She noted that the committee that gave the road its original name undoubtedly faced some backlash, but she said she was grateful members of this committee had the nerve to do their part and maintain the history of Blackhead Signpost Road. Prior to that change, roads in the county were referred to by their route numbers.” “Blackhead Signpost Road was officially named when the county transitioned to an emergency response system that required road names. “When we came together and compromised on our different opinions regarding Blackhead Signpost Road, the goal for our first project became changing the name of Blackhead Signpost Road and keeping its historical significance alive,” she said. There is no scenario where this work could have been done without your prayers, support and encouragement.”Ĭovington’s speech focused on the occasion everyone was gathered for Dec. “Citizens Create Change showed up time and time again, ensuring that our voices were heard.”īefore Covington came up to share the next part of CCC’s story, Bynum said, “I have to say I am extremely humbled by the support of this community and the trust you had in us. “We learned that before the street name was to be changed, we had to first focus our attention on the antiquated ordinance which controlled the street renaming process for the county,” she said. She said the organization educated citizens on the power they hold and the importance of their voice. “We held Q&A sessions in our group explaining the process of how decisions are made locally and encouraging citizens to speak up and be present.” “We raised over $2,000 in funds in hopes that today would come to be,” she said. She said CCC created a Facebook community and held Facebook Live events. This is how Citizens Create Change was born - real people doing real work making real change.” This is a real-life example of how people with differing views can still work together. “We had an honest and transparent conversation and talked about changing the name but also how to preserve this important history. “This was always a huge risk in our work in changing the street name,” Bynum continued. Michelle was like family to me, but she was opposed to changing the name for the sake of losing history. “I wanted somebody else to join me in this journey, someone that I trusted, but we were on opposing sides. “That was the exact push I needed, but not too fast,” she said. She stated that Parker reached out to her, having seen her social media post, and he had been in talks with Blunt. “At this point I realized that I needed to organize, as this was becoming bigger than me.” “So I kicked off a petition and garnered almost 9,000 signatures with overwhelming support across this nation,” she said. She said there were some very strong opposing messages sent that were quite discouraging, but ultimately there were more people across generations and ethnicities that supported CCC’s work. “Now, everyone was not a fan of my opinion people were talking, though, and that was the critical first step.” “That post was shared over 300 times and started some critical conversations in this county,” she continued. It’s time… and I got time! Let’s be the change…’ I ended the post by stating, ‘For years, people have petitioned for these to change to no avail… however, it’s a new day! As the nation is changing, Southampton County must too change. Remember, free or enslaved, these were still humans. In my opinion, naming the street Blackhead Signpost Road made a mockery of the atrocities of the day. She said, “I shared my disgust to the name and its insulting nod to free and enslaved blacks that met their end after the rebellion of Nat Turner. (Ralph) Northam, calling his attention to concerns in Southampton County, specifically Blackhead Signpost Road.” “So again, I created a Facebook post directed to Gov. “This was our time,” she said of Citizens Create Change. It was at that time the latest in the growing list of reports of unwarranted police killings of African Americans in recent years.īynum noted that in addition to the prominent protests, change was happening in the form of governments voting to take down Confederate statues. Protests were happening across the nation in response to the murder of George Floyd while in police custody in Minneapolis, Minnesota. She said five years passed and the world was flipped upside down. That was not the right time for this work to begin, but the seed was planted.” “I didn’t have any real expectations from that initial Facebook post I just really wanted to call attention to it. “Back in 2015, I created a Facebook post that expressed my general concern about the street names and constantly hearing from friends all across the nation that they could not believe that these places actually existed,” she said.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |