The last 30 days have been heartbreaking for Baton Rouge and will be a moment in our history that none of us will—and shouldn’t—ever forget, Business Report Publisher Rolfe McCollister writes in his latest column.
“But will July 2016 just be a sorrowful moment in Baton Rouge history, or will it be one that brings about significant changes and defines our future?” McCollister wonders.
Acknowledging that we may not know the definitive answer to that question for years, McCollister suspects it will come in small steps, hopefully followed by big ones—long after the national media and network trucks have left.
“This will be a long journey, and our community has not decided yet on the ultimate destination or how to get there,” he writes. “But I suspect the beginning could be a rough ride. Are we prepared for it?”
As our community begins to move forward, McCollister says it’s important to continue the dialogue that has begun about improving our community and provide a platform for a wide variety of community voices to be heard on our next steps—as Business Report has done in its new cover package.
“None of us can afford to just listen to the monotone voice in our head. I know I can be guilty of that,” McCollister writes. “So, again, I am sharing my column space, this time with District 6 Metro Councilwoman Donna Collins-Lewis, who was just re-elected with no opposition.”
McCollister says he finds inspiration in the efforts of young people like Dezmion Barrow, who founded Next Generation Pioneers three years ago. As detailed in the new cover package, NGP is a group of about 30 young black men in north Baton Rouge who want to be part of the solution and help businesses in the area.
Another young person McCollister points to is Rashaud Red, a 19-year-old who—as featured in the August issue of 225 (a sister publication of Business Report)—has started a program connecting police officers with at-risk youths.
“While these stories and others in Business Report and 225 include people offering ideas and solutions, much of what I see posted online is vile, vicious and hateful,” McCollister writes. “I wonder what these adults would say to their children if they were to read what mommy or daddy wrote? (Is this where children learn their prejudice, bigotry and racism?)”
But McCollister notes he has also seen many signs of love and kindness in the wake of recent tragedies.
“On Saturday, July 23, 10,000 volunteers came together across our region during 225 SERVE,” he writes. “People of all races from 20 churches were involved in working together on 270 projects in one day. These folks exemplified ‘the Good Samaritan’ and worked side by side to improve our community and love their neighbor. Can’t we all do that?”
As Officer Montrell Jackson posted on his Facebook page just days before he was killed: “These are trying times. Please don’t let hate infect your heart.”
“We all have to examine our own heart and discover if we are part of the problem,” McCollister writes. “Was July 2016 just a ‘historic moment’ or a true turning point for a ‘movement of change?’ The answer is found in one’s own heart.”
In her column, Collins-Lewis says our community cannot allow the events of the past month be defined merely as a moment.
“Injustice and unrest have been brewing in our city for far too long,” she writes. “My fear is that we will once again allow this to become a moment and not a true movement toward true healing and real change.”
If true healing is to happen, she says, we all must be willing to admit that there are serious issues we need to address. Further, we must be willing to have honest conversations in our communities, individually and collectively.
“We must have honesty and transparency. We must be willing to say what needs to be said, be offended and decide to move forward,” Collins-Lewis writes. “We must be willing to agree to disagree. No more covering up and pretending that this will all go away. We must put aside personal agendas and the desire to want to be seen, and be willing to do the real work.”
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