Prayer vigil conjures hope in a new reality

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THE NAMES OF 38 PEOPLE WERE PRINTED IN BOLD letters on separate pieces of white paper. They were carried to a table and placed underneath rocks to protect them from the wind. The church across from the parking lot summoned thoughts of a holy procession, with an altar, prayers, and homilies reminding us of the lives of the dead.

Ben Haas, director of The Religious Coalition of Nonviolent Durham, welcomed the more than one hundred attendees to a service of grieving. The 29^th Annual Vigil Against Violence took place at the Elizabeth Street United Methodist Church.  Because of Covid-19, last years vigil was conducted virtually. The naming of the dead reminded the people present of the worst part of Durham. The senseless deaths of men and women.

It was a mixed crowd of the varied hues of Durham, mingled with a group of politicians who have made reducing homicides part of their platforms. Javiera Cabellero, who suspended her campaign for mayor, stood beside Nida Allam, Wendy Jacobs, and Mayor Steve Schewel. On the opposite side of the parking lot, Elaine O’Neal stood near DeDreana Freeman. I was positioned close to both in an area packed with grieving family members.

The distance exposed more than paces between bodies. The detachment summoned a reminder of both political and societal dissimilarities adding to the pain.

I thought about and prayed for Allam as I looked for names on the Durham Memorial Quilt. The quilt was started by Sidney Brodie in 1994 after the senseless death of two- year-old Shaquana Atwater in Few Gardens. I cried after closing my eyes and calling the names of Allam’s friends – Deah Shaddy Barakat, Yusor Mohammad Abu-Salha, and Razan Mohammad Abu-Salha – all murdered by a white man with a history of threatening Black and Brown neighbors in Chapel Hill, NC.

I was reminded of how political distance often lies. Allam belonged next to me as we grieved the deaths of the 38 people with names on white sheets of paper. My desire to frame others as adversary was met with a common pain that transcends labels we create to protect distance. I found five other names to add to the blues of Tia Carraway’s memory. I remembered standing with her family as we identified a body battered by bullets and rigamortis.

Thirty-eight names on white pieces of paper.

The comments reverberated like an echo – the same message kept coming back. All of us need to work against this common enemy. This is our problem. It could happen to anyone. It could happen to you. The same message kept coming back. The long line of names on the quilt forced an even more painful memory. It’s not the first time I’ve heard this eulogy.

The blue sky and gentle wind conceived the backdrop for confusion. Beautiful days aren’t made for memories like this. I thought of gloomy skies and torrid winds. I thought of the bitterness of death stirring uncontrollable moans of Black mamas in a church packed with a troubled community. I imagined the sound of a Black gospel choir singing “Precious Lord, take my hand.”

I saw blue skies, felt a gentle wind, and heard the mingling of white and Black voices troubled by incessant death. I felt the lure of distancing preventing the breakthrough of new possibilities. My imagination captured the explosive bang of bullets. My prayers sought the refuge of a community unwilling to surrender to making this a normal memory.

Thirty-eight names on white paper.

Thirty-eight people killed in 2020. They have mothers and fathers, grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins. Some have children too young to remember the day their parent died.

It is easy to miss the story when pain owns the moment. The story isn’t a political agenda. It’s not the race of the victims, or the vicious cycle leading to their deaths.

It’s the making of a holy moment, with names on white paper escorted to an altar underneath the blue sky with a gentle wind. Its collective tears mingled like incense in a bowl lit in the presence of our sacred truths. Its naming a certainty deeper than death – our hope and faith in a world not known for this type of misery.

Thirty-eight names on white paper.

My prayer, no more paper.

 

 

Don't make me run for office!

The video of the four-year old crying conveyed how I feel.  “I’m tired of all the fighting between Barack Obama and Mitt Romney,” the precious girl stated on CNN.  The tears forced many to ask why a four-year old would be so emotional about an election.

It’s enough to make all of us cry.  This election has unveiled a pitiful display of conduct that forfeits the things we try to teach our children.  We forget the babies are watching.  Young folks have sense enough to know when we’re not practicing what we preach.

