"The Power of the Second Person"
By Donna Garner
5.9.18
A few years ago in an attempt to analyze leadership, a rather funky video began to circulate. The message of the video was focused on the "Power of the Second Person."
The video shows a group of people evidently celebrating a special occasion. There is music being played, and the attendees are simply standing around talking. All of a sudden one of the bystanders (a rather unusual looking person) decides to dance. Everyone else watches him for quite some time, evidently thinking that he is a very odd person. Nothing happens until a "Second Person" decides to join the first person. Then the party scene quickly changes as everyone else begins to join in with the dancing.
The message of the video is that it is important for one person to step forward on an issue, but it is not until the Second Person joins the first person that the masses are influenced to step forward and join the cause.
I have been observing the truth of this leadership concept in two separate current events: (1) Candace Owens (Black conservative activist) and (2) California's sanctuary cities.
CANDACE OWENS
On April 21, 2018, Candace Owens, who is the communications director for Turning Point USA, all but shut down a #Black Lives Matter protest at UCLA because she had the courage to say that she believes an "ideological civil war" is happening with African-American people..."some African-Americans are focused on their past and shouting about slavery and others are focused on their futures."
"Victim mentality is not cool. I don't know why people like being oppressed," Owens added. "'We're oppressed! Four-hundred years of slavery! Jim Crow! By the way, none of you guys lived through [that]," she said to protesters. "Your grandparents did and it's embarrassing that you utilize their history. You're not living through anything right now...Just because I think differently and I refuse to accept this narrative that I'm a victim. I'm not a victim."
Now here is the fascinating thing. It was not until the "Second Person" stepped forward to support Candace's comments that the issue began to spread rapidly across the country.
Almost immediately after Candace made her comments at the UCLA protest, the "Second Person," Kanye West (American rapper, singer, songwriter, record producer, entrepreneur and fashion designer), stepped forward. He tweeted his support for Candace by saying, "I love the way Candace Owens thinks." After he met her in person a few days later, he stated publicly that he hoped her influence would "allow people to recapture freedom of thought."
Following Kanye's lead, Chance the Rapper then chimed in with, "Black people don't have to be Democrats."
Next, Roseanne Barr (American actress, comedian, writer, and television producer) decided to reply positively to Kanye's tweet by saying, "Bingo."
Almost overnight, Candace's, Kanye's, Chance the Rapper's, and Roseanne Barr's comments went viral; and even more supporters, including many African-Americans, have since stepped forward to renounce the racist bigotry of the #Black Lives Matter that is hurting their lives.
CALIFORNIA'S SANCTUARY CITIES
On March 19, 2018, Los Alamitos, the second smallest city in Orange County, California, led by Mayor Troy Edgar (U. S. Navy veteran and council member for 12 years) voted 4 – 1 to follow federal law by cooperating with federal immigration officials to turn over undocumented immigrant criminals before they are released from jail. In essence, Los Alamitos effectively took a stand against California Governor Jerry Brown’s designation of California as a “sanctuary state.”
It is difficult to know exactly which city or county became the “Second Person” because Los Alamitos was followed quickly by Orange County, Mission Viejo, and Hesperia. All of these took action in March to follow federal immigration law; and as of today’s date, over 25 cities/counties in California have taken action against sanctuary cities.
LESSON FOR US
It is wonderful when people have the courage of their convictions to take a principled stance; but the truth is "They may not make a real difference unless 'Second Persons' join them." This means it is up to us to quit worrying about whether these conservative leaders look "weird, strange, or odd" when they take a visible position on an important issue. We must not let them "hang out there on that limb alone." It takes our being willing to join with them (at the possible cost of public vilification) before the masses will join our cause. This is the "Power of the Second Person." Are we willing to take the risk to do the right thing for the sake of this and future generations?
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