Page 5 - 5-5-15 Tuesday's Edition

Editorials
Three Cs of Effective Leadership
Chief Ward, Take Your Place In History!
B y the signing of his name and raising of his right hand, Tampa’s new Chief of Police steps into what promises to be one of the most important rides that anyone can
take as part of the history of Tampa.
We congratulate Chief Eric Ward and his family as he
rises from Assistant Police Chief to that vaunted position held by a proud few.
We thank Mayor Bob Buckhorn for a well-deliberated choice. And as we have done for practically all former po- lice chiefs, we offer our support and the pages of The Florida Sentinel Bulletin as both sounding board and av- enue for communicating directly with the Black commu- nity and the police organization. Indeed, policing a community requires the support, cooperation, and col- laboration of its citizens, business owners, religious and civic organizations and neighborhood groups. For, most certainly, a police agency can be no better or worse than the community it protects and represents.
Chief Ward, we wish you more success than you could ever know. But as you continue to fight crime, there is one thing we insist that you do aggressively: Listen.
We must admit, we were thrown by a recent news ar- ticle that began, “Barry Cohen is at it again.”
At what?
What did one of America’s premier attorneys at law do now?
Later, we would learn that what Barry Cohen did in his own spectacular way was to let his conscience and so- cial responsibility show by digging deep into his courage and convening a summit on racism the likes of which had not been seen since the glory years of Alton White and Bob Gilder.
In a room filled with men and women who repre- sented three generations of Tampa native sons and daughters, Barry Cohen with his shock of snow-white locks looking ever so much like a senior Dennis the Men- ace, strode like Tom Sawyer into issue after issue. And at the end of the night, the more than two hundred pairs of eyes and ears who had packed the Chester Ferguson Law Center to see what Barry Cohen was up to, found them- selves knee-deep in an episode of history made once more by a man who has never been afraid to publicly call a bull by its barnyard name.
But was it worth it? When white Jewish Cohen con- fronted tall, Black TPD Captain Rocky Ratliff and ac- cused his department of being absolutely wrong about its stand on bike citations, had the scrappy lawyer bitten off more than he could chew? When members of the audi- ence hooted, “Barry, let some other people speak,” had Cohen over estimated his courtroom sex appeal in the eyes of a younger generation who was simply not amused?
Nevertheless, history will testify that this white man swallowed his spit and stepped boldly into a snake pit where few Blacks or whites would go. And for that, Barry Cohen, we, our Black children, innocent bicyclists, and the spirit of justice and common sense thank you, pro- fusely.
The very essence of leadership is that you have to have vision. You can’t blow an uncertain trumpet.
~Theodore M. Hesburgh
Empowered greetings.
The last couple of weeks we have focused on develop- ing the leader in you. Lead- ership is more than being called a leader. Leaders must be effective to achieve suc- cessful results.
The most effective lead- ers have three things in com- mon.
1. A compelling vision that is precise. Effective leaders develop a vision that clarifies where their organi- zation will be in the future.
The vision is powerful and focused enough to define the quality and the benefits of achieving the vision. This will motivate others to get behind the vision with full force to make it come to pass.
2. Communicates with a level of Excellency by having clear directions. Effective leaders take time to open lines of communica- tion. They listen and encour- age dialogue with an exchange of ideas. Objectives and strategies are discussed routinely with feedback pro- vided on progress.
3. Consistently exer- cises sound decision- making. Effective leaders make sound judgments
based on ethical principles and their inherent values. They recognize that lives will be shifted, shaped and shaken by their actions.
Good morals and good values lead to good decisions even in difficult situations.
Anyone that has the forti- tude, determination and will power can become an effec- tive leader. It will not hap- pen overnight, but with consistent training, educa- tion and exercise you can learn to be an effective leader.
Let’s stay connected. I want to help you develop the leader in you.
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Call or text (813) 956- 0185 to book Selphenia for your next event.
with the medal, which was originally known as the Col- ored Troops Medal until the end of the Civil War.
Now, for those of you who like to burn incense, you’ll be happy to know that burning incense was part of ancient Egyptian ceremonies and was used to repel insects, mask bad odors, augment re- ligious ceremonies, and sus- tain meditation. Smoke from the incense was thought to carry words of prayer to heaven or the soul of a dead person (for whom the in- cense was burned) to heaven. In fact, many reli- gious denominations use in- cense during religious ceremonies, today.
The adage, “Beside every good man, there is a good woman,” applies most cer- tainly, to Anna Murray Douglass, first wife of abo- litionist Frederick Dou- glass. There is no doubt Anna Douglass played a pivotal role in the Under- ground Railroad as she hid, fed, and clothed hundreds of runaway slaves in the Dou- glass home in Rochester, New York.
Anna is also said to have financially managed the fam- ily, which enabled her hus- band Frederick to travel extensively while promoting abolition. Most importantly, Ms. Douglass helped her husband escape from slavery in 1838 by giving him a dis- guise of sailor’s clothing and money to travel to New York, where she later followed him to get married. Harrambee!
Black Trivia
Barry Cohen Summit:
The Old World Meets The New
Trust me. Writing single- subject columns on Black history is intriguing, but the real excitement is in the de- tails and footnotes that I never have room to mention. Moreover, there is more to learn in the trivia than in sin- gle-subject topics. Today, we will share some interesting trivia that I have discovered in the pages of numerous re- sources I have had the op- portunity to explore, these past months.
For instance, an interest- ing note about President Abraham Lincoln is that on the afternoon of the day he was assassinated, Lin- coln met with a former slave named Nancy Bushrod. Her husband had served in the Union Army and had not received several paychecks owed to him.
President Lincoln promised Ms. Bushrod he would look into the matter. Therefore, let us hope what would become a sad moment in history had at least a minor silver lining.
Consider also that the State of California has sev- eral interesting facts of note related to Black history. First of all, California was named by a sailor working for Span- ish conquistador and ex-
plorer Hernan Cortes after a mythical female African Queen and warrior Calafia, who ruled over a realm of Black women living on the mythical Island of “Calefor- nia”.
She was the subject of a novel The Adventures of Esplandian by Spanish au- thor Garcia Rodriquez de Montalvo, written around 1500. Cortes was familiar with the book and was said to have been accompanied by 300 Black sailors when he led an expedition there.
Secondly, California is said to have had the largest number of Jim Crow laws in the United States, as they ap- plied to Chinese, American Indians, Blacks, and Japan- ese.
Then there was the Civil War whose trivia included a little-known military decora- tion commissioned by Major General Benjamin Butler in 1865 and was in- tended to recognize merito- rious or heroic acts of bravery performed by Black Union soldiers at the Battle of Chaffin’s Farm and New Market Heights. Because only 14 Black soldiers had earned Medals of Honor, Butler presented nearly 200 Black Union soldiers
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