Gone Are the Days of Courage By: Donald V. Watkins ©Copyrighted and Published (via Facebook) on December 14, 2014 Courage used to be one of the hallmarks of an effective leader. The men and women who shaped America over the centuries were courageous enough to look beyond personal gain and reputation preservation when leading. In the last few decades, that courage seems to have been replaced by cowardice, political correctness (whatever that means), and media posturing. The cowardice can be found in leadership positions all around us. It penetrates the psyche of leaders from every race, gender, party affiliation, or geography. It seems as though our so-called leaders, whether in government, educational institutions, churches, political bodies, or corporate America, are first concerned about themselves, only stopping to think of us when elections are looming—and even then, they only give us lip service. Today’s leaders are restricted by the need to be liked and revered whereas leaders of the past were willing to take personal risks to be effective. But gone are those days. Gone are the days of courage that we saw in 1976 when former Alabama attorney general Bill Baxley pushed the Alabama Pardon and Paroles Board to issue a full and unconditional pardon for Clarence Norris, the last known surviving Scottsboro Boy. Thirty-eight years later, we have weak-kneed Robert Bentley who would rather subject a pardon request on behalf of the remaining Scottsboro Boys, all of whom are deceased, to the legislative process than take courageous executive action to exonerate them. Bentley does not even have the courage to sponsor legislation compensating the families of the Scottsboro Boys, all of whom were innocent of the rape charges lodged against them. In an effort o appease his political base, Bentley has also refused to support legislation seeking to fund the Scottsboro Boys Museum in Scottsboro, Alabama. Gone are the days of courage that we saw in 1993, when a governor like Jim Folsom, Jr., would remove the Confederate flag from atop the Alabama state capitol because it was offensive to black Americans. Today, Deep South governors like Bentley do not care if their states’ blatantly impudent symbols of the old Confederacy offend black Americans. They are far more concerned with placating the Tea Party members of the Republican Party than they are with promoting racial unity within their states. Gone are the days of courage that we saw in 1976, when a courageous Montgomery County, Alabama, district attorney named Jimmy Evans conducted a proper grand jury investigation of the police shooting of an unarmed black male in Montgomery. Today, district attorneys like Bob McCulloch in St. Louis County, Missouri, and Dan Donovan in Staten Island, New York, use grand juries as political cover to mask their cowardice as prosecutors. They are far too concerned about what will happen to their careers to do the right thing and criminally charge police officers that wrongfully kill unarmed citizens. Gone are the days of courage that we saw in the 1980s and 90s when white and black ministers would join hands across America to combat society’s blatant neglect of our poor and defenseless fellow Americans. Today, too many of our ministers, both black and white, seem content in their efforts to build “tabernacles to the sky”, as service-minded churches are increasingly displaced on the religious landscape by personality-based ministries that merely seek to glorify their often immoral pastors. Gone are the days of courage that we saw in the 1990s when corporate leaders would spearhead positive quality-of-life changes for the good of the larger community. Today, corporate leaders seduce, capture, and castrate our elected and appointed officials, effectively rendering them eunuchs or political pack mules that serve the narrow and selfish corporate interests. Wall Street, for example, now regulates our U.S. Congress, which is supposed to be regulating Wall Street. Even the Justice Department is openly subservient to Wall Street. If you are a low-level bank teller who embezzles from a bank, federal prosecutors will nail you to the wall. If you are one of the CEOs of Wall Street’s mega banks that caused $13 trillion in American wealth to be lost during the Great Recession of 2008, federal prosecutors will declare you “too big to prosecute” and will give you a prosecutorial pass no matter how many felony crimes your bank has committed. Gone are the days of courage that we saw in the 1970s and 1990s when former presidents like Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton bravely pardoned federal prisoners who were falsely accused of crimes. Today, a political prisoner like former Alabama governor Don Siegelman must waste away in a federal prison because Barack Obama lacks the political courage or will to pardon him. Over 100 former attorneys general from both political parties have decried the prosecution and conviction of Siegelman. They view Siegelman’s prosecution as a politically tainted conspiracy implemented by Republican operative Karl Rove’s manipulation of the federal criminal justice system. Yet, Obama, who openly and repeatedly calls for other countries to release their political prisoners, lacks the courage to pardon Governor Siegelman. Today, our national government spies on innocent Americans, and lies about it. We torture prisoners of war, and lie about it. We abandon America’s traditional allies on a routine basis, and lie about it. We even allow enemies of state like ISIS to behead Americans without using our military might to inflict the severest form of punishment on these enemies for their horrific acts of war against this nation. Today, our leaders are scared. Today, white police officers across America slaughter young, unarmed black males at will and without criminal consequence. One such event took place recently in Cleveland, where a police officer shot and killed 12-year old Tamir Rice within 2 seconds of confronting the child, who was playing alone in a park. Today, many leaders claim to be “pro-life”, yet, they eagerly cut funding for vital programs that benefit the health and safety of poor infants and children. In many cases, they treat children of color and poor kids worse than they treat their own dogs, cats, and other pets. Today, our leaders openly salute military veterans and wave American flags in their presence, yet they deny those heroes adequate healthcare for their war wounds and decent housing opportunities when they return home from battlefields abroad. Everywhere we look, courage has been replaced with cowardice and selfishness. Gone are the great leaders of yesterday. Today’s leaders are mostly small-minded custodians of the status quo. They eagerly serve the narrow special interests of big-money groups and not society as a whole. They represent the “me first” generation whose “damn the rest of you” attitude has effectively replaced the dedicated public and corporate service that traditionally lifted this nation and mankind. They only lead from behind the security blanket of public opinion polls. This is the new class of leaders in America. Gone are the days of courage.
Posted on: Sun, 14 Dec 2014 17:07:02 +0000
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