What I want in hard times is facts … facts alone are wanted
in life.
When I first invited the VOWOC to my community, we met in
the midst of a moral and political battle. Hartford, Connecticut has breed two
classes of people; vagabonds and millionaires. I realized there was a struggle
between two great political parties for power and plunder.
Grievous wrongs have been inflicted upon suffering people,
no politician, community or religious leader has made a serious effect to
prevent or restrain them. Neither do they now promise any substantial
reform. They have agreed together to
ignore in past and present campaigns, every issue but one. They promise to
drown the outcries of impoverished people.
Tragedy is often a force that brings people together, and
one of colossal magnitude shows us how connected we really are; the tragedy at
Sandy Hook New town, Connecticut seemed to be showing us that we need to
reconsider our priorities. Instead of placing social capital at the top of our
agenda, perhaps we should put family and friends in the number one spot. The
stench of poverty and homicide are overwhelming in Hartford.
A certain distrust and wariness is created, when a CEO of
color fails to hold themselves accountable, and yet we know that trust is the
foundation of any good relationship, and fundamental to getting extraordinary
things done. Young voters aren't giving
in to the idea that they don’t make a difference. More and more of us are on a quest for
greater meaning in our lives. Whether you call it spiritually, religion, faith
or soul, there’s clearly a trend toward accountability within the walls of
community leadership and politics. Social equality is free when it is built on
the love of the whole people for each other and for the City Of Hartford.
There’s no going back to the days of back door politics, a
diverse society brings diverse voters. We also have to face another truth; most
of today’s voters seriously question whether CEO’s of color are going to be
loyal to constituency members and committed staff. Volunteers hear all this
talk about how community leaders want loyal volunteers who are committed to
empowering the community, yet the volunteers don’t experience life on the job as
a reciprocal relationship.
People worry about the legacy they are leaving; values and
virtues are discussed more openly. There are countless opportunities to restore
hope and create a sense of meaning in our communities. There are Opportunities’ to rebuild a sense
of hope and increase understanding among diverse peoples; Opportunities to turn
information into knowledge and improve the collective standard of living.
Opportunities’ to weave the innocence and wisdom, while providing direction and
support during uncertain times.
Global leadership means global understanding. VOWOC it is
true that those with educational degrees have higher incomes and more
opportunity, and it is true that an organization fitness to compete is
dependent upon the mental fitness of the workforce Politicians, community, and
religious leaders, who have a vision for the future, should not be obsessed
with money, power and respect. Any good leader will be recognized as a builder,
they see a problem that they want to fix- be it large or small. Even so,
there’s a new champ in the ring. It’s called Accountability.
After interning under the tutelage of Janice Fleming (VOWOC)
for eighteen months I recruited volunteers to participate in leadership training
(OLA), I become conscious that corruption dominated the ballot box, the legislatures;
including congress dishonesty touches even the ermine of the bench. The VOWOC
has dominated the voters at the polling places. The CEO of color has created a
Brain Trust which includes a group of advisers –many of them include
politicians who have been endorsed by the VOWOC. It is therefore, a civil and
political status that rests on greed, pride and tyranny.
CEO’S
of community organizations endorse corrupt candidates for a small fee, while
selling their fellow neighbors under the bus. The community leader of color
uses civil rights and human liberties as a tool to hold community conversations
about ethnic and economic disparities that exist in Hartford. Their mission is
blurred by fabrications and fails to spot opportunities to empower the
residents that live in districts directly affected by poverty and homelessness.
Door
knockers solicit votes from registered voters, and there are some districts in
which, Political Prostitutes use the promise of leadership training and
economic development for communities that volunteer with the VOWOC to ensure
that the community gets candidates endorsed by the CEO of color. To ensure that
they know what to say and what the community needs. Yet the candidate must be
willing to throw the impoverished district to the wolves under the supervision
of the CEO of color.
Door
knockers tend to control a majority of the votes in North Hartford and South
Hartford, Not the official candidate that’s running for office but the actual
community organizer that stalks the residents living in poor districts with the
prime intention to solicit the average voter for his or her mark on the ballot.
VOWOC has ignored the fundamental law of justice as far as I
can see…they have interfered with the voting process, the process which
guarantees no man or woman shall hinder the right to vote. Too many promises
have been made; too many misunderstandings have come up between the VOWOC and
the community. While VOWOC mouth talks right, I do not understand why nothing
is done for the people of color. I have heard VOWOC talk and talk, but nothing
has been done for the people.
Community leaders are the go between the politician and the
community, yet the leaders develop nonprofits/profit organizations to gather
grants and federal funding. They say we want to develop leaders in our
community, we want to empower the impoverished residents of Hartford, however;
when you contact them they say we don’t have any monies or resources to assist
you. Contact 211 so that they can add you to their data bases of people in need.
Leadership is a dialogue, not a monologue. When successful leaders talk about their
personal achievements, they talk about searching for opportunities to innovate
and change things. Modeling the way is essentially about earning the right and
the respect to lead through direct individual involvement and action. To enlist
people in a vision, leaders must know their constituents and speak their
language.
More than ever there is need for people to seize
opportunities to lead us to greatness. What I have discovered, and
rediscovered, is that leadership is not the private reserve of a few
charismatic men and women. Leadership is a process that ordinary people use to
when bringing forth the best from themselves and others. Good leadership is an
understandable and a universal process. Great leaders make extraordinary things
happen by liberating the leader within everyone. People first follow the
person, then the plan.
Titles are granted, but it’s your behavior that wins you
respect
The stench of poverty and homicide makes a toxic cocktail in
any urban setting. Parents are no longer chasing away the boogey man; they are
chasing dreams that have been deferred from the lack of economic development in
a City who main source of funding is based on federal grants for the poverty-stricken
citizen! A parent worst nightmare usually consisted of teenage pregnancy,
dropping out of school or incarceration. Now they are threatened with the
nightmare of Homicide, Sandy Hook was not the only neighborhood affected by gun
violence in Connecticut.
My name is Martha Hood I live in one of the poorest
districts in Hartford, Connecticut. I spent my entire life as a leader,
organizer and advocate for justice concerning peace and economic development in
Hartford, Connecticut. I have achieved a well deserved reputation as an
activist for social and economic change, a defender of the poor, oppressed and
disadvantaged. I am well known in the ghettos of Hartford as the voice those
oppressed.
Fighting for the rights of the oppressed have become my sole
occupation my mission is to hold city leaders and corrupt politicians
accountable in the city of Hartford. I will never cease fighting for fair
housing rights for residents living in the north end of Hartford.
“I would never ask
anyone to do anything I was unwilling to do first”.
Martha Hood
