Oliver Willis takes on the leadership of the black movement, and pulls no punches.

I think it's past time for there to be a changing of the guard in black leadership in America. People like Farrakhan, Sharpton and Jackson are no better than hustlers, bigots, and crooks. There are hundreds of black leaders who believe in improving the lives of black Americans, and America in general, but the media keeps giving time to the Axis of Irrelevancy.

[kos from daily kos says] I have no opinion on the specifics -- I'm not African American, I don't consider it my business to tell them....

But aside from that, I sense the generational divide between new school activists (those of us who came "of age" politically in the late 90s and 00s), and those who harken back to the 60s and 70s.

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I'm increasingly convinced that the biggest intra-movement divide nowadays isn't ideological -- we mostly all agree on the same things -- but generational. Old school activists view politics and the activist realm differently than new school activists (very generally speaking). Those differences manifest themselves in arguments over single issue groups, effective activism, partisanship, tone, style, pragmatism, the types of candidates we should run, etc.

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New school progressives are also less tolerant of ideological orthodoxy. We don't fall in line with the "acceptable" liberal position, frankly, because we're not trained to fall in line. We are more likely to be educated in an economy that values "proactiveness" and "self-initiative" and "problem solving" over blindly following the orders of our boss.

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The political landscape is different, no doubt -- the politics of old where "leaders" told us how to think and act is dead. The media landscape has changed -- the era when a few editors and producers determined our "leaders" and excluded other voices is dead.

full post @ daily kos

I have heard lots of talk about all the infighting in the party [and elsewhere] and how it is so bad. I have yet to hear ANYONE often a solution beyond that "New School Progressives" should fall in line. I hope more moderate and compromising voice will start to realize that co-operation is a two way street. Now a one way TOLL ROAD!