To the editor,

Covington is like thousands of towns across America. In general, we work together to do what’s best for our city. Often suspension arise about politics and curiosity of why the same people benefit more than others. There’s always a simmering of tension under the apparent quiet town. These tensions bring our worst fears to the surface when something terrible happens.

Well our quiet town have had a terrible incident. A policeman was shot in the face. This incident has shaken the entire community. We as a community understand that the police department protects every citizen in Covington. The police risk their lives every day in incidents that appears to be routine that can turn into a dire situation. A routine dispatch resulted in a policeman being shot in his face and young man committing suicide. The city is angry and fearful.

The impact to the community has become tenuous with rumors floating about that somehow this young thug is tied to Black Lives Matters. Most of us are more than confident that the young man was not tied to a group that resist through peaceful protest. The other ominous rumor is that this thug was tied to the Bloods gang. Both stories are more than likely false. So what is the problem?

Our society has a problem concerning prosperity. We focus our efforts to bring big businesses here to Covington. Most people love the idea of job opportunities coming to Covington. The problem of violence will continue, because we are not focus on every child in our community. I won’t pretend to know much about the troubled young man who shot a well-respected policeman. What I do know there are thousands of youth in Newton County that have little to no supervision. These youth have no goals, they are surrounded by bad examples, and they see no way out to a positive outcome.

I went to the vigil to pay my respects and donate to help the family in some way. What I notice was a lack of full community support. I was one of 10 black Americans to honor the injured policeman that I counted at that time. This struck me as odd. Why wasn't the black community here to honor a Covington hero. After thinking a bit I came to the conclusion that it must be fear. If this incident occurred in the sixties or early seventies a mob of people may have decided to enact revenge on the first black person in view. There are some people who are in fear, because they remember those times.

Covington it’s time to come together. We need summer programs that our youth are excited to partake. Prosperity is great, but a supportive community is greater. We need to come together as a community to prevent a policeman from being shot and a young man committing suicide.

Gene Wills

Covington