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When I think about leadership, I think about my mentor and political father, Rep. Jim Clyburn — The Boss.
We talked recently at At Our Table about history, progress, and what it really means to lead with both conviction and grace. And as always, he reminded me that leadership isn’t about ego or attention. It’s about the responsibility to heal, to teach, and to keep the country moving toward its better self.
“That’s what happens when leadership assumes the responsibility that comes with leadership,” he said, recalling how Robert F. Kennedy spoke to calm a crowd the night Dr. King was assassinated.
“There were riots all over the country after King’s death, but not in Indianapolis. Because Robert Kennedy spoke with reason and called upon people to use their better angels. And they did.”
That’s what real leadership is: not inflaming division, but mending it.
Rep. Clyburn also talked about the long arc of history and how those fault lines in our democracy demand constant repair.
“Are we going to measure up to our greatness by saying this is a fault that needs to be repaired? That’s what Abraham Lincoln was doing with the Emancipation Proclamation… That’s what Congress was doing in 1964 and 1965 with the Civil Rights and Voting Rights Acts. There are some fault lines moving in this country. Are we going to measure up to our greatness by doing what is necessary to repair them?”
And in his new book, The First Eight, he tells the stories of the eight Black congressmen from South Carolina who came before him — men whose names most Americans have never heard. Nearly a century passed between the eighth member’s service and his own election at the age of 52.
“A lot of people think I was the first Black member of Congress from South Carolina,” he said. “Before I was first, there were eight. And people need to know who they were — because history didn’t start with me. It started with them.”
That perspective — born from patience, endurance, and truth-telling — is exactly what we need right now. It’s easy to call for new leadership. It’s harder to understand the cost of the road that got us here.
As for me, I’m proud to say I’ve spent my career learning from The Boss. His example taught me that leadership isn’t about holding power. It’s about holding faith.
We don’t lead just to make noise. We lead to make meaning — to remind people that progress is possible if we stay at the table long enough to build it.
— Jaime
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