Rain didn’t stop members of the community from kicking off Reconciliation Week in Meridian Monday morning. Due to COVID-19 restrictions, the week started with a press conference instead of the typical lemonade stand at Dumont Plaza.

Following the news conference, lunch was delivered to Greater Meridian Health Clinic and Meridian Fire Station Number 1. The theme for this year is “We’re In This Together.”

The week aims to remember the victims of a 2003 mass shooting at the Lockheed Martin plant in Meridian. A worker at the plant fatally shot six of his coworkers – DeLois Bailey, Sam Cockrell, Micky Fitzgerald, Lynette McCall, Thomas Willis and The Rev. Charles J. Miller.

Stacey Miller, the daughter of Rev. Miller and chair of the Reconciliation Week committee, said that while the shooting was tragic, it does not define the community.

“We choose to change the story,” she said. “To rewrite history and create a new narrative of reconciliation.”

In a proclamation, Mayor Percy Bland spoke about the week’s relevance given current events.  

“Reconciliation Week should mean so much more to all of us from what’s going on in the world today and all across the United States,” Bland said. “I think the timing of this week and what Stacey and her family has done for the last 13 years, it means so much more today.”

Miller also announced The Meridian Freedom Project as the 2020 charity recipient. 

“The Reconciliation Committee and The Meridian Freedom Project align,” said executive director Adrian Cross. “We are vehicles of change, and so are you. The incident in 2003 started a process of change.”

Recipients of the Rev. Charlie J. Miller Memorial Scholarship were also announced. Brickley Johnson, a 2020 graduate of West Lauderdale High School, will attend Meridian Community College. She will major in elementary education.

Dennis Heidelberg, a 2020 graduate of Northeast Lauderdale High School will attend Xavier University and major in business management.

Other Reconciliation Week events planned include a Facebook livestream of the Rev. Charlie Miller Memorial Service at 11:45 a.m. Wednesday from North Park Church, with guest speaker The Rev. Fred Luter of Franklin Avenue Baptist Church New Orleans. 

The Mayor’s Prayer Breakfast will start at 6:45 a..m. on Friday on the lawn at city hall. The event will feature a panel discussion on racial reconciliation.

On Saturday, the Queen City Cruisers will lead a Reconciliation Parade from downtown Meridian to Forest Lawn Cemetery. The parade starts at 11:30 a.m.