After Senators Clinton and Obama broke even in the Nevada Caucus, Obama headed to Atlanta, while Hillary spent some time campaigning in NYC. On the eve of the holiday commemorating Dr. Martin Luther King's birthday, Senator Clinton reminisced about seeing Dr. King in Chicago, when she attended a rally with her church's youth group. She described it as a "transforming moment" in her life.
The Abyssinian Baptist Church, where Senator Clinton was speaking, is one of the most historically important churches in Harlem. It was home to Rev. Adam Clayton Powell, Jr., who Doris Kearns Goodwin describes as "arguably the most powerful African American politician of the 20th Century..." Powell, who succeeded his father as pastor, was a member of the New York City Council and won his first election to the United States Congress in 1944. In order to do it, he had to outmaneuver the legendary forces of Tammany Hall.
Wil Haygood points out in his seminal biography, King of the Cats, "...Adam Clayton Powell... emerged ahead of the other Harlem figures - the ones with law degrees, the ones with political reputations, the ones who considered him too radical...Harlem, so celebrated for its cultural renaissance, was now on the cusp of a political renaissance..."
At that time, Harlem had no lack of Black leadership. The era when Adam Clayton Powell emerged as a political force, coincided with the the times of A. Philip Randolph and W.E.B. Dubois. Fred Morton, an African American, was the "go to" guy at Tammany Hall for Harlemites, and Roy Wilkins and Benjamin J. Davis were also growing in prominence. Herbert Bruce fancied himself a Black political kingmaker. In fact, Wil Haygood tells us, Bruce had forged a connection of sorts between many of the more progressive reformers in Harlem and the politicians at Tammany Hall. But when Tammany finally endorsed Powell for Congress, Bruce was so angry, he told the New York Times that he "...could not endorse Powell, because he feared that Powell would bring about "bloodshed" between the races."
Powell's true power base, his main leveraging tool, aside from his own brilliance and a stunning audacity, was the love and the support of the people of Harlem. He'd earned their trust and their loyalty with old fashioned, grassroots community organizing. He'd supported their rent strikes, and set up emergency food and shelter for them during the darkest days of the Great Depression. He energized and encouraged them. The basement of his church was a hub of activity in service to the community. In Washington, he continued his fight for racial equality and for fair employment practices. As Chair of the House Education and Labor Committee, he spearheaded the blizzard of legislation through Congress that would become LBJ's War On Poverty. School lunch programs and breakfast programs, but in particular, Project Head Start, owe their existence, largely, to Adam Clayton Powell.
In 1966, Powell's mostly self-inflicted legal problems exposed him to censure by his colleagues in the U.S. House of Representatives. He was stripped of his committee assignments, denied his seat, and expelled from Congress. In 1969, he was re-instated, but without his seniority. In 1970, an embittered Adam Clayton Powell lost his seat to Charles Rangel, who won the primary by 150 votes. Powell had appealed Congress's actions against him to the United States Supreme Court. The Court eventually ruled in his favor, it would be Chief Justice Earl Warren's last decision, saying that Congress had overreached and had no authority to deny Powell his seat or his seniority. Adam Clayton Powell died April 4, 1972. He was sixty-four.
He'd served as a member of Congress for nearly thirty years, and he left a very big footprint. One that Charles Rangel has never been able to fill. Through the years since Powell has been consigned to the judgements of history, a great many presumptive political leaders, wanting something from Harlem, have made the pilgrimage to the Abyssinian Baptist Church. So it is no surprise that, in her quest for support in the African American community, Senator Clinton chose this Civil Rights citadel for her Harlem appearance, along with Congressman Rangel, who has endorsed her.
Powell would have thundered in outrage at the convoluted logic that permitted the current pastor, Calvin Butts, to present his labored rationale for denying Obama his support, in favor of Hillary Clinton. A vote is a tangible, quantifiable means to measure a candidate's value to you. Support has to be earned. Usually, the candidate will have DONE SOMETHING to EARN your support.
Posing for a photo opportunity at an historic church while saying some polite things about Martin Luther King, Jr. isn't enough. Being on a first name basis with the world, and being a former First Lady isn't enough. (Even Betty Ford founded a clinic!) Having served as senator from New York for eight years, with an undistinguished record, is definitely not enough. Tell me what you stand for, Adam would thunder! Tell me why I should support you. Tell me what you have done on my behalf. Adam Clayton Powell, certainly understood stewardship, and he understood leadership, and he understood power. And at this point, he would have wrapped his arms around Barack Obama, and given the congregation his signature admonition: "Keep the faith, baby!"
(Copyright, January 20, 2008)
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