MISSISSIPPI – The man who has represented the families of some of the people whose names have become household words in recent years applauded the Magnolia State on Sunday, pointing out that Mississippi is blazing trails in the nation when it comes to legal racial equality.
[…] [He]spoke at St. Peter’s Catholic Church on Sunday, telling the congregation that it’s not enough to know what’s right, but it’s a God-given duty to defend it.
[…] He encouraged members of the community to stand up and fight to save the younger generation, and to let them know their lives are important.
“And it doesn’t matter if the hand that pulls the trigger is a black hand or a white hand,” he said. “Our silence is a jail for our children. We have to speak up for our children. We have to make them believe that their lives matter, and that it’s not about what we say, it’s about what we do.”
Some leaders said the message encompassed other problems some people believe society is facing at this point in history.
“He’s emerged as a national leader and a voice for social justice, specifically a voice for crimes against young African American men, which is something that we as a community, black and white alike, we need to say this is an injustice,” said Mississippi NAACP President Derrick Johnson. “We need to stand up against the gun violence in our country — that has no color — we all should come together to end the gun violence as we see it.”
Bishop Joseph Kopacz said it is up to citizens to embrace the hope of peace.
“This dream of God, this dream that Martin Luther King Jr. took to heart and soul, and this dream that we continue to live because we don’t give up hope, we run the race, we finish it, and we endure, in that there will be change, greater justice and peace and the kingdom of God will unfold in our midst,” he said.
A group of soccer players from Piney Woods School, some from as far away as Ethiopia, came to hear the speech after one of their coaches encouraged them (read who)