Letters to the Editor

THEY ARE HIDDEN BEFORE YOU IN PLAIN VIEW!

Scott Jordan's article, "Where's the Leadership?" (Oct. 11), is well-written and informative. But one oversight is that councilmen Bruce Conque and Rob Stevenson were poised to vote for changing Willow Street to Dr. Martin Luther King Drive when Louis Benjamin made the motion to do so. Then Chris Williams amended Benjamin's motion to change the original MLK Drive to Malcolm X Drive. This shocked Benjamin, who had no idea that Williams was going to throw such a curve. That's how Williams came to be such an ardent supporter of the name change of Willow Street. He then played the race card, which may have caused Conque and Stevenson to abandon their original positions of support for the change.

Where are the leaders you ask? They are hidden before you in plain view! In a timely manner, they accepted their leadership roles and addressed the street renaming controversy when it began to show signs of dividing our community. They organized themselves and took the posture of open-minded men and women who spent time interviewing all but one councilman. Although these ministers had no objection to renaming the street to Martin Luther King Drive, they did not allow this bias to interfere with their mission to speak with all councilmen in an effort to understand their positions on the street re-naming. These fair-minded individuals may have been naive in believing they could offer their combined wisdom as Christians to a group of angry councilmen pursuing a path of self-destruction and community destruction. On the other hand, perhaps ministers were indeed the appropriate people to intervene in such a contentious battle.

I wish to offer our gratitude to the ministers who walked in Jesus' footsteps as they struggled to find a peaceful solution and resolution to the street name change controversy ' Pastor Lloyd Joiner, Pastor Donald Washington, Pastor Carmouche, Associate Pastor Adam Ledet, Rev. Robert Seay, Rev. Ann Sutton, Pastor Larry Lloyd, Pastor Ricky Carter, and Mr. Mervin Harmon.

With respect to Jordan's question, "Where's the leadership?" please be advised that black ministers play a very important leadership role in the African-American community. Learning the culture of people helps to understand them in the broader context of community life. Visiting the churches of the above named ministers is a good place to start.