Letter to the Editor

Community should be centered on family

Wednesday, August 12, 2015

To the Editor:

It is disheartening to hear and see of the mass killings that are taking place in OUR own hometown. It is senseless.

We as a community must stop killing each other, whether black on black crime or crimes of hate. Many times the issues result in the same conclusion, death of a life and many times of innocent people. Nevertheless, both communication and patience will solve these problems.

See we as a community (particularly a Black Community) need to educate ourselves (be it a Code or an Understanding) that the odds are already stacked against us and if we do not recognize that, that we are doomed to fail. This is the only way that there can be effective change. This is because it distracts us from the other issues that are hindering our growth in America. We are our worst enemy, but we are also OUR STRONGEST ALLY.

It is a double-edged sword and instead of directing our energy on developing our community (with better education, higher paying jobs, eradication on crime, poverty, and teen pregnancy), we focus our energy on destroying it be it by, misguidance, ignorance, or survival.

Some things are truly out of our control. We cannot control in which family we are born. We cannot control the color of our skin. We cannot control who leaves the town and who stays. However, on the latter point, we can try.

We can try by building a community centered on a family. A family that the community of Blytheville once had and who knows what the City of Blytheville needs better than the community of people who grew up there. Many of whom, have left to obtain knowledge, experience, and growth for themselves but more importantly for their family.

This is OUR problem and it will not be fixed until we make the changes in our community that are needed. Because we are our worst enemy, but we are also OUR STRONGEST ALLY. Blytheville is OUR FAMILY a family in which we have deserted. So will we stand by and watch as our family continues to dwindle to perish or will we come together to make the changes in OUR community that we know it needs? It is our choice because it is our family.

Will you join the call?

Travis Adams- JD/MPA