These are trying times for our communities and our nation. Following several high profile police killings of unarmed African American men, protests have raged and our conversations about race relations and equal justice in this country have intensified.
I cannot deny or belittle the collective anger and frustration that so many of us feel in response to these incidents. However, there are many, myself included, who rightly decry the violence and property destruction involved in some of the protests. Many have called on protesters to work toward justice within the system rather than trying to upend it through chaotic and destructive means.
But these are trying times and much of the anger we see is not directed at a broken system but rather a system that seems to many, whether by design or by accident, immune to change and unable to deliver on its promise of "justice for all."
While Howard County is fortunate to not have to confront these issues directly, we are not completely shielded from them either. We are part of this great nation and as our fellow Americans struggle with these troubling realities, we struggle too.
Our challenge, therefore, is to provide over the coming weeks opportunities for our residents to express their concerns, their fears and their frustrations in a peaceful, positive and constructive manner.
Although we must continue to fight for the systemic changes, we can also do our part at home. It is my prayer that small but meaningful acts in Howard County can create ripples of change far beyond our community's borders.
Rev. Robert Turner, Columbia
The writer is Senior Pastor at St. John Baptist Church.