Tri-City area people rally for 'community beyond color'

The death of George Floyd at the of hands of Minneapolis police sparked protests and sometimes violence across the country. In Morgan City, a 16-year-old brought Tri-City area residents together Saturday in a community rally for peace.

Wesley Williams’ idea seemed to touch something in the 50 or so people who were present for the 10 a.m. start of the rally, and the others who came to watch as the event stretched on.

Jessica Daniels, who shared master of ceremonies duties with Williams, said before the rally that he came to her with his idea.

“He called me and he said, ‘You know, with just with everything going on, there’s division in the community which was sparked by the George Floyd incident,’” Daniels said. “There’s a division in the community against the police, against blacks, against whites. It’s just a sad time.”

Daniels suggested that Williams should call Mayor Frank “Boo” Grizzaffi.

“He came to City Hall and met with me and the chief of police,” Grizzaffi told the rally crowd. “He sat there professionally, set up an itinerary. He had plan.”

So Grizzaffi got on board.

“I hope this will accomplish everyone coming together as one,” Williams said. “The theme is unity beyond color.

“It doesn’t matter if you’re Asian. It doesn’t matter if you’re Mexican, black, white. It’s just coming together as a whole, as one body, not only in Morgan City, Louisiana, but in the United States of America.”

From the Lawrence Park gazebo, Grizzaffi described the rally as “not a racial type of event. It’s about what’s right and what’s wrong.”

The mayor noted that he has six months left in his term.

“I’m going to dedicate that last six months to working closely with the chief of police to make a difference in how we police our community, how we do things here in the city,” Grizzaffi said.

“We’re going to lead by example and try to set the tone for the entire parish.”

Reginald Weary, head of the St. Mary Parish NAACP, said he had come to doubt the commitment of younger people to racial justice.

“For a long time, I thought this generation doesn’t get it,” Weary said.

Meanwhile, instances of racial injustice continued year after year.

“We’re here to address the same problem at a different time,” Weary said.

But he’s encouraged that young people are involved in protests. Just as television coverage cast light on events in Selma, Alabama, in 1965. Cellphones are doing that now, he said.

“The revolution will be televised,” he said.

“Look around,” Weary said. "It’s not just black people that feel the misery we have felt. It’s white people as well. It’s people of all ethnicities.”

Morgan City Councilman Ron Bias said he feels that people have heard voices that have been ignored for decades.

“The thing we have to do now is get past the fear,” Bias said. “We have to sit down at the table of brotherhood and work these things out.”

Bias paid tribute to what he called the hip-hop generation.

“They’re pulling up their pants and sharpening their minds …,” Bias said. “I don’t think they’re going to put up with the mess that I did and my daddy did and my grandpa did and for that matter your daddy and your grandpa.”

India Bennett and Taaj Daniels read poems they’d written. And Daniels introduced a group of young men who call themselves Roots to Brotherhood. They hope to work with kids in the community.

Later, members of the audience were invited to come forward to speak.

Dwayne Dupuy of Berwick said he didn’t agree with Colin Kaepernick when the NFL quarterback took a knee during the national anthem to protest violence against black people. Dupuy didn't agree with that protest, he said, because he didn't understand.

“Now after seeing all this stuff that’s still happening, man, and nobody’s willing to make a change, it’s time to do better, man,” Dupuy said.