Letters
What Meridian should learn from the Mayor of Philadelphia?
There was a recent dedication of a marker remembering the tragic set of events which lead to the deaths of three human beings trying to do a noble thing in providing aid and information to a core group of people; who either through fear or ignorance needed to understand they had rights to make their lives better.
Mayor James Young of Philadelphia, Mississippi is off to a righteous start by acknowledging a Biblical fact which states ”lest we remember events of our past; we are destined to repeat them.”
I don’t understand why Mississippi, specifically Lauderdale and Neshoba County would think people are ever going to forget what happened here. The memory is not so vivid because of what happened; it’s because the two counties think because people won’t openly talk about what happened; people are going to forget. The world knows, first of all, but more important GOD knows what we did!
Isaiah 1:18-20 states ”Come let us argue this out,” says the Lord. No matter how deep the stains of your sins, I can remove it. I can make you as clean as freshly fallen snow. Even if you are stained as red as crimson, I can make you as white as wool. If you will only obey me and let me help you, then you will have plenty to eat. But if you keep turning away and refusing to listen, you will be destroyed by your enemies; for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken!”
Proverbs 18:5 says, “It is not good to accept the persons of the wicked, to overthrow the righteous in judgment.” It also says to do justice and judgment is more acceptable than sacrifice.
As for Meridian, we have consistently witnessed the sacrificial giving by the so-called wealthy; giving their money to the lowly, only to ignore the unjust men who for years have walked among us with blood stained hands.
Obviously, Mayor Young has taken it upon himself along with his fellow citizens of Philadelphia to forgive the culprits involved from Neshoba County; by memorializing the past, to not only develop an economic impact to his city through (tourism), but find peace for future prosperity.
For many people in Neshoba and Lauderdale County, the murders of three civil workers 45 years ago are forever etched in their memories. Now, it will have a permanent marker to help everyone remember it.
As tragic as that event was, James Chaney was a Meridian native, who yet, has not been acknowledged by his home town of Meridian. What a tragedy!
Although born in the Sandflat community, his mother had made Meridian their home. Residing in the Davis Court Community, this city has failed this family miserably! The world acknowledged everything these young men tried to accomplish, only to be denied due justice in their home cities.
Although Tougaloo College is being considered for the Mississippi Civil Rights Museum; Meridian has just as much history as that part of the state. A Civil Rights trail currently exists here in Meridian, beginning in the Davis Court Community, starting at The Historic First Union Missionary Baptist Church, continuing on around the corner off 39th Avenue where James Chaney was residing, back over to the James Chaney Ball Field on Paulding Avenue headed toward Fifth Street running downtown toward the COFO Building. (David Ruffin, former lead singer of the Temptation's old home resides also in the Davis Court Community, talk about tourist attraction!)
If we are to truly grow and go forward, we must acknowledge our role in the past, regardless how ugly it was. I have heard quite a few people say, “Why should we keep bringing up the past?” The same reason we remember the Lord’s Supper, the Holocaust, Jimmie Rodgers, the Lockheed Shootings, and 9-11 just to name a few events!
Mayor Barry, if you truly want to move Meridian forward, follow Mayor Young’s lead and acknowledge Meridian’s role in this tragedy, and allow our communities to put closure to this ugly event. We all know who were involved! The list has been published out there for quite awhile. Business men in and around our communities played a major role in this diabolical plan, and have yet to be indicted or reprimanded by our State’s Attorney General. Right now, only a few remain alive. Civil Rights cold case files may eventually reveal the remaining culprit who may be prosecuted sometime soon.
Regardless, we all must give an account to our creator for our role in this event, those of us who know, or knew individuals who participated in this tragic event. Most spiritual believers inside and outside our state say,” We are cursed for our role, and apathy to acknowledge what Meridian’s hand was in this event!” (We are last or first in many numerous national categories we shouldn’t be so proud of.) Unless we call the Bible a book of lies, prophecy must come to past!
Finally, those who plant seeds of injustice will harvest disaster, and their reign of terror will end! "We can't, as a people, move forward, if we don't understand where we came from," said Rita Schwerner Bender. "We have to understand the legacy that we were born into and that we all live with."
Rev. Randle L. Jennings
Meridian
- Letters
-
-
Letters to the Editor, Carl Fitzgerald
Editor's note: The following are comments readers posted at meridianstar.com. To add your comment, click on the story and find "add comment".
-
Community programs promote youth development
I was recently asked to serve as a facilitator with the Mississippi State Southern Rural Development Center to discuss how to Turn the Tide on Poverty; Creating Vibrant Communities Together.
- The children are the ones who suffer
-
Say 'no' to parole
In March of 1991, Harold Hayes brutally murdered, here in Meridian, my Mother-In-Law, Vivian Powell, who was 83 at the time and barely weighed 100lbs.
-
March is IDD Month
In celebration of March as Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities (IDD) Month, I would like to take this opportunity to encourage all Mississippians to learn more about individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities. -
How many nations are we?
I'm a student at Northwest Middle School and I was ecstatic when entering the auditorium for the black history program and they announced that we would be singing the national anthem. -
Appalled at recent column
I am appalled that Mr. Ziemba presumes to “air what the rest of us are thinking” about the US figure skaters at the Olympics, and to use that athletic event to promulgate inaccuracies and distortions.
-
Real men wear purses
I went to high school in New York with a friend who spent time in the United States Marines infantry during the Vietnam war. He now wears a "man purse" with a 38 special hand gun in it for protection. He needs this because he worked in law enforcement after Vietnam and developed some serious enemies. He likes to call it a "man bag." After he read Lieutenant Colonel Ziemba's February 21 article entitled "The Man Purse," he recalled that Lieutenant Colonel Ziemba said that he had spent his entire life around "real men." My friend responded that while Lieutenant Colonel Ziemba had spent his entire life around "real men," my friend had spent his entire life around "real women!" Don't you just love it! -
I saw something quite different
This letter is in response to Craig Ziemba's column ("The man purse," Feb. 21, 2010). Mr. Ziemba, I'm so sorry that while watching the men's figure skating at the Olympic games, you saw only pink tassels, feathered gloves and suggestive movements. I saw beautiful COSTUMED performances. You also seemed to miss the strength, stamina, grace, artistry and hard work for years that went into those performances. As to men crying after a performance, I've seen football players cry after a game.
-
Not what founders intended
Party politics: Business as usual in Washington, and the capitals of all 50 states, but it was not how the Founding Fathers envisioned the government being run. In fact, the premier Founding Father, George Washington, railed against the spirit of party that has so polarized the country. Party politics is dividing America against itself, convinces Americans to follow their party leaders like sheep, and marginalize any dissenters who would draw ideas from both sides. - More Letters Headlines
-
Letters to the Editor, Carl Fitzgerald
