NEED TO RELEASE PRESSURE

Some readers have called me on the carpet for the line in the Dec. 23
column about the "Crying Out Together to Become One Rally" at the
Government Center Dec. 22.

I wrote, "There also needs to be talk of justice, a topic not mentioned
Monday."

The rally was the third in a series of rallies that took place after the
death of Kenneth B. Walker, an unarmed man who was fatally shot by a
Muscogee County sheriff's deputy after authorities said Walker failed to
comply with commands to show his hands. Walker and three other men were in
a gray GMC Yukon when it was stopped the night of Dec. 10 as part of a drug
investigation.

Those readers are correct -- justice was mentioned. What I might have more
accurately said was that it wasn't discussed in any detail. Even though
justice might have been the reason for the rally, people like me came away
feeling as though a lot of tip-toeing had been done on that occasion.

My statement was more critique than finger-pointing. Given the
circumstances, I think many people may be doing the best they know how. But
experience teaches us that a giver's best is not always good enough for the
intended receiver.

A person who is really hurting may feel that people don't care enough about
what is hurting them, or even understand why they are hurting.

At the same time, people may be doing their best to show support and concern.

So I am again suggesting that we need to have a town grief session. We need
to come together on the steps of the Government Center and spill our guts
on this matter.

Emotions are like air in a balloon -- if held in on one side, the other
side gets out of proportion. And just as with a balloon, it is not more
pressure, but the release of pressure, that gets things back into shape.

The pressure is still on the entire community. In fact, the pressure seems
likely to continue to build as everyone waits for the investigations to be
completed and the findings released.

Meanwhile, people can blame too much media coverage and outside
interference from Al Sharpton on what might take place if... the findings
aren't right... or people take matters into their own hands.

If all is well in our community, there is nothing an outsider can "stir
up." We would never, for instance, accuse an auditor of stirring things up
at a bank. If there are issues that need to be addressed, we need to
address them -- not try to keep anyone from discovering them.

Sometimes people think keeping "stuff" in is the best way to keep things
under control. But that approach can have the same result as trying to keep
water from rushing out of a hose. The water invariably finds -- or makes --
a way out.

The way for Columbus to get past the Walker shooting is to invite all to
look and see.

The city has not recovered from the black eye it received by default. The
country came looking and pointing fingers when the Taylor County "white"
prom came to town. The community can't afford to think people aren't
waiting and watching and remembering.