OPEN LETTER TO THE COMMUNITY
Yesterday, in the hustle and bustle of starting a new year, our community paused to bury 3 year-old Terrell Mayes, Jr., the innocent toddler who was killed by a stray bullet in his own home just two days after Christmas. We at the Minneapolis Urban League extend our condolences to the entire family of young Terrell.
The death of this baby particularly stirred me as I am the father of a 3-year-old son who happened to celebrate his birthday yesterday. As I reflected on the dichotomy of the day, I struggled to understand the lack of progress we seem to have made in transforming our community.
This New Year, 2012, is a great time for us to get really serious about the level of work that needs to be done in our community. In his famous "I Have a Dream" speech, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. stressed that there is a fierce urgency of NOW. Now, we should not allow another senseless killing of one of our children. Now, we must join together to support plans that provide opportunities for all.
How long will we have to continue to talk about the same tragedies and disparities? How long must our children wait to receive all the promises of our land? How long is the NOW so many have talked about?
Tomorrow, Minneapolis Urban League staff kicks off the New Year with a planning and rededication retreat. I plan to ask these questions of my team. If the question is who? I say US. If the question is how? I say Together. If the question is when? I say NOW.
Join us in the movement to make NOW, 2012, the year to make some significant impacts in our community.
