Letters to the Editor: February 24, 2016
Reader unhappy with Brenton Dana’s press release on his bid for County Auditor
The Brenton Dana press release where he spoke of flaws in the Darlington County Auditors Office in last week’s paper is incorrect. The Auditor, Rosa Hudson, is my grandmother and I – along with all of our family – found that press release highly offensive and we are not happy with it.
The current flaws in the system do NOT reflect upon the auditor, my grandmother, at all. People need to research how the county budget is set, where money is going, why is it allotted the way it is, who the people are making the decisions about the money in our county, and the truth about why they make the decisions they do.
It is not much different from our school system. No matter what the reason, we have educators who work tirelessly often with few or little supplies or help due to how money is allotted. There is no good excuse for that, just like there is no good excuse for how public officials end up doing without. I will stop there.
Darlington County should be ABSOLUTELY ashamed at how they let public officials get treated. The county should consider themselves blessed for some of the hard and honest workers in it. What my grandmother has done for the county, and that position, is remarkable and should be commended.
This is my opinion and should not reflect upon my grandmother.
Angela Knight
Darlington, SC
In honor of Black History Month
I believe that in order to reconcile, there must first be forgiveness of those that have offended by those that have been offended. In the case of most of those that are desiring reconciliation, there has been no active offense committed against them. This is both disheartening and confessing as they want to base their argument on this premise. I hope to defuse this by offering something to the those that did commit an offense five generations before I was born.
We must be careful not to indict, convict and sentence the innocent of a crime they did not commit. There must be honesty from all and no one person or persons can set the narrative as to what is racist behavior, especially when it surrounds a difference of opinion concerning policies that may be introduced for our community. To disagree does not equate to racism and it should never be presented that way. That is a tactic that seeks to control the narrative and drive this city into irrelevance.
In any relationship that has been fractured the first step in the reconciliation process involves forgiveness. However the forgiveness is not mine to give as I am not the one that has been offended nor do I know anyone that has committed an offense. However there are those that came before me that have. This I present in the month that we honor Black History for my Great-great-great Grandparents Aleck and Hannah Ellis, Isaac and Jinny Williams former slaves, in their stead I offer the following:
FORGIVEN
For the 30 day trip
Upon the open sea
Chained and bound
No more Free
FORGIVEN
For dignity stripped
Traded and sold
For families divided
Young and old
FORGIVEN
For lives gone by
No freedom known
For heavy labor
No mercy shown
FORGIVEN
For lives cut short
By acts of hate
For parents crying
For sold off mates
FORGIVEN
For house burned
For the color of skin
For black men hanged
When you felt the whim
FORGIVEN
For enslaving me
For over 100 years
For antagonism and aggression
For inflicting pain and fear
FORGIVEN
Rujon Williams
Darlington, S.C.
