My View: About the right way to protest

    The First Amendment is alive and well in Cherokee County, which is a much bigger deal that it should be, but in these times of uncertainty, chaos and COVID-19 we need all the good news we can get.
    You can read all about the Murphy High School graduates who coordinated Thursday’s protest, which to me would be better called a rally for racial equality, in the Scouting Around column on page 3A. You also can read some of things that were said and see images from the event starting on the front page. While I’m ashamed that the United States continues to have racial strife 56 years after the Civil Rights Act, we have reasons to feel proud of our community today.
    Cherokee County Sheriff Derrick Palmer could have tried to downplay the rally, but instead he played a leading role in mentoring the young people who had never done anything like this before. He also spoke at the event with passion, as George Floyd’s untimely death at the hands of a police officer clearly affected him. Murphy Police Chief Justin Jacobs also was on hand, keeping the peace and assisting a few people who may have had too much to drink. I’m proud of how our local law enforcement agencies handled the event.
    The Town of Murphy was rightly concerned with all the unfounded rumors that preceded the event. However, officials didn’t overreact, planned appropriately and were blessed with only a few minor problems. I’m proud of how Mayor Rick Ramsey and town leaders handled the situation.
    Te’Lor Allen of Murphy and the other organizers admittedly were in over their heads as news of the event spread and hundreds of people planned to show up, yet that just motivated them even more. The end result was a genuinely peaceful protest that left some people present with tears in their eyes. I’m proud of the organizers as well as the people who were there for the right reasons.
    A small group of older white men raised their middle fingers in defiance as walkers marched from the L&N Depot to the Cherokee County Courthouse. One woman was even captured on film giving a Nazi salute. However, I’m proud to say those sad sacks did not come close to representing our county as a whole.
    When matters of race arise, it’s best for white folks like myself to listen to those who have witnessed it firsthand. That’s why I look for wisdom from Ann Miller Woodford of Andrews, our region’s foremost historian on the African-American community, who said she “would not be here today if it had not been for black and white people in the 1950s and 1960s who walked on my behalf.”
    She said black residents are not asking for much.
    “I don’t care what kind of cap a person wears or what politics they follow,” Woodford said. “All I want is to be respected and to be a part of what we claim to be justice for all.”
    Despite not feeling well Thursday, she knew she had to be there “to stand up for peace and justice in our communities.” She has seen both sides of it over the years in Cherokee County.
    “I never believed that in our community there would be the kind of destruction that we have seen in big cities, because we are neighbors who work as hard as we can in unity and love, even though there is still bias and prejudice here like there is anywhere else,” Woodford said. “I always remember driving through the mostly African-American community of Texana after the tornado hit there in 2012, and seeing all the white people on roofs and in yards helping people clean up and build back their community.”
    Like many others, she is concerned about the looting that occurred in some areas, preferring to “Never let your anger overtake your thinking.” However, the peaceful protesters nationwide in the wake of Floyd’s death are not the same people who rioted in metro areas.
    “Demonstrators are walking all over the world because the violent murder of George Floyd was the proverbial straw that broke the camel’s back,” Woodford said. “They walk for all of the other black and brown people who have unjustly lost their lives recently – not to mention all the years for black folks in the United States since 1620, and those who have been unjustly murdered in other parts of the world.”
    Some people online questioned the need to protest and alleged that people only march for “progressive” causes. However, that’s just not true; anti-abortion protesters march every year on the anniversary of the U.S. Supreme Court’s Roe vs. Wade decision, and just last year in Cherokee County there was a “conservative” rally to support a local gun store owner’s First Amendment rights as it pertains to his controversial billboards.
    Others also expressed concern about this event being only people from out of town, but the vast majority of folks we spotted were very much local residents. One even criticized the town just for allowing the rally, showing they have zero understanding of the U.S. Constitution’s very First Amendment.
    “I did not stand up in the past when segregation took place and all of our black teachers in this region and most across the country lost their jobs. I was not even aware that it would happen since I was just a teenager when the schools were integrated,” Woodford said.
    “Because of the loss of our highly educated teachers, black history was left out of the curriculum in all the schools in the United States. For that reason, I will now work the rest of my life to make up for my oversight.”
    The members of the black community I’ve spoken with don’t want white folks to solve all their problems; they just want you to listen and not get in the way. On Thursday, our community started walking down the path to racial equality.
    David Brown is publisher & editor of the Cherokee Scout. You can reach him by phone, 837-5122; fax, 837-5832; email, dbrown@cherokeescout.com; or message him on Twitter @daviddBstroh.