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The Courage to Speak Up

     "Snitches get stitches."  Ever hear that term?  Apparently this is the threat in some neighborhoods where people who witness violent crimes are reminded that if they say anything about what they saw, they face retaliation.  Maybe even death. 
     Intimidation is a tactic used also in the workplace to prevent workers from speaking up when they see things going on that are unethical or even illegal.  The situation is especially difficult when the offending person is a leader in the organization.  Take the former superintendent of Atlanta Public Schools, Beverly Hall, for example.  She and 34 other educators in the school system were indicted for a vast cheating scandal that rocked the community and grabbed national headlines.  The cheating is believed to date as far back as 2001.  Imagine the damage to the thousands of students who have gone through the system over the past dozen years and were inadvertently caught in this web of lies and deceit.  For those who worked hard to do well and did, and those who didn't but got the high marks anyway, all of the students lost.  Why didn't someone speak up sooner? 
      In interviews, some of the educators that were caught up in the scandal said that they cheated for several reasons:  "out of pride, to earn bonuses, to enhance their careers or to keep their jobs."  In every instance, the reason no one spoke up sooner was because they thought they'd lose something.  They feared that they'd have to give up something that was valuable to them.  It seems the repercussions to others were not as great as their personal repercussions had they spoken up.  So the unethical and illegal behavior was permitted to happen for years.  Fear and loss seem to be the major reasons most people will look the other way when they see or suspect criminal behavior.  The bookkeeper who is doctoring the books to present a better picture of the company, the treasurer who is skimming money from the coffers, the boss who is sexually harassing an employee, the coworker who is drinking or doing drugs on the job, the salesperson who is gouging the customer--they are all examples of what happens when unethical and illegal behavior is ignored.
     Where do we get the courage to speak up?  How do we overcome the fear of personal pain and loss to support justice?  Let me know what you think.
    

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