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Cooler Heads Must Prevail: The shootings that took place this week [Jan. 1 to 8] in Fayetteville are indeed tragedies and should be handled as such.
There are no words that will comfort the families and loved one[s] of the two men who were shot and killed on our streets this week [Jan. 1 to 8], and our hearts go out to the families! Our city is saddened and heartbroken!

It is also saddening to see just how quickly some so-called leaders in this city, even faith leaders have jumped to fan the racial flames. They call for peace while giving inflammatory speeches and posting dog whistles on their time lines.

They call for peace publicly but secretly advocate for war. They publicly pray to the God of Heaven while privately hoping that all hell breaks loose.

This city has been through enough, and the last thing that we need are “leaders” who will see these tragedies to capitalize on hate and division. We need LEADERS who will bring this city together!

If we are going to be “America’s Can Do City” we have to first be “America’s Can Do Better City.”

We must be that city on a hill; we must be that beacon of light that the rest of the nation looks to when the seas are raging, the pressure is high, and the fires of hate and division are being fanned.

Fayetteville, we are a city of hope, passion, compassion, faith and prayer. We are a city that understand the importance on coming together. We cannot allow hate traffickers and race-baiters to activate their divisive agenda and further tear our city apart.

The wolves are howling, the vultures are circling, and the sharks are going in for the kill, but we must be the true gatekeepers of peace that we are called to be.

We mourn these tragic losses of life, and we pray the comfort of God for the families left behind.

Let us seek justice through peace, not through war. And let us resist the urge to hate. Let us come together in prayer and let us seek God for guidance!

We have an opportunity before to show the nation and the world what “can do” really looks like, and I know that we can do it.

Let us Lead Fayetteville Forward. TOGETHER

Thank you, God bless you, May God bless the city of Fayetteville, the families of those we’ve lost, and may God continue to bless the United States of America