COLUMBIA'S TOP TEN BLACK LEADERS: Powerful voices for troubling times

Independence and entrepreneurship define this engaged and energetic group

 

COLUMBIA, 12/31/11  (Op-Ed) --  Welcome to one of the hardest top ten lists anyone in Columbia might ever devise. 

 

The hardest part about any list is normally finding enough people to populate it.  But just the opposite made this list a tough task:  Between Mizzou, City Hall, Columbia Public Schools, the business community, and the community at large, Columbia is blessed with a team of Black leaders that is as wide as it is deep.  To narrow the list from nearly thirty people, we had to apply certain criteria, and then ask community members who best fit them.

 

First and foremost, we asked:  Is this person actively engaged on multiple fronts to help and lead the Black community? 

 

Next, we wanted to know:  Does he or she organize community efforts?  Move between venues to accomplish specific goals?  Write publicly or show up at public meetings to take a stand?   Is this person respected in the community at large:  Black, White, Hispanic, Asian, young, old, male, female, and so on?   Does he or she exhibit passionate engagement with a vision for the betterment of all? 

 

Still, that description fits countless Black leaders here.

 

But people answered these questions, and our top ten list slowly emerged with a few common characteristics, notably independence and entrepreneurialism, a tradition that also dates way back in Columbia's black business community.   Most leaders on our list founded or created the enterprises they lead.  Most aren't strongly associated with any large institutions or organizations.  And yet, most have strong name recognition. 

 

They are all fighters for a cause, some more controversially than others.  

 

Columbia's Black leaders also represent a clear generational continuum, from the early days of Civil Rights to contemporary America, where the first Black President now presides.  To a person, however, they would all likely tell you:  there is much work still to be done. 

 

And now, without further ado, the Columbia Heart Beat presents:

 

 

Columbia's Top Ten Black Leaders

(in no particular order)

 

 

a)  Almeta Crayton.  Probably the most visible and well-known leader on this list, "Almeta Crayton (above) has spent most of her time in Columbia helping others," says a Columbia Missourian story.   Despite undergoing kidney dialysis, the former three-term First Ward City Councilwoman has continued a 14-year tradition of feeding the hungry on Thanksgiving through a volunteer event she founded called Everyone Eats!  

 

 

b)  William "Gene" Robertson.  "Vision, integrity, morality, discipline, courage, accountability."   The characteristics of great leaders, writes Columbia Missourian columnist Gene Robertson in the appropriately titled, "A Look at What Makes a Leader." 

 

Robertson's passionate and repeated calls to "do the right thing" are a lesson for everyone -- not just leaders.  As one of Columbia's most well-regarded moral voices, he begins the first in our series of black leadership profiles below. 

 

 

c)  David Tyson Smith.   For his principled stands on issues of fairness and equity, Columbia criminal defense and appellate lawyer David Tyson Smith has been a favored potential candidate for Columbia City Council.  A leader of the group that formed the Columbia Citizens Police Review Board, Tyson Smith is part of a growing population of young leaders who take a sophisticated, tech-savvy approach to making political and policy change. 

 

 

d)  Eliot Battle.   A legend in the annals of Columbia leadership, Eliot Battle shares a transformative legacy with America's great educators.  With his calm, almost elegant demeanor, Battle and his wife Muriel, for whom the new Battle High School is named, laid the groundwork for a broader and more equitable distribution of opportunity, particularly with regard to education and housing during the not-so-long-ago days of segregation in Columbia.  

 

 

e)  Pamela Ingram.    The founder of Granny's House, an energetic mix of seven Christian programs for children with an apropos phone number -- 442-LOVE -- Pam Ingram is a University of Missouri School of Journalism grad whose passion reflects the adages of Jesus, who often referred to the innocence and humanity of the child as one of Earth's greatest blessings. 

 

With husband Ellis Ingram, M.D., a pathologist and long-time leader in medical education diversity at the University of Missouri, Pam Ingram embraces her young charges with a decidedly whole-person approach.  She led Granny's House to a big arts win for the Columbia Arts League in 2008.  With husband Ellis, she started CALEB, a medicine and science program for children that tackles everything from nuclear energy to ultrasound technology. 

 

 

 

f)  Tyree Byndom.  Whether it's organizing candidate forums or re-organizing a First Ward neighborhood association, Tyree Byndom has established himself as a rising star in Columbia's leadership ranks, adopting an entrepreneurial self-starter approach that looks around the community asking, "How can we make it better, and what can I do to lead the effort?"   

 

 

g)  Glenn B. Cobbins, Sr.    Best known for his work with troubled kids, Columbia's Get Out the Vote Committee, and his rough rise from the tough streets to community leadership, Imani Mission co-founder Glenn Cobbins, Sr. is a big man with a big handshake who is never afraid to call it as he sees it -- even if that means calling out the establishment, black or white.   

 

 

h)  Mary Ratliff.  Next to Almeta Crayton, NAACP president Mary Ratliff is Columbia's most high-profile black leader.  A striking figure who continues to preside over virtually every issue of community racial equity, Ratliff is both a powerful, conscientious voice -- and a lightning rod for criticism.   But just as critics are calling her yesterday's news, Ratliff comes out swinging with a big, consequential move.  After her push for racial equity on the city's Ward Reapportionment Committee, for instance, appointee Wiley Miller became a key vote for a result that had virtually the whole town standing firm, fighting hard, and cheering victory: Trial E.    

 

 

i)  Lorenzo Lawson.   "Keeping kids in school, off the streets, and out of trouble," is one way to sum up Pastor Lorenzo Lawson's mission.  Another member of Columbia's new black leadership generation, Lawson is a founding director of the Youth Empowerment Zone who has been featured in nearly 400 news stories over the past decade, winning a number of leadership awards along the way. 

 

 

j)  Steven Calloway.  Former Columbia School Board vice president and president of the Minority Men's Network, Steve Calloway has been a public advocate for racial equity in Ward reapportionment, police review, school achievement policy, and community planning.   A member of our Top Ten Most Influential Public Opinion Leaders, Calloway has become so well-regarded as a community leader that he now appears on short lists of candidates for Mayor.