(Pictured left to right) Cynthia Wallace of the New Rural Project sits beside HOLLA! founder Leon Gatewood. Behind Wallace, Wadesboro Town Manager Wiley Ross Jr. has a pensive moment.
ANSON COUNTY— Coming together as one to seek resolutions to stop the recent uptick in violence across the county, leaders and residents alike met at Harold C. Smith’s Funeral Home June 18 in an open-forum style meeting.
Largely organized by Wadesboro town leaders, such as Mayor Fred Davis, and HOLLA! founder Leon Gatewood, the event sought to address the issues contributing to driving up crime in Anson County communities.
Gatewood said, “We need to pass out our good information better. Our kids are suffering because they don’t know what is going on. We need to build a strong coalition that will not quit, a diverse coalition.”
Co- founder of the New Rural Project, Cynthia Wallace said, “There are more ways to serve than by being an elected official. We know this crime is personal.”
Sharing some sobering statistics, Wallace explained, “Gun violence is 76% higher in rural areas compared to urban areas. Anson County is ranked number three in gun homicide in the state.”
Wallace added, “These are more than just statistics. These are people, human lives behind the numbers.”
Ansonville Mayor Angela Tina Caraway said, “We are late, but we are here tonight. It is time to stop meeting and do something. I can’t mentor young men. I can mentor young women, but I cannot mentor young men.”
Caraway said she would be willing to write or apply for any grant needed to bring a mentor ship program to the young men of Anson County to take advantage of. Another suggestion advanced by Caraway and echoed by many is the idea of opening school gyms and ball fields back up to the county’s youth.
Reverend Michael McLeod says he feels the last few weeks of violence have been a soul pricking from the Lord. He said, “[We need to pray] God continues to prick our hearts, souls, and minds. That He gives us the strength and fortitude to do what needs to be done.”
Local mentor Mitchell Huntley announced he is sponsoring Cardio in Wadesboro Park every Tuesday and Thursday at 6:30 p.m., facilitating community bonding and unification through fitness.
He said, “I haven’t seen anyone talk about spiritual warfare, but we want to lock our kids up instead of trying to get them healed. We have got church down pat, but this is on us because we have failed our children.”
A face as familiar as his Behind These Prison Walls mobile prison art museum, Lorenzo Steele Jr., spoke about his experiences as a correctional officer on Riker’s Island in N.Y.
Steele recounted, “The black and brown faces still haunt me. I remember serving the inmates food, and there was about 300 inmates, and not one white face. I can still hear the sound of the brakes with 30 to 40 young black and brown men arriving with no idea what they were walking into.”
He said as time went by, he came to see himself as an overseer on a modern-day plantation. “The school to prison pipeline is real, I’ve seen the system, and I was there. What people don’t realize is that the school to prison pipeline starts at home.”
Determined to put action behind his thoughts, Steele remodeled a prison bus and began traveling around the state, to several area schools and events, seeking to reach kids when they are young.
Bringing a humanizing face to the issue, Wanda Smith spoke about losing her son to violence.
She said, “I cannot say exactly how I feel, I have so many emotions. We have to learn to use our words carefully. My son smiled every day, you never saw him without a smile unless something was wrong. He has four children he left behind and every day I have to look at them and just trust God.”
Smith says God has been her refuge and strength throughout every grief darkened moment she has spent without her son. She added, “We can’t just talk about it, we need to be about it. This didn’t just affect me, it affected the community because we are all a part of each other. We are supposed to love our brothers as ourselves.”
During the meeting clipboards collecting information about how attendees can stay informed and connected were passed around. The next meeting to continue addressing solutions to the violence will be held at Smith’s Funeral Home July 2 at 6 p.m. All are welcome to attend.
