February is a month set aside in the busy calendar year to celebrate black history and to reflect on the heritage, achievements and contributions of the black community nationally and locally.

Rockdale County is more than blessed with some very caring and compassionate black leaders.The black community has worked hard to make Rockdale a great place to live.

The truth is that blacks in this country have stood shoulder to shoulder with many races to mold our very freedom and democracy since Revolutionary times. Crispus Attucks, a black man, was one of the country’s first martyrs — he died in the Boston Massacre of 1770.

Throughout the history of our country, blacks have served with distinction and honor. Many have died to earn those freedoms we enjoy — some at the hands of their own countrymen. Many black leaders over the years, especially those in our own community, have taught all of us the meaning of real class. We are grateful for leaders like Frederick Douglass and Martin Luther King Jr., who have shown us through the generations that truly we are all as one in this brotherhood of man, regardless of our color or our creed.