EDITORIAL/One Mississippi
With radical groups nationwide calling for the defunding of police departments, Philadelphia, Mississippi, Mayor James Young two weeks ago at a peaceful protest marking the police killing of an unarmed black man in Minnesota called for "One Philadelphia."
The three-term mayor, a Pentecostal minister and the city's first black leader, prayed a prayer of peace and unity at the conclusion in front of the Neshoba County Courthouse, which we just don't hear being done these days among all the pompous politicians virtue signaling.
Before he prayed, Young said he was pleased with the outcome, the behavior, the attitude, the focus, saying it "makes me proud to be your representative."
"We have to tell another message to the world," he said. "Philadelphia is changing, but we ain't there yet, but we're headed that way."
He said the group could come together "black, white, red" and "speak peace to our nation. This is hallowed ground where we're standing," he said, referring to the 1964 law-enforcement-involved murders of the three young men registering blacks to vote here.
"It pains me we have to do this anyway" because of what's going on in the world, Young said.
He encouraged the young people to get an education because that can't be taken away and it allows them to be who "God has called you to be."
"We pray a prayer of peace in our country, in our cities all over this land," he began. "We pray a prayer of love and unity for all that hear our voice."
"We thank you, oh God, for letting us be an example of peaceful protest, which is a Constitutional right that has been given us. We say thank you right now!"
The mayor concluded his prayer to a round of robust amens:
"Bless this community, bless this city, bless our people, bless our beliefs, bless our families and God bless America in Jesus' name."
Young had told the group he was going to pray a prayer of peace and unity for the community, for families and for the young men and women that "we stand firm on what is right, not what you think, but what is right. And God is going to continue to bless us."
During the rally, the mayor had encouraged the multi-racial group mostly made up of young people to "practice what's right," saying all people are part of God's creation and that all people — "red, yellow, back and white" — deserve respect.
The group of about 50 was protesting peacefully the death of George Perry Floyd, Jr. in Minnesota on May 25 where a police officer kneeling on his neck for eight minutes and 46 seconds suffocated him to death.
The crowd chanted "I can't breathe" and "Stand for what's right." They marched around the courthouse chanting, among other things, "Black lives matter" and "No justice, no peace." Some speakers addressed what they see as racial inequality and the oppression of black people which they want to see political leaders address.
A speaker invoked the name of James Chaney, one of three young men murdered by a gang of law enforcement and the Ku Klux Klan in Neshoba County on the night of June 21, 1964.
Forty-one years to the day after the murders that awoke the nation, Edgar Ray Killen, a part-time Baptist preacher and sawmill operator, was convicted by a Neshoba County jury of orchestrating the murders and was sentenced to 60 years in prison. He died there in 2018 at age 92.
The protesters two weeks ago said they stood in solidarity with other protesters who convened across the nation, some of the protests turning violent in cities such as Washington, D.C., New York City, Atlanta and St. Louis where there was looting and burning.
"Philadelphia, we are here to send a message to Minneapolis, to New York, to send a message that we are trying to affect change," Young said. "The violence must cease. Whether it is black on black or white on white or whatever, it must cease."
Mayor Young is a voice of reason and his "One Philadelphia" could easily be "One Mississippi" because it is the right message because we are one in the human race, the sons and daughters of Adam made in the image of God.
Listen to the anguish, but don't be fooled by the left's impossible demands because whatever you do is never enough.
Just as the Republican leadership in the Mississippi House has taken up the issue of removing the Confederate battle flag from the state flag, there are cries they are not diverse and open enough and that "the campaign to promote the Stennis flag has troubling markers of white privilege."
A prayer for peace and unity in our country, in all of our cities all over this land is what we need, but the same godlessness that marked the Marxist French Revolution is seen in today's violent resistance.
In contrast, the American Revolution acknowledged our Creator and our unalienable rights. The left is a cancel culture. There is no liberty under their rule.
Racism is a sin and the death of George Floyd was unjust. We need reforms.
But just below the surface of these legitimate protests like Mayor Young led is an extremely dangerous undercurrent that threatens the Republic.
Identity politics, — racism, sexism — the cancel culture, the mobs, the media narratives have all accelerated in the last weeks because the Left is not letting a good crisis go to waste.
Look at the COVID-19 pandemic and how the "experts" keep moving the goal post, yet any display of skepticism by conservatives — no matter how well or respectfully phrased or documented — is met with rabid moral indignation and character assassination.
How dare you sing a hymn, but don't worry about joining a mob to protest, burn and loot. We've all about had it because much of what we love has been taken and they are trying to take our Republic with calls to defund the police.
We don't believe our country is as nearly divided as it seems, but we're not supposed to say that. We are all horrified over George Floyd's unjust death and as Americans we can commit anew to eradicating racism without renouncing our own heritage, traditions and beliefs.
The Baltimore rioters President Obama labeled "criminals and thugs" are heroes and victims today. The police are the oppressors in their Marxist playbook.
As Otis W. Pickett, a Christian and a history professor at Mississippi College, wrote: "Mississippi can be a beacon to the rest of the world that love, selflessness, repentance and reconciliation can reign. The new ‘Mississippi Plan' can be one of unity, love, compassion and building one another up in the midst of a beloved community."
The pushback may be to let them collapse on themselves in the big liberal cities run by the Democrats and for us to show more love to our neighbors — especially to those who don't look like us — and as Mayor Young is doing in the city of brotherly love, pray for peace and unity.