YOCONA â¢Â Lydia Koltai of Yocona marks 2016 as the beginning of her role as a community organizer.
After Alton Sterling and Philando Castile were killed by police, Koltai shifted from being a quietly concerned citizen to someone willing to speak out.
âI needed to be doing something in the community other than just feeling upset,â Koltai said.
Koltai, 39, reached out to April Grayson, director of Community and Capacity Building for the William Winter Institute for Racial Reconciliation, to see if there were any opportunities to volunteer. Soon after, Kyleen Burke, a Northeastern University law student, reached out with research she had done on Elwood Higginbottom, the last known lynching victim in Lafayette County.
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Teaching a child the importance of telling the truth is a value many of us share. When a child has done something that causes shame, a caring adult can only help if they understand what was actually done. The value of truth-telling extends to adulthood. For example, if one is in a doctor’s office, it is important to convey the truth of what one is feeling. It is not helpful to say “Doc, I’m feeling fine,” when in reality you’re having trouble breathing and can’t taste anything. The physician can only be helpful if they know the truth of how a person is feeling.
OXFORD • The Lafayette County Board of Supervisors on Tuesday unanimously approved the placement of a marker dedicated to lynching victims on the grounds of the Lafayette County Courthouse, signaling