Universally Speaking
Rahim Islam
Rahim Islam is a National Speaker and Writer, Convener of Philadelphia Community of Leaders, and President/CEO of Universal Companies, a community development and education management company headquartered in Philadelphia, PA. Follow Rahim Islam on FaceBook(Rahim Islam) & Twitter (@RahimIslamUC)
I believe that there comes a time within every generation when it is figuratively tapped on the shoulder and offered the chance to do a great and mighty thing that is unique to their gifts, talents, and time.
What a tragedy if that moment finds us unprepared, unqualified, or uninspired for what could be our finest hour.
The time is now for our community to stand up and heed the call of the spirit of change that is percolating throughout the city.
That spirit is asking us to acknowledgethat current strategies are not working for us and that we are falling further and further behind.
Many of us are sick and tired of being sick and tired and want to see real change happen in our lifetimes. For that to happen, – we must really want it.
The time is now for our finest hour but it can’t be achieved until we begin to cooperate with each other. We must change our behaviors.
My father once told me that if you really want something, find a way to achieve it. If you don’t, youwill find excuses not to achieve what it is you want (you really don’t want it enough).
Our success will not be achieved by an individual. It will only come when we begin to work collectively. We all want to see a better education system for our children; we all want to see the prison system release our men and stop locking them up; we all want to see our communities cleaned up and revitalized; we all want to see the senseless murders of our Black youth eliminated; we all want to see Black businesses opening and thriving in our community; and we all want to see unemployment reduced with full employment for every able Black man and woman.
While these issues are daunting, there are many, many more that we must address.
Achieving success for any of these issues is a process and we can’t jump over any of the steps. While we all see the “promised land” (we know what we want), to get there, we will have to earn it.
This means that we must be on the path for change. That path is communication (conversation), cooperation (functional unity), and coordination (strategy).
• Communication (Conversation) – Because we haven’t had too many “wins,” we have become very cynical as a people. There is so much cynicism now that we must challenge it and overcome its impact one day at a time (we must build up a resistance to its hold on us).
Like those who have long-term addiction (i.e. drugs, alcohol, sex, etc.), we must face our demons one day at a time.
The demon of cynicism is so entrenched that hopelessness engulfs our community and paralyses our every effort before we even get started.
There is no way we can tackle the issues we face without first discussing them; an orchestra (multiple people that are working to produce one sound), before it actually performs, must tune up.
What does our tune up look like? It looks like having a number of conversations that attempt to get us on the same page.
We must not only understand the key issues facing our community, but we must understand why those issues are not getting fixed.
No matter what people say, when they try to argue against this process it’s their long-term addiction speaking versus their sobriety.
Many of our people are so hurt, overwhelmed and sometimes delusional that they believe we can achieve real solutions without first having significant discussions.
• Cooperation (Functional Unity) – Many times when we call for unity amongst our people, we are calling for something that is unachievable, especially at our current stage of development. Why? Because, many times the call for unity is an emotional one usually in response to some outrage that we just experienced (were sick and tired of what is happening to us).
Calling for unity when there hasn’t been real and sustained dialogue will produce what we have now – nothing.
I, like you, want to see our people unified, but it will never happen if we’re not talking to each other.
This type of unity is so abstract, like love; it’s so subjective that it has stymied our ability to make any progress. How do you quantify it? How do you measure it? As a people, we are diverse in our thinking and our solutions which require a hefty dose of dialogue.
Unfortunately, we’ve wasted so much time trying to obtain unity that we have gotten nowhere.
We must change our thought processes and focus on achieving a goal that is measurable and achievable – cooperation versus unity. Cooperation is basically when we are united around a common agenda, a common cause. Our cause must be that each and every Black man, woman, and child, be about an upliftment of our people in America that involves the reduction of the massive disparities in critical areas of wealth, education, and poverty. We must all be able to cooperate around a sound plan of action regarding these issues no matter where we are in the socioeconomic spectrum of life.
Can the Black religious community get behind this?
Can the Black political community get behind this?
Can the Black educators, businesses and civic organizations get behind this?
I believe so, especially if we stop calling for unity and call for cooperation. Unity will come.
• Coordination (Strategy) – Because of the unbelievable challenges that we face, our solutions must be balanced, sober, and as best as possible, without emotion, rhetoric and theatrics. Our coordination must be near perfect for us to mount any sustained campaign.
As a people, we must grow up and do the hard work. We must get past the fantasy of unity and the reality of cooperation.
We must coordinate the unbelievable talents and skills of our people if we are to have a fighting chance.
I liken the resources and power that exist in our community to the electrical energy that is running through the wires representing thousands of watts of energy. Guess what? Unless that energy is captured and contained, it can’t be used.
It becomes a potentially deadly force. In order to use the electrical energy, we need input the appropriate current and ground it at the output (electrical socket) – infrastructure and coordination.
Together we must build the socket.
Don’t get it twisted, the issues we face are hundreds of years in the making. I know some don’t believe this (okay you don’t have to).
The fact remains that the systems we must correct and or adjust has no history of serving our people and, therefore, require the best strategic thinking and planning.
How is it that we believe we can just march our way out of this mess? We can holler and scream all day long and nothing will get done.
Nothing will get done until we do the work of building the infrastructure (socket) to corral the unbelievable talent and resources that exist in our community and use it to eradicate our problems.
We have so many issues which require that we must determine which issues have the biggest impact and how they can be addressed with the greatest impact.
Brothers and sisters we have work to do and no one will give it to us, unless we earn it. Earning it requires that we take one step at a time and at no time will we be able to skip through the process.
“There comes a time when silence is betrayal” Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
Black Unity – Progress through Organization!!