A World That Does Not Read - Chicago Street Journal for Tuesday, December 12, 2017

Chicago Street Journal
December February 2017
5
Being a Great Leader:
Part 2
Correspondent: C. Dwayne West
I continue to examine what makes effective
and even great leaders. It's imperative
to me that I understand this
much discussed and overly used word
that can either make America great
again or watch as our world sinks into
a mental abyss. Because leaders who
are strong, innovative, courageous and
visionaries, can propel the weakest of
men to perform great feats of strength
in order to change the world in which
they live, work and play.
Great leaders can take mediocre
prospects and guide them to championship
status. How many times have
we seen talented professionals who
were unable to reach their full potential?
They could not fulfill their
planned objective because of a support
system of failed leaders. Or how many
times have we
seen common
men climb the
highest mountains,
swim
the deepest
seas, and/or
run and complete
the longest
marathons?
Not only did their
trained abilities surpass their
wildest expectations, but
their leadership teams also
motivated them to greatness.
I've been watching,
for instance, this Chicago
Public School (CPS) fiasco
emerge over the last month,
starting with the RAT problem.
It was clearly handled
wrong from the beginning to
the end. It was missing leaders
who would stand up and
take charge of hundreds or
maybe even thousands of kids
being subjected to a RAT infestation
in schools likes Mollison Elementary.
After the crisis broke ground,
initially, it took several weeks before a
CPS figurehead showed her face, and
she was not the right face to be seen,
in my opinion.
Now, here we have another
CPS scandal taking place, and socalled
leaders are being removed and
others are being inserted into our lives.
This corruption with now former CPS
CEO Forrest Claypool resigning because
of his admitted assertion that he
influenced the alteration of certain
CPS awarded contract invoices, leads
me to believe that the buck should not
CARL WEST
stop with just his floundered leadership.
But these so-called leaders stayed
silent, as they often do. And when the
Mayor of Chicago, for instance, did
speak, he praised Claypool as an honorable
man. How laughable was that
statement?
I will not make this a black or
white issue, but again, when it's a
black person (Barbara Byrd Bennett)
who violates the public's trust, she, for
instance, was ridiculed, embarrassed
and essentially sent to prison. But the
white male (knight in shining armor),
who has for some reason, been labeled
the savior of local systems like Chicago
Transit Authority (CTA), the Park
District and now CPS, has been caught
with his dirty hands in the cookie jar,
he's applauded. He gets a slap on the
wrist and a celebratory farewell press
conference and after party.
Let us forget about Forrest, the
mayor, and CPS' new CEO for a moment.
They're typical players in this
rigged chest game against the citizens
of Chicago.
What I'm saddened
by are
the black oldheads,
socalled
leaders
who remain
loyal to a system
that has
proven to be
flawed and discriminatory.
As I watched the stunt
conference announcing
Claypool's exit last Friday,
it was prominent Negroes
who stood like zombies
behind him, saluting
Forrest's record, all while
ignoring his immoral and
unethical actions. His alleged
robbery of resources
from black and brown
kids were similar propaganda
charges that Bennett
was overly-hyped to have
committed.
Let me make a merciful
plea to my old-head, so-called leaders
who continue to deliver 'fake news' to
(their) community about their untrustworthy
alliances. WHY? What happens
to old black men who somehow
have forgotten about the struggles of
black folks and the massive burden
that we've carried on our backs
fighting for progress, freedom, and liberation?
These men, for some reason,
still consider themselves to be COL-
ORED.
I Write To Differ
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