Civility has been thrown out the window.  Forget about being honest.  In the game of politics we are teaching our children lessons that contradict everything we claim as central in defining strong character.  We are teaching them how important it is to win.  We are teaching them to win at all cost, and that lesson will come back and bite us in the rear end.

Children are listening as their parents relate their hate for a candidate.  Yes, they are listening to racist garbage related to immigration, stereotypes involving people who receive food stamps, and assumptions regarding women who need an abortion.  Our children sit in church as ministers spew homophobic hate. Yes, the babies are listening.

They watch attack ads aimed at convincing voters the opposition has an evil agenda.  We teach our children to honor sportsmanship, to respect others and to do onto others as you would have others do onto you.  What happened to all that teaching? 

What are we teaching our children?  Does anyone care?  Is the war more important than the children God has given us to teach? 

Where are the politicians who care about the children?  Is it more important to prove you are right by revealing the wrong in others?  Where is the compromise?  Where is the respect for alternative views?  Where are the people who care more about what we leave behind than their getting elected to office?

This is not a boxing match.  So, I’m calling for a cease fire among those running for local office.  This war has to stop.  The children are watching.  Your behavior is juvenile. Stop it NOW!

Are you listening?

For those who missed it, the Herald-Sun reported that officials from the County Board of Elections were forced to call a meeting to warn local political leaders to put a stop to recent instances of disorder among campaign workers at Durham early voting cites.

Carol Anderson, board chairwoman, was forced to tell those present to “remember the golden rule and remember what your mother taught you.”  Help me understand why voters should trust this group of politicians to do the right thing when they can’t abide by the lessons they should have learned before they entered the first grade.

The fighting is reflected in the back and forth bickering that shows up in the newspaper almost every day.  These tattle tales have spent too much time consumed with their competitions campaign spending and who gets paid to work the polls.  I’m tired of the fighting.  It says something about the character of those running when they are overly consumed with things other than the strategy of their enemy. 

According to the report in the Herald-Sun, competing campaigners got into a fight that required police intervention.  Another incident was reported regarding the harassment of patrons of a county library by poll workers in the parking lot.

Those called in for the meeting included the heads of the county Democratic and Republican parties, Milo Pyne and Tom Miller of The People’s Alliance and Keith Bishop of the Durham Committee on the Affairs of Black People.  Omar Beasley, Brenda Howerton, Wendy Jacobs and Ellen Reckhow – County Commissioners contenders – attended the meeting.  State Rep. Larry Hall, County Library board Chairman Allan Lang, Jacobs campaign manager Jackie Brown, T.E. Austin and Lorisa Seibel also attended the meeting.

Most troubling is what is fueling the fight.  It isn’t the clash between Obama and Romney that has campaign workers going after one another and those who vote for someone else.  The fight is over the Board of County Commissioners.  This election has exposed what we can look forward to after all the smoke settles.  We can expect a fight, and Durham deserve much better than this!

So, this I my warning to all of you – Reckow, Page, Howerton, Jacobs, Foster and Beasley –stop fighting and start serving.  Get it together fast.

Don’t make the Rev-elution mad! If you do, I may trade my pen for my name on a campaign sign. God knows I’m trying to find a home in another state, but I love Durham too much to watch people fight like children on a playground.

Voters deserve better than your childish ways.

Fix it!

Commission Split Raises Serious Doubts

I’m not stunned one bit that Durham’s Board of County Commissioners couldn’t decide on the person to replace Becky Heron. In a previous blog I stated that this group of dysfunctional leaders lacked the guts to appoint Hampton Denllinger. Despite the overwhelming endorsement of the party they all represent, two of the members voted for Wendy Jacobs and the other two voted for Pam Karriker.

Everyone expected Ellen Reckhow and Joe Bowser to stand behind Jacobs. The tie between Reckhow and Jacobs seems to be thicker than the blood normally found among folks in the same family. One is left to speculate about an allegiance that causes a person to vote in opposition of the clear intention of party leadership.

