We are angry, outraged, frustrated and sad about recent events including the killing of George Floyd by a Minneapolis police officer, the shooting of Ahmaud Arbery in Glynn County and the blatantly racist videos created by teens and youth in the City of Decatur.
Decatur, we can do better; we will do better. At our meeting on June 1st we pledged at least $50,000 in the current year’s city budget to fund community anti-racist education and training.
Talk is not enough. We have to restore trust. We need to hear the stories of people of color before we can move forward. We need to take the training, listen and move the needle in our community.
We need to act with purpose to root out racism where it lives and shine a light on the path we can take together. There is always more that we can do and all of us together need to do this. We need to push the conversation on this pervasive issue as we strive to create a culture of anti-racism within our community.
We are participating in an ongoing collaborative dialogue with community partners including City Schools of Decatur, Decatur Parents Network, Beacon Hill Black Alliance, Decatur Prevention Initiative, Better Together Advisory Board, and Decatur Education Foundation to design a town hall meeting. We pledge to work with DeKalb and State elected leaders to remove symbols of hate from the city. And, we plan to increase our commitment to listening to each other, learning from each other and through meaningful conversations as a community identifying other actions that will make a positive, long-lasting difference in our city.
We are proud of our Decatur community that came together this week to peacefully protest and set an example of how anger and sadness can be expressed with love and compassion. We are also proud of our Police department who protected all protestors and treated all with empathy and respect.
The Decatur community values every individual and strives to create and maintain a place where everyone feels welcome and safe. We will use this as an opportunity to show how Decatur can become stronger and better through adversity and we invite the community to join us as we move forward.
-Mayor Patti Garrett
Mayor Pro Tem Tony Powers
Commissioner George Dusenbury
Commissioner Lesa Mayer
Commissioner Kelly Walsh
Thank you for this important message. I do trust that Decatur will become stronger and better. Thank you all for your service to our great community.
Thank you for sharing.
Thank you for this promise. I have heard and know so many stories. Here is what I believe and promise. With humility, this is a lifelong work started a long time ago. I know I need to look continuously inside and examine my deeply rooted patterns and characteristics and beliefs and bring them and the consequences of my shame and my fear of owning these dark and unwelcomed parts of myself into consciousness; come out from behind my cloak of denial, own all of who I am and in whatever way it can happen, atone for it. Who would ever have felt intrinsically safe enough to tell me their story before I had begun this journey. No one should.
Thank you for your leadership.
Thank you for your leadership. There are a lot of words out there, but, this looks like concrete steps to begin to move in the right direction. My hopes are with you.