This week’s Middlesex United Way guest column is taking the opportunity to use our platform to help elevate the voices of those in the Black community. This week features a guest column written by Kerry and Lorenzo Marshall. We want to do our part to create an environment where everyone is heard and seen. — President and CEO Kevin Wilhelm.
MIDDLETOWN — Nelson Mandela most certainly loved South Africa, its leadership and its people, but held its government accountable for its evil treatment of people of color.
After 27 years in prison, while falsely accused, he won the presidency and opted, continuing his “love,” to even share the presidency with his adversary.
Rosa Parks loved the city of Montgomery and its people so much, she refused to allow its leaders to continue to deny basic human rights to people of color, and therefore, refused to move to the back of the bus.
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. loved this country and its leaders so much, he stood up to them nonviolently through civil rights marches and protest on behalf of the disenfranchised and mistreated, and was willing to be out front and put his faith and life on the line for it.
U.S. Congressman John Lewis loved his people, his community, and his country so much he fought for and served it until his dying day. This should not be in vain.
Your parents and my parents loved us so much, they prayed for you and chastised you when you needed correction. Ultimately, they sought to save you from yourself ... as we eventually find out — hopefully.
So now, let’s do our part as citizens and participants in this life cycle, and stand up and correct, or at the least, address, injustice, discrimination, inequality, racism, and any divisions or issues that hold us back as a people, a community, a city, a state and a country.
Do the right thing. Be diligent and be the change you want to see — involvement. Please vote. Rest in peace, John Lewis.
Kerry and Lorenzo Marshall work in Middletown .
.svg)