By L. Parsons The community of Winslow came together last week in a gathering they called, “Together for Change.” Approximately 120 people attended the peaceful prayer vigil organized by Brenda Graham. She led a choir made up of community members, clergy and elected officials in a performance of “We are the World,” a song written by Michael Jackson and Lionel Richie in 1985 as a fundraiser in support of the AIDS pandemic in Africa. Graham said, “I prayed for this, I prayed for good weather and for the community to come together, and it worked.” The gathering, which comes on the heels of the death of George Floyd by former police officer Derick Chauvin in Minneapolis on Memorial Day, included words from many community leaders. First Baptist Church Pastor Fred Harris gave a sermon on the importance of recognizing everyone as members of a greater family and Restoration Church Pastor Jonathan Nells invited the community to worship with him and encouraged the audience to reach out to their fellow man. Members of the Winslow Police Department, including Interim Chief Ken Arend were in attendance and handed out water to the crowd. It is also worth noting that the community embraced and applauded the officers for their work in garnering peace and unity in Winslow. Arend addressed the crowd and thanked them for their peaceful assembly and said, “We are honored as a department to be able to host this event. This is an important conversation to have, and we are honored to be a part of it.” The officers were not dressed in riot gear but did wear face coverings as did most of the crowd. Both Mayor Tom McCauley and Councilman Kerwin Lawrence spoke at the event. Lawrence, who is also the Vice President of the NAACP Winslow Chapter asked citizens to, “love one another as you would like to be loved, respect one another as you would like to be respected.” McCauley’s remarks were along the same lines as Lawrence. He quoted scripture and the United States Constitution reminding the audience that, “All men are created equal.” The gathering dispersed after about an hour and a half and all parties remained peaceful throughout.
