Julianne Malveaux
Barbara Williams Skinner, at 75, looks at least two decades younger than her birth certificate suggests. Much of her youthful energy is due to her discipline, which includes a mindful prayer practice, a vegetarian diet, and a focused mind. But as much of her youthfulness, I think, can be attributed to her engagement with emerging leaders, the younger people who are poised to lead and learn. On November 29, she celebrated the 25th anniversary of the Skinner Leadership Institute (www.skinnerleadership.org), the organization she founded to offer leadership lessons to both emerging and established leaders.
While well known in Washington political circles, as the founder (with her now-deceased husband Tom Skinner) of the Prayer Breakfast at the Congressional Black Caucus Annual Legislative Conference, Skinner is not the household word that she should be. She has been a spiritual advisor to many members of Congress and to President Barack Obama, and she has done the “bridge building” work of bringing together African American leaders who have sometimes had contentious relationships. For more than a decade, she pulled corporate, political, and community people together for a retreat that involved both learning time and bonding time. Mrs. Coretta Scott King, Dr. Betty Shabazz, Dr. Maya Angelou, and Dick Gregory were among those who attended the retreat.
Barbara Skinner was the first Executive Director of the Congressional Black Caucus. Although she was raised by a hard-working, God-fearing mother, Skinner spent much of her young adult life mad at God. She writes movingly of her journey in her new book, I Prayed, Now What: My Journey from No Faith to Deep Faith (Fortune Publishing Group: 2018). Barbara writes about her struggle to embrace God, her relationship and marriage to Tom Skinner, who had been a spiritual advisor to, among others, the Washington Redskins, and about ways to pray for political enemies. She spoke of these things, and many more, at the celebration of the Skinner Leadership Institute, an event that not only celebrated Skinner and her leadership, but also lifted up some of the women around her.
The intergenerational The intergenerational Lee and anger about Hakeem Jeffries.
African American millennials may be justifiably impatient when Baby Boomers and those even older dominate African American leadership. With the top three Congressional Democrats, Pelosi, Steny Hoyer, and James Clyburn, and also Barbara Lee all over 70, there is a compelling case to be made for the younger Jefferies, under 50, to be included in Congressional leadership.
At the same time, there is something to be said for seasoned leadership, and for the inclusion of the exceptional and courageous African American Barbara Lee, in leadership. There were undoubtedly other issues, including those geographic and philosophical (Jeffries is more moderate than Lee, and Lee’s chairmanship would have put two Californians in the top four leaders), but true intergenerational cooperation would require something more than the gangsta move Jefferies pulled to eke out his win (by 10 votes).
After the midterm elections, the Congressional Black Caucus has emerged as a powerful bloc among Democrats, with a massive 53 members, nearly a quarter of the 235 Democrats who will be seated in Congress in January. The group’s power is weakened, however, when there are intergenerational conflicts and fissures among the membership. The Jeffries victory over Barbara Lee represents such a fissure. It will take the faith, fortitude and focus of prayer warrior Rev. Barbara Williams Skinner to help the Caucus embrace its highest and best purpose. If you don’t know Dr. Skinner, Google her!
[Julianne Malveaux is an author and economist. Her latest book “Are We Better Off? Race, Obama and Public Policy” is available via www.amazon. com for booking, wholesale inquiries or for more info visit www.juliannemalveaux.com.]
