Sometimes the way to change a mind or a heart is to find common ground.
In other cities, we watched violence, vandalism and hatred spill into streets and innocent people lose their livelihoods.
We saw others get injured in the melee.
And on an evening when there was a call to arms rather than a plea for peace from The White House, those who seek to divide us on both sides continued their assaults.
But we saw something different in our own community. A little bit of hope of what can be accomplished when good people realize that understanding starts by seeing each other as individuals and respecting each other’s stories, experiences and challenges.
It happened on the streets of downtown Goldsboro.
It was just a hug — a moment between people who set aside their differences and looked instead for common ground.
And when that group of protestors and the police officers exchanged words of hope and embraced each other — the stage was set.
Now, instead of hate and looting, the ground was laid for understanding.
There could be a discussion about how deeply those who gathered to have their say felt about what happened in Minneapolis and how it is indicative of the prejudice many black Americans face in their own lives.
And those who were there to keep them safe could remind their neighbors that not all police officers behave in such a disgraceful and horrific manner — and that no police officer worth his or her salt would dishonor the badge by defending what happened to George Floyd.
It was an honest exchange captured on a cell phone camera.
And it is what we should all aspire to, what we should all join forces to accomplish.
It is Goldsboro — at its finest. And it is how we move forward, together.
Thank you. May God continue his blanket of protection over our county.