By Aswad Walker | Houston Defender | Word In Black

This post was originally published on Defender Network

(WIB) – With challenging days ahead, Black people need tangible examples of leadership in all facets of Black life now more than ever. That includes the church house and other religious institutions, schools, civic organizations, the J-O-B, and in our homes.

Here are some high-level aspects of leadership we must demand from those in leadership positions and influence, and from ourselves.

Creativity

In 2020, while the world was knee-deep in the COVID pandemic, the U.S. faced a presidential election for the ages. With very real health concerns, limited engagement with other people, and very real fears (i.e. fears of COVID inflection and of a potential end to democracy), many feared that voter turnout nationally and locally would be at an all-time low.

Then seemingly out of nowhere came Chris Hollins, who was at the time the interim Harris County Clerk. The task before him – overseeing this massively important election amid a global health crisis – would have been daunting for someone with a lifetime of experience in the position. Hollins shouldered the responsibility beginning in June of 2020, just five short months before election day, and even less time before early voting kicked off.

Undaunted, Hollins tapped into the leadership bag of essentials and pulled out a large helping of creativity. He devised a drive-thru voting system, a 24-hour voting location and more, with each option expanding the possibilities for Harris County residents to cast their ballots, and do so safely.

In 2025, and beyond, we’ll need that same level of “meet-the-moment” creativity whenever and wherever we convene.

Accountability

Boynton Chapel Methodist Church’s pastor, Reverend Linda Davis, is all about serving the community. In fact, it’s no stretch to say she believes her position as a faith leader brings with it a certain level of accountability she has to do whatever possible to meet the needs of those in her congregation, as well as residents who live with Boynton’s reach.

Davis has made her church home to various outreach activities that allow youth, seniors, and everyone in between to receive care. In 2019 and 2022, Boynton partnered with three other Methodist churches in the Third Ward community and the Texas Dental Association to bring a free dental care clinic to Emancipation Park.

“We transformed the park into a dental clinic where we had 80 dentists that participated and over 600 volunteers from all across the city. And we served over 547 people with free dental care that first year, receiving in-kind donations of almost $600,000,” said Davis.

That level of service and meeting community needs would not have happened without Davis’s sense of accountability for those in her midst.

Vision

Project Row Houses, an iconic Houston institution that’s won national and international acclaim, is a powerful example of leadership through vision creation. The PRH website describes it’s historic beginnings as follows:

“Seven visionary African-American artists working in Houston in 1993 — James Bettison (1958-1997), Bert Long, Jr. (1940-2013), Jesse Lott (1943-2023), Rick Lowe, Floyd Newsum (1950-2024), Bert Samples, and George Smith — recognized real potential in a block and a half of derelict shotgun houses at the corner of Holman and Live Oak. Where others saw poverty, these artists saw a future site for positive, creative, and transformative experiences in the Third Ward. Together they began to explore how they could be a resource to the community and how art, freed from traditional studio practice, could be an engine for social transformation.”

Personally, I remember standing in Our Park adjacent to SHAPE Community Center, and talking to a friend of mine about an idea he had. That friend was Rick Lowe, and he talked about transforming those Third Ward homes that no one had a second thought about into an empowered community. Lowe cast that vision, and all these years later, the work he and PRH’s other founders put in has created a vibrant institution that has transformed not only homes but hearts.

Sure, there are other leadership attributes we need to see on display on “the regular” — integrity, active listening, courage, and more. And certainly, there are powerful Houston-area examples for each. But this is not an article meant to simply shout out past acts of leadership. Rather, it is to challenge all of us to engage in these acts ourselves right now and inspire others in our circles to do the same.