Editor, The Smithfield Times:

“This government is not healthy, and we can’t normalize it.” U.S. Sen. Cory Booker’s message is relevant here in Surry County.

When we are divided, we each have a responsibility and opportunity to foster unity. Supervisor Sherlock Holmes once warned against going “from being the oppressed to the oppressors.” We need humility and loving leadership that repudiates oppression and division. We need the next generation of principled leaders like Holmes, and Thomas Hardy, and Dr. Herb Monroe.

At the March meeting of the Surry County Board of Supervisors, Chairman Robert Elliott said, “Everything I do, I do out of love.” I’m one of many who moved here for a kinder, quieter, country way of life. When leaders advocate for “progress” at the expense of that way of life, many feel ignored and excluded rather than “loved.” That threat to peace is every bit as real as supervisors who would rule while carrying firearms.

Words can unify or divide. On Feb. 23, Supervisor Elliott, selectively quoting the Bible, declared to Morningstar Baptist Church that God Himself, incarnated as Jesus Christ, was Black, and declared people of color “The Chosen People.”  He declared his all-Black parishioners “Kings and Queens,” but those words don’t just elevate and celebrate. Those titles mean ruling over others. All of us as God’s magnificent children is a more inclusive message. “Love thy neighbor” is also a better, more biblically accurate message.

I’m tired of local and national leaders leveraging differences for political advantage. Division is a tradition rooted in cycles of injustice and inequality. Guided by love, we can each begin to reunite our human family. We can be brave, humble, unifying servant-leaders wise enough to seek wins for ALL people.

Overcome, rise above, be imaginative and brave. Heed the warnings and counsel of wise past and present leaders. Be part of the solution, turning toward each other rather than ON each other. We can thrive, together.

 

Dr. Daniel Shaye

Surry