Kenny Hardin, Salisbury City Councilman and Salisbury Mayoral Candidate 2017
♦ I refuse to allow Mayor Alexander, the City Manager or the PIO to be painted as victims for the divisive actions and dangerous atmosphere they created. I don’t care how many Black churches she visits, how many proclamations of Black citizens she offers, or whether her feelings and pride are damaged because I’m holding her accountable. She has yet to acknowledge the pain she caused to an entire demographic of people and the unwarranted fear she has brought to this City. Neither of the three have shown any contrition or offered an apology. So, why should I care about how she or anyone not impacted by this feels about my outrage.
What I witnessed for three weeks was an arrogance and and a disregard for the safety of a community by implying that violence would result in the absence of any real evidence. To try to walk it back at the last minute is an insult and shows little respect for the Black community.
I walked out of the lady Council meeting after being properly excused because I was disgusted at the way the Mayor was talking down to citizens in such a contemptible way. She arrogantly sought to misrepresent and mischaracterize the events leading up to the poor decisions she made with the secret meetings. Now, in the days after the report was released and no violence occurred from the Black Community, we are left with a divided city mired in fear, pain, mistrust, and decimated racial relationships. Black people don’t feel safe because they feel as if the Mayor put a target on their back and made them objects of scorn and to be feared.
I have received calls and spoken with citizens who’ve shared stories of increased racial tension on their jobs and in their personal lives. I’ve talked to business owners who have shared they were told to expect violence with some even hiring armed security. I had a bank VP say to me Friday me, “Well we had to be prepared. We didn’t know if minorities were going to revolt.” I’ve had more conversations where even more ridiculous statements were made. It’s sad that this is the conversational norm in our community. I don’t think the Mayor, City Manager or the PIO understand the magnitude and severity of what they’ve done to this City. I don’t think they care either.
Has the Mayor, City Manager or PIO made any efforts or overtures to improve this? Have they reconvened the Clergy to talk about how to recover from this? Has there been any contrition or attempts at racial reconciliation or healing? Until then, don’t ask me to stop holding them accountable. I am unapologetic and unwavering in my defense of those impacted.
