Published: September 19, 2009 10:38 pm      

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