“Interview with Ron Lindsey, Senior Pastor at Concord Fortress of Hope Church. This is a five-part interview. We discuss the state of the black community regarding block voting and group economics, and what that has looked like here in Kansas City 35 years ago under the political leadership of the clergy and the workforce that was available at that time.
We give examples of what has worked in the past to guarantee Black Kansas City a seat at the table, and who those leaders were that implemented these strategies, such as Bruce Watkins Sr. Phil Curls, and Julia Hill. Charles Hasley, Doc Holiday, Bobby Hernandez, John Sharp, and Chuck Wimes to name a few. We discussed how our political and economic infrastructure that made things work 35 years ago has been dismantled in this new era of self-gratification by our politicians and businessmen. Overall, it’s a sign of the times.
One of the main topics that we led off with is loyalty and trustworthiness has disappeared, not just in our community, but in overall society. But is that an excuse for us to follow suit? Because everybody else is jumping off a cliff, do we need to, as a community, follow that narrative?
We talked about starting anew, planting new seeds, and using technology and the tools that technology represents as it relates to communications. And especially Cascade Media Groups, being the largest black-owned digital media company on the planet, why haven’t we used that to bring our community together?
You cannot succeed with block voting or group economics without collaboration and participation by your community. We ended up inviting everyone to join the conversation and get involved. As my friend Dr. Marj says, ‘You have to be the change you would like to see.’”
