Unity March – POSTPONED Date TBD
June 2, 2020
After speaking with other organizers we have decided to postpone the Unity March in Ironton scheduled for Monday. Not because it isn’t the right thing to do, it is. Not because this isn’t the right time, because it is. We’re postponing our Unity March because, to be honest, while the intent is pure the means in which we may have organized it may be at the heart of the very problem we face as a nation in identifying how we got here.
Our community, like every other across the nation is faced with the reality that the oppression of others is so ingrained in the way we live our day to day lives that we’re unable to see it at play even while we try to do something “unifying.”
One of our biggest challenges now is to step outside of our comfort zones. Those of us in positions of leadership need to learn how to listen and realize that those speaking do not seek or need our permission to do so.
For those who have been marginalized, who have had their voice stripped from them and taught by societal norms to stay silent as to not cause trouble need to speak their truth – to teach their leaders where our community fails them, their children, and their ability to be embraced as the vital assets that they truly are. Some have spoken up before and our predecessors didn’t hear what was being said, or worse, went out of their way to silence them.
We are not our predecessors, and those who may have been around before have grown. We all need one another now more than ever to continue to build Ironton into the thriving vibrant community we all can be proud to call home.
To the leaders among our black community, I apologize for starting down a path of “meaning well” before being able to articulate what I knew in my heart.
The City and our Police Department would still like to show our support in working together to truly unify as one Ironton. I look to you now for your council and guidance.
I am listening. – Sam Cramblit, Mayor