The wild card is Joe Bowser’s strong stance in supporting Jacobs. Unconfirmed rumors have leaked that Jacobs has promised to vote for Bowser as chair if she gets his support. I suppose we will have to wait and see what happens if Jacobs gets the nod. What is clear is the intense conflict between Reckhow and Michael Page. From all accounts, Reckhow is on a mission to unseat Page as chair of the board. Is the rift between Page and Reckhow is disturbing enough for Reckhow to form and allegiance with Bowser to oust Page?

The REV-elution obtained an email sent to Page from Reckhow through her county government email address. The email exposes the inner madness among members of the Board of County Commissioners and can be instructive in understanding why it has been difficult to replace Heron.

“Your anger has continued over the past few weeks. At the board meeting last Monday you turned your chair and your back to Joe and me such that we had to verbally interject ourselves to speak at the meeting (since you would not have seen a raised hand.) I learned from several citizens who watched the meeting on TV that they could not understand why you had your back to us during the meeting,” Reckhow writes.

“It did appear that you were not listening to the question that Joe and I asked since you closed out the discussion by saying that everything we raised had been discussed at the meeting,” she continues. “That was not the case! In fact we raised many new points. Usually, when a lot of questions get asked, an item is deferred to get answers. However, our questions were dismissed-showing a total lack of respect.”

It is significant to note that Reckhow perceives this as an issue with her and Bowser, not her Bowser and Howerton. It gets worse.

“What do you mean by ‘I can assure you that I am not through with your past actions?’ Please don’t threaten me. I could say the same thing to you since there are witnesses to a previous verbal tirade directed at me. I do not deserve to be treated the way you have treated me the past few months,” can you feel the tension.

Then comes the kicker. “Michael-I have been through more than you have concerning Durham County politics; you need to tone down your rhetoric if we are to move forward and serve the citizens of Durham County.”

One thing is clear, things are out of control. Reckhow may be justified for calling Page out for his management style. Who among us hasn’t dealt with a coworker who gets under our skin? As much as I understand dealing with personality conflicts, this goes deeper than he say she say crap. The rift between Reckhow, Page, Bowser and Howerton is seriously impeding county business.

Voters have a right to know if Bowser is pushing for Jacobs due to a promise made. If that is true, and Reckhow is a coconspirator in that maneuver, shouldn’t voters be a tad bit concerned about the implications of having a board with Bowser as the chair? Someone needs to press that question.
Howerton and Page don’t get off the hook. Their action raises serious concerns related to their ability to adhere to the interest of voters. The failure to give credence to the endorsement of Hampton Denllinger says more than the two votes they bring to the party. It says that they lack respect for the group that took time to consider who would best serve the citizens of Durham County.

It’s a dangerous rope to walk. Howerton and Page discounted the process taken altogether by voting for Pam Karriker who didn’t receive one vote from those representing the Democratic Party. What statement is sent to voters after no one on the board considered the intent of the party they represent?

The argument used to support Karriker is missing on many fronts. Howerton and Page were moved by Karriker’s promise not to seek the post during the next election. That argument supports the argument made on the Rev-elution in a previous blog-that board members fear appointing a person with the credentials to unseat them. Some may regard that as a way to dig out from under this pile of dung, but it fails due to the efforts of a notable citizen early in the game.

Many within the community, me being one, pressed the board to consider Chuck Watts to hold the seat for the remainder of the term. The hope was to convince Watts to take the seat with the caveat not to run during the next election. It’s the same offer made by Karriker. The difference is that Watts refused to place his name in the hat due to the Democratic endorsement process. It was a game that he didn’t want to play. Can’t say I blame him for that.

I respect Watts for standing by his principals and for refusing to get into the frail due to his support of Denllinger. Watts, like those within the Democratic Party, saw Denllinger as a good fit. Who in their right mind would discount the endorsement of the party? The answer is simple. Those who care little about what the masses think.

A number of questions need to be raised by voters. The good news is an election is coming soon. From where I stand today, we need to get rid of all of them.