The isOutof theBag

By: Chant aye McLaughlin

Why is Savannah Georgia?s black leadership so ass backwards?When you have an opportunity to correct centuries of wrong, when you have an opportunity to help level the playing field, when you?re given a clear mandate to help underserved and marginalized communities, then you have a duty and an obligation to do so.

Savannah City Council, under the Van Johnson administration is the worse City Council for the advancement of colored people in the history of Savannah. White racist from past administrations have done more to advance Blacks than Van Johnson?s administration There is not a single major project or initiative that Van Johnson has put forth to help Blacks in this city. We?ll cover more of his failures in future issues of this magazine.

Let?s move on to the Chatham County Commission and the Chat ham Area Transit Aut horit y (CAT). Because of poor judgment and a lack of respect and intellect, the CAT Board did things that moved the county backwards instead of forward You don? t govern because of your feelings, or a disdain for someone. You?re supposed to govern to advance your community, setting all personal feelings aside. Chairman Ellis appointed ex-commissioner Tabitha Odell to a CAT board seat that she should have never been appointed to. She had an ax to grind with the CAT CEO Bacarra Mauldin Once she was back on the CAT board after losing her seat because she lost the confidence of the voters in her district, thereby losing her reelection bid to the County Commission, she sought to settle a score with Bacarra Mauldin . Odell orchestrated a vote to oust Mauldin , a Black woman Black on Black crime is lethal in all forms.

So the fix was in, and Odell was successful in ousting Ms. Mauldin from her position. It was selfish, lowdown, dirty, and spiteful. There was no concern for anyone except Odell?s thirst for revenge against Mauldin for their well known differences.

Odell never cared one iota about the well being of the organization, she never cared about the CAT employees, she didn? t care about the thousands of bus riders that used CAT daily, she didn? t care about the voters or the taxpayers, she only cared about one person, herself. Fast forward to today, the CAT board does a search for a new CEO. Instead of replacing Mauldin with a well qualified African American CEO, the board decides to replace Mauldin with a white female. Talk about biting off your nose to spite your face?Mauldin was on her way to fixing the ills at CAT. From what we are told, the employees loved her and morale was on the rise But somewhere along the path to fixing things, Mauldin and Odell had a run in and bad blood was formed. Odell used her clout, leverage, and connections from being a former commissioner, to influence other board members who don? t have a governing idea and just tow the line, to go along with her to oust the Black CEO. Several of these board members have absolutely no need to be on this board and probably should never have even been elected to their other elected positions. If all you are in the position to do is vote, you should not be elected. You have a Charge To Keep when you?re elected to serve the people The least you could do is study The least you could do is know what you are voting on. The least you could do is invest time asking pertinent questions. The voters who elected you deserve that much. Now you have a Mess at CAT. No HRdepartment. No Security Force. Low Morale. No management/employee engagement. Understaffed. Overwhelmed and overworked And now, with a workforce that is possibly 80%African American, you bring in a white female to be the new ?Slave Master?. How ironic that your black board members have put us right back to the back of the bus. Sometimes, we?re our own worst enemies. Too many of our people have died to give all of you the opportunities to lead. And you shirk your responsibilities and govern in stupidity and selfishness.