the police in doing so. They also urged city officials to step up the pace of developing economic opportunities in the area.

A day later, a group of leaders from the Uhuru Movement, the Coalition of African-American Leadership and several other non-traditional organizations held a news conference to say that policing policies demanding that citizens be treated with respect must continue and that immediate attention needs to be focused on Midtown's economy.

Both presented good points. Variations on the same points, actually.

But some of the rhetoric at both contained sound bites that in news reports looked like a debate.

NAACP president Darryl Rouson charged that "fringe groups" are "playing footsies" with drug dealers. Omali Yeshitela, founder of the Uhuru Movement, countered that his group is not a fringe organization and that he has fought against drugs for years.

I have just one followup question for both men to ponder:

Who cares?

Who cares what the leaders of the two most influential organizations in Midtown think of each other's domain? The answer probably doesn't go far past, well, Yeshitela and Rouson.

Unfortunately, an inflated ego is a byproduct -- and probably an essential element -- of leadership. To walk point for a group of people and their varied viewpoints and expectations requires a person who thinks pretty highly of himself. Great leaders have great egos. But the greatest leaders make theirs look like humility.

There is no question that Rouson and Yeshitela have the potential for greatness. Both have taken organizations that existed for years on, yes, the fringes of this city's governance and made them relevant, substantial forces in decisionmaking.

Rouson has multiplied NAACP membership and telescopically increased its visibility on key issues. Yeshitela parlayed his credible run for mayor into a coalition of conscientious people from throughout the city.

Fortuitously, both have arrived at their current leadership niches when all the elements needed to drag Midtown out of its doldrums are in place. They have a mayor who has pinned his legacy largely on how far Midtown advances during his watch; they have a deputy mayor whose job is to find ways to boost Midtown's economic standing; they have a police chief who is committed to enforcing the law without violating rights in the name of protecting them.

Perhaps most important, they have a community full of people who are ready to work for change. Many of them were at the press conferences.

Bertha Peeples stopped by on her way to church so she could correct the way she and her community had been portrayed in the paper.

"What the black people need are jobs," said Mrs. Peeples, 62, who days earlier drew media attention after police chased a suspect through her house.

"We're not mad about the police doing their job," said Carlton Green. "We're mad about the way they're doing it."

"I don't feel afraid in my community. I don't feel at all unsafe," two-year resident Gloria March said, adding that she is ready to work conscientiously to improve it.

The window of opportunity created by this confluence of circumstances won't remain open forever. Terms of office end. Enthusiasm wanes. Collective energy dissipates.

Life as we know it won't end just because this current window of opportunity slams shut. Yeshitela still will be regarded as a leader, with potential and followers. Rouson will still be regarded as a leader, with potential and followers.

Midtown will still be regarded as a place with too many drugs and too few alternatives.

Therein lies the tragedy, the brunt of which will fall on people such as Mrs. Peeples, Green and March, whose unscripted passion for their community captured the attention of news reporters.

The time is ripe for a great leader -- or two -- to emerge.

And that's not debatable.

-- To reach Elijah Gosier, call (727) 893-8650 or e-mail gosier@sptimes.com.

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