Bi-Cultural Leaders

Some of our world's greatest leaders were bi-cultural.  They probably already possessed character, courage, commitment and intelligence and they would have been leaders of significance without cross-cultural experience or study.  But, in my judgment, their biculturalism was a major additional factor which moved them from the category of a good leader to a great leader.  Biculturalism breaks the limitations of a one culture world view.  A person is more open to new truth, potentially even the leading of the Holy Spirit.

First, a bit of personal testimony.  I am sure that my own creativity and understanding of truth, especially biblical truth, has been greatly enhanced by 35 years of living in the black community, i.e., the ghetto of Jackson, Michigan and the poor community of West Jackson, Mississippi.  Also my study of anthropology (other cultures), and being mentored by black leaders such as Tom Skinner and John Perkins.

The single greatest human leader of the New Testament church was the apostle Paul.  Born and raised in Tarsus, a Greek speaking city outside of Palestine, and a Roman citizen, Paul was bilingual and bicultural.  So it was no accident that God chose Paul to be an evangelist to the Greek speaking Gentiles in the Roman Empire.  And Paul was the only person to remain true to the faith in the Antioch incident recorded in Galatians 2.  Even Peter and Barnabas yielded to the intense Jewish social pressure and withdrew from Gentile Christians.

Jomo Kenyatta, the George Washington and Abraham Lincoln of Kenya, lived many years in the West, primarily Britain, where he was educated.  Kenyatta was thoroughly bicultural and was able to transcend tribalism and black-white divisions as he led Kenya to independence and national unity.

Nkrumah of Ghana, who studied in the U.S., did the same for Ghana.  He used the best of Western thought combined with the best of African thought to gain independence for Ghana.

Malcolm X was not freed from his fanatical anti-white attitudes until he traveled to Mecca and experienced the brotherhood of all peoples in Mecca.  His travels to Africa added to this cross-cultural understanding.  Before his assassination, Malcolm was moving toward the positions of Martin Luther King.  Had both X and MLK lived longer, I am quite sure they would have joined forces and become a powerful force for racial harmony in these divided United States.

Martin Luther King, whose roots were in the South, did graduate study in the North where most of his professors were white.  King drew heavily from Gandhi as well as his travels to Africa to develop his own unique philosophy of aggressive but nonviolent social change.

John Perkins was born and raised a poor black in highly racist, highly oppressive Mississippi.  He lived and worked in California for a number of years before God called him back to Mississippi to minister among oppressed blacks.  John believes that a key to developing young black leadership in Mississippi is to get young blacks out of Mississippi, get them a college education; this not only educates but it also breaks the narrow and limiting bondage of white and black Mississippi culture.

Nelson Mandela, who was born and raised in South Africa,  was educated as a lawyer in Great Britain.  During his long pilgrimage to becoming the president of South Africa, his bicultural experience helped him negotiate his way to some degree of racial harmony without resorting to violence.  This was no small achievement because it looked like racial civil war was almost inevitable.

Mahatma Gandhi, possibly the greatest leader of the 20th century, was also a profoundly cross cultural human being.  He studied and lived in the West (Britain and South Africa) for over 20 years.  He combined the best of Western thought and Christian thought (he prized and tried to live according to Sermon on the Mount principles) with his own Indian and Hindu traditions.  He outsmarted the arrogant British, gained India's independence non-violently.  The British left as friends.

Currently, my favorite bi-cultural leader is Jean Thomas who was born and raised in Haiti, received his seminary education in the U.S., had a 4 year internship under John Perkins in Mississippi where he learned the principles of Christian Community Development.  For the past 30 plus years, Jean has been rebuilding the poor rural community of Fond-des-Blancs, Haiti.