A black pastor’s message: Whites must step up and start reversing local inequities

Whites, step up

I have served as pastor of Mt. Calvary Missionary Baptist Church in Bahama for 29 years. I have preached and worshiped at fellow white minister’s churches and they’ve preached at mine, so there is much harmony, love and concern for each other. But this is a moment where I must ask my white counterparts to step up to the plate.

They don’t need to call any black minister or any other black person to ask what they can do to help. Rather, they should just step up to the plate and say what they are going to do to enhance the plight of black and brown people right here in the city and county of Durham.

I marched and went to jail in the ‘60s. Black and brown people shouldn’t have to go through this over and over to receive justice and equality. This moment in Durham can be ours together if we would just acknowledge that we can do more. It’s in our hands.

Rev. James W. Smith, Durham

My thanks

While watching the news, I saw a protester’s sign that read “Stop killing my neighbors.” My father was a Holocaust survivor, and until his death this year he traveled across North Carolina to share his story. His message was one of anti-hate and remarkably, of forgiveness.

Today’s events make me wish my father’s neighbors had taken to the streets of his village with signs demanding that those in power stop killing their neighbors. Perhaps my dad would not have been taken from his home at age 11 and his parents and little sister would not have been murdered along with millions of others.

So, I say thank you to Gov. Roy Cooper and other governors for showing restraint. I thank the media for helping us understand that angry, peaceful demonstrators have a legitimate place in the streets. And I especially thank peacefully demonstrating Americans. Thank you for representing so many of us who are unable to join you in the streets, but join you in our hearts.

Pamela Graber, Franklinton

Raleigh City Council

On Thursday the Raleigh City Council held a virtual session for public comments regarding police violence. I, along with 300 citizens registered to speak. The unanimous voices called for the immediate demilitarization of our city, a ban of chemical weapons, and the lifting of the curfew.

During this session, the majority of the council members seemed to listen. I hope they truly hear their constituents as we ask for substantial support for our communities and police accountability. These requests have fallen on deaf ears for too long. For many Raleigh is a progressive city, yet, obviously she is not a peaceful or equitable place for people of color.

Rev. Brian D. Crisp

Pullen Memorial Baptist Church

Police reform

Now, as many times before, we are confronted with an alarming death of a black man at the hands of a white police officer. Stating the obvious, this incident is a blatant example of a systemic thread of racist policing behavior in this country. But how to change the system? Only from within will work.

We need many more police officers of color, and to have them communities of color will need to encourage their citizens, especially young adults, to honor their community by doing the difficult job of policing and working to reform police behavior from within. This may seem an undesirable, counterintuitive action to those feeling oppressed, but the reality is there will be policing and “be the cop” is the one way to effective reform.

Ned Gardner, Apex

Federal building

Regarding “Raleigh federal building has been sending sewage into waterways for years, report says,” (June 3):

Clean water, septic waste disposal, and electricity separate the developed from the undeveloped worlds. Just think of life after a hurricane here or in the Caribbean when these are disrupted for days or weeks. Diseases spread through sewage become rampant, dominant forces when left unchecked.

And now, we learn of eight years of ignoring a water/septic contamination problem by our government — in a government building — a problem that they could fix with tax dollars. What could be more important?

Paul Mele, Chapel Hill

COVID deaths

I was trying to put the number of COVID deaths in the U.S. — 105,157 as of June 2 — into some perspective that I could grasp and thought of the many local media tributes to the victims. What if we could do that for every victim? If the loved ones of each person lost to COVID-19 were given 5 minutes to tell us about the person they lost, it would take more than a year to hear all the stories. That’s speaking 24 hours per day, 7 days per week, without any breaks. And, the death toll continues to climb.

Please! Wear a mask and maintain social distance. Follow Gov. Roy Cooper’s Phase Two plan.

L.F. Eason, Cary

Cooper, the RNC

It’s ironic that the Democratic governor of North Carolina is more concerned for Republicans’ well-being than the Republican president.

Thomas Gunshinan Jr., Kenly

This story was originally published June 5, 2020 at 11:16 AM.