Question

Today some people argue that "back in the day" we had the best leaders: MLK, Malcolm X, Cesar Chavez, Dolores Huerta, Robert Kennedy, Dennis Banks, John Trudell, Maya Angelou and more. They say if only we had such leaders again we would be making more progress. the Civil Rights movement do you agree or disagree with this assessment? Does this claim rest on the Messiah Myth?

Answer 1

I do not agree with this assessment, because each time period has produced its own leaders who fought with the negative circumstances and helped people get the rights what they deserved. It also happened in the past and the leaders (as mentioned in the statement) emerged and led the people. In the past, civil rights were the biggest concern of the human societies in terms of voting rights, equality and presence of discrimination. It made some of the individuals to come ahead and led the people to form movement. It made these leaders to deliver what they could. But, today's scenario is different and it cannot be said that what was successful in the mast, can also be successful today using the same methods. Hence, rather recalling past leaders to resolve present day problems, it is better to find and emerge leadership from our own people. It will be evolving in nature, but it will be more effective.

The statement relies on Messiah myth as these leaders in the past were treated as messiah of their own communities to help them out of all the adversaries. Though, the messiah also keeps changing with the changing time period. The society is large, information is flowing from one end to another end of the world and world is also getting globalized. So, we need leaderships that can show the path that is more relevant in today's perspective.