What We Do Matters

Abstract

We are more than the circumstances of our lives, and what we do matters. In We Are the Leaders We Are Looking For (2024) one of the nation’s preeminent scholars and the New York Times bestselling author, Dr Eddie S. Glaude Jr., argues that the challenging work of becoming a better person should be a critical feature of Black politics. We are more than the circumstances of our lives, and what we do matters. He interprets the leadership styles and compelling voices of some of the most towering figures: Martin Luther King, Jr., Malcolm X, and Ella Baker, to show us how we have the power to be the heroes that our democracy so urgently requires. Through these three leaders, Glaude displays how ordinary people have the capacity to be the heroes that our democracy requires, instead of outsourcing their needs to leaders who represent them. Glaude also integrates his own evolving views of Black politics with the assistance of Ralph Waldo Emerson, John Dewey, Sheldon Wolin, Toni Morrison, James Baldwin, and Ralph Elison. Glaude’s book is a powerful reminder that if our US-American democracy is to survive, it requires a particular kind of person for this to work, and the engagement of ordinary people.