Dear Editor,
I hope and pray that my letters to the editor always have a positive impact on this community that I love so dearly.
There is not a day that goes by that I leave my home without being greeted with much love and admiration. This comes from the old, young, black and white.
I had a good teacher, Mr. Harald C. Kelly, who also was a coach. He believed in what his mission was and did not let anyone or anything take him off his course.
When it was time to integrate our schools, the national media predicted that Yazoo County would be the worst place to make it happen peacefully. What the media did not know about was the people who lived here and the leadership we had.
I have said it once and I will say it again, the national political arena will not dictate how we treat each other.
I want this community to take a look at a fact, Yazoo County voted Democrat in the last presidential election. I won't say more than it spoke volumes as to what was in your hearts. Your right to vote by choice is a God given right – not man.
Mr. Kelly refused to let the same media come into our town and give praise after the assumption that we were bad people.The best resource we have in this community is its people, and I want you to know that our leaders like Mr. Kelly knew this.
Our children, black and white, need to know about their heritage. It is not all pleasant, but we must teach it anyway. Blacks were brought over the waters bound and chained on ships. They were forced into slavery, and they helped build America.
God’s will is a place of safety. When we walk in the will of God, we find safety. When we live outside of God’s will, we forfeit his protection. We must regularly ask God to show us His will and to lead us in the direction He wants us to go. We must ask Him to speak to our hearts so that He can lead us.
This is how the chains of slavery were broken and we came together as a nation. The shame of our society is not the past, but the unwillingness to let God guide us in molding the future.
Teach this to your children: many mistakes were made, but those mistakes were made right by trusting in the Lord.
If not now, when?
Coach Johnny Staples
