Neuvo Birmingham Leadership

I have been observing Gen Xer and Yer Birminghamians for sometime now.  There are several leaders in the community who are worth mentioning.   Some are locally born and bred.  Some are transplants.  Some are male and some are female. I may end up including Boomers who are just all that or their politics transcends their generation.  Most, but not all, of the people featured are going to be African American because Birmingham is predominantly African American.  I will include some people in the metro area. I did not peruse newspapers or magazines or poll people.  I just keep hearing about things they have done. There are several people who are included that I have never met so some of the information might be urban legend or just my impression.  Please use the comment section to supplement where you like.

There is a growing force in politics, community development, business, urban renewal, and the arts scene that are worth mentioning.  I don’t want to wait until their funerals to say something meaningful about them.  I just want them to know I recognize their work and their efforts.  I don’t necessarily agree with all that they are doing.  I may or may not like them even, but their presence is worth mentioning.  After moving back home and hoping that certain things would happen, I sit back as a 40 something and think, wow, things have really progressed.  A young and energetic group is taking Birmingham to another space.

So what inspired me to do this?  I was talking to my cousin Courtney French, who WILL  be mentioned in this piece, that the guys of M-Set are doing well.  I don’t recall that he was a member of M-Set but they collaborated on a few things after college.  I am proud of Courtney and a few of the people that I used to call his little friends because they were all in their teens when I met them. A couple of days later, I ran into Del Davis who has moved back to Birmingham from the ATL.  I mentioned this fact to another friend the next day who had just happened to mention that Jay Roberson was riding on the back of garbage trucks and really getting involved with his district.   I went to Jay’s Facebook page to tell him “great job” and saw an update that M-Set is coming back.    I was interested in using Courtney, some of his friends and the M-Set crowd as a best practice for leadership development.  We have local versions of the Brothers and the Pact that should be highlighted.

I plan to include men who were not  in these circles.  I will also feature several women.  Stay tuned.

I am going to mistakenly leave out people who are definitely leading movements and making change.  I already wrote a piece on the hip hop community who are organizing and inspiring creativity such as Jona Crooner, Real Life Poet members Leroy Hicks, Patrick Johnson, John Taylor, and Thed Weller.  DJ’s Chris Coleman and Supreme were also featured.  Please see  Birmingham’s Hip Hop Scene for their stories.

I hope this piece will be interactive and that you will share your stories and thoughts.