Perry Jones, 68, Union Bridge mayor, elected as Carroll County’s first Black county commissioner
I think it’s very important that generations today get to know more about the African-American community and what they went through growing up back in the early 1900s and during the days of slavery.
There’s a lot of things the younger people don’t understand, and I think if that was taught more in schools and they had more understanding, some of the problems we have today wouldn’t be happening.
I think back in the day, Martin Luther King Jr. would probably be a little disappointed with some of the riots we’ve had and the killings we’ve had. He and his followers would protest, but they never destroyed anybody’s property. They never burned things down.
Those guys back in the day took beatings, some got killed and murdered, but they never retaliated or got destructive. They tried to get the lesson out that they were there to make peace an they wanted equality for everybody. I think that’s where we’re lacking a little bit on that.
— Compiled by Megan Woodward
