Jackson Free Press

I'm glad the Democratic primary is finally over, but the wounds this election has inflicted are deep. Otherwise rational people wrote and said awful things. The words have been hurtful. The actions of grown men and women, deplorable. But I've got to find answers and move on. We as a city need to heal and move on, too.

I was proud, for the first time, to give monetarily to a candidate. A candidate who I strongly believed in. But alas, this candidate's campaign appeared to come unhinged in the waning days before the election.

What was unsettling for me, amid the vitriol that people spewed, were the decisions a lot of voters were being forced to make. Decisions that really had nothing to do with the capability or ideals of either candidate, but made me and perhaps others ask, "What side are you on?"

I felt like I had to not only decide what person to vote for but also whether I was a "real" black man or a "sell-out." I had to decide whether I should keep trying to grind and network to position myself to better help my city or remain stagnant and complacent.

At first, this election showed me that I could never run for public office. That I should have never invested in Farish Street. Why? Because I'm now a colleague or friend with most of those gentlemen on Marshand Crisler's contributors list. Men I have had the opportunity to actually converse with and get to know beyond people's perceptions. Secondly, I would most surely be called a "puppet" as well. That's a serious accusation where I come from, and it makes a mockery of all the columns, all the music, and my work with Jackson Progressives and others.

Would I now be an operative for the "man" because I've begun to work with the Ben Allens and Leland Speeds of the world? I understand our state's history and why we still have suspicions. But I was honestly ashamed of how my city acted just days ago.

Despite all that, just 48 hours after the run-offs, I sat in a room with young white professionals, young black professionals, Crisler supporters and Johnson supporters—but all lovers of Jackson. We sat and listened to Donna Ladd and Other Cain, two people who appeared to the rest of us to be adversaries in recent months, talk about moving forward together. We do indeed have decades of barriers to break down. But if those two can do it, we all can try.

The bottom line is that the majority of affluent whites in Jackson aren't trying to "throw their weight around" and hold black folks back. And every black guy in Jackson doesn't walk around with a deck of race cards waiting to play them, either. Black folks have legitimate concerns, but we all want the same thing: a better, more prosperous city for everyone.

And that's the truth ... sho-nuff.