What we want is simple, we want this awful event to materialize into something meaningful. We want our community to grow from this. We want people to make hard decisions.
“The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy.” - Martin Luther King Jr.
As a member of the justice system here in Noxubee County, I know better than anyone that we cannot and should not rush to judgment and that there is allegedly a system in place to correct wrongs and injustices. However, there are certain wrongs that are too bold, too disdainful and too indecent to wait for the system to correct. There are some wrongs that we must distance ourselves from, sound an alarm to and correct immediately. And that is where we are in this moment.
I don’t need a judge to tell me that it is never right for a person to purposefully spit on another person no matter what the situation is. I don’t need a system to tell me that as a business owner and public servant I’m held to a higher standard than others. Furthermore, if I am truly repentant it doesn’t take a movement to make me apologize, repent of my action and take the steps to move toward reconciliation.
Nonetheless, it is not the individuals of our community that will go to the lengths of spitting on someone that frightens me. It is the individuals that are publicly silent but privately supporting racism and hate that frightens me. It is those individuals that would never allow their rage to cause them such a public shame but those individuals that spit on us in other ways that frighten. I’m even more afraid of individuals that can’t pick a side, individuals that would rather stand on the sideline and sit out times of challenge and controversy. But I’m most afraid of those that have the power, positions and podium but refuse to use it in times like this.
The Mayor-Elect of Macon talked about distrust in the system and I agree with him and I pose this question how can we trust a system that has only assaulted us, destroyed our communities, gutted our families and never protected us. How can we trust a system that doesn’t look like us in any way? Macon is the only city in the County with a white judge, a white prosecutor and a white board attorney. Is this the system you want us to wait on and trust? If you want us to trust the system, change the system.
What we want is simple, we want this awful event to materialize into something meaningful. We want our community to grow from this. We want people to make hard decisions. We want everyone to see that we have not arrived at the racial harmonious place that we pretend we have and everyone to do their parts to get us there.