March 26, 2008

WireTap Writer Biko Baker Becomes the Director of the League of Young Voters

Posted by Kristina Rizga at 1:34PM

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WireTap is thrilled to announce that our editorial board member and writer, Robert "Biko" Baker became the Executive Director of the League of Young Voters this week. Congratulations to Biko and the League!

As Billy Wimsatt, the founding visionary of the organization and former executive director, explained in an email, "Biko has been with the League since 2003. He came up through the ranks from Local Organizer to State Director to National Organizing Director ... . When I started the League back in 2003, my greatest dream was to build a powerful national youth organization and leave it in good hands. Today, my dream has come true. ... It's the perfect time for me to move on, and pass the torch to the next generation. ... "

I first met Biko in person at the Allied Media Conference in Detroit. Biko was on a panel with the author and activist Grace Lee Boggs and talked about the power of "collective activity of everyday Americans." He argued that the Civil Rights history is dominated by stories about strong primary leaders -- Malcolm X and Martin Luther King Jr. -- and how while they are important, their work wouldn't have lasting impact, if their rallies weren't attended by crowds of ordinary people, and more importantly, if the unsung heroes -- like Ella Baker -- weren't organizing tirelessly behind the scenes to bring people out to these rallies and engage them in the long term.

What struck me then was how refreshingly sincere and authentic Biko seemed to me. And how while clearly a brilliant intellectual and organizer, he broke down the most complex ideas into accessible, impassioned terms that made people's heads and bodies in the crowd nod approvingly. As I talked to Biko after his presentation, he listened attentively, without any judgment, and thanked me for my interest in a deeply humble way I rarely encounter in accomplished, star leaders.

I think this is the side of Biko that makes the best leaders. Speaking with compassion from real experience, being able to listen, and staying humble is what I have seen inspire skeptical voters and bring progressives with different priorities together.

I asked Biko to publish his presentation on WireTap, and invited him to be on WireTap's editorial board. Biko has since published many powerful stories, including a deeply personal "Surviving Kilwaukee" on how local communities can move beyond violence. It serves as WireTap's guide to more stories on solutions to youth violence.

I find Biko's ascendance from the grassroots to the national stage especially inspiring, because in the field of progressive youth organizing, I still run into some leaders, who seem to fall into the temptation of building their own power -- resumes, organizational empires, strategic friendships, narrowly defined issues. It delivers fame, money, impressive quantitative numbers foundations and donors love, and it feels great; who can blame them.

And then there are the unsung heroes of our time too, with the vision of Billy and now, potential of Biko, who are building something bigger than their careers in the progressive movement or public service. When given real power, they are the translators, facilitators, shamans, who can bring people of varying backgrounds together to articulate a collective goal.

At the recent Take Back America conference, I heard people from various backgrounds use the same terms -- social and economic justice, healthcare, green jobs -- but even if you closed your eyes, you could tell when it was coming from someone, who knows what it's like not to have these things. They were the same words, but they felt different depending on who said it.

It must be because unless one knows what it's like not being able to see a doctor or loosing a loved one in a shooting yourself, it's hard to explain how failed policies and statistics affect real people in your city. Leaders like Biko, know first-hand what not having enough food feels like in the gut, and can talk about it in a way that will fire-up a new generation of folks to help the 37 million Americans, who live below the federal poverty line today.

The fact that Biko started as a local Milwaukee organizer and was able to work through the ranks to become the Executive Director of a national organization is an inspiring example for the entire progressive non-profit world, in which 80 percent of all meaningful leadership positions are still dominated by white men who often don't come from communities which they work to improve. This transition could serve as a blueprint for nurturing leadership from shut-out, invisible communities and helping those grassroots leaders take over the national bully pulpit.

Any way you slice it, in the next few decades, this country will have a once-in-a-generation opportunity to move closer to decreasing the growing disparity between rich and poor, and build a more just and sustainable economy. How much closer we get to it, I believe, will depend on people, who are closest to power, and how much they are willing to share that power for a bigger cause than their careers.