The Bernstein Brief: Adults Continue To Fail JRW Kids
By Dan Bernstein-
CBSChicago.com senior columnist
(CBS) The adults in their lives failed them once, and they are failing them again.
The kids from Jackie Robinson West were pawns for those who wanted to aggrandize themselves through youth baseball, and now they are being used as props in a game of another kind, one sadder and more important, that of race and politics in Chicago.
Candidates are falling over each other to grandstand for black votes, just like how the current mayor hid behind JRW's fraudulent run to the U.S. title just as shootings in the city were again grabbing headlines. Jesse Jackson ignorantly poses with kids as shields from criticism, and embarrassing media members pander as if they, too, are groveling for votes.
Here's what these kids are learning by example from adults they should ostensibly be emulating: break the rules to try to beat other kids at sports, throw a tantrum when you get caught instead of taking any responsibility for your obvious actions and then create an alternate-reality fantasy land where it never happened and live there instead of the real world.
With behavior like this to model from the leaders among them, we should wish these kids a ton of luck.
Dan Bernstein is a co-host of 670 The Score's "Boers and Bernstein Show" in afternoon drive. Follow him on Twitter @dan_bernstein and read more of his columns here.
