Prayer Day focuses on school discipline

About 100 people turned out Saturday afternoon on the Halifax County Courthouse grounds for the annual Day of Prayer sponsored by Citizens for a Better America, an organization formed by the late civil rights activist Cora Tucker.
Leading the event was Tucker's granddaughter, Ebony Guy, who was assisted by Rev. Kevin Chandler, president of the local NAACP chapter and the Rev. Dr. William Keen of the Southern Christian Leadership Council.
Prior to the Prayer Day Service, about 40 people had assembled for a march from the Bethune Complex to the Courthouse Square to bring awareness to the problems with school discipline. Chandler said 36 black students compared with only six white students were suspended long term and 19 black students were expelled compared to only four white students during the past school year. The inequity in the expulsion and long term suspension rates were alarming, Chandler said, as he explained that parents need to be made aware of how their children are expected to behave at school.
"Those students are not getting an education," Chandler said, noting "we are all aware that individuals without an education are destined to a life of trouble. We are also all aware that all the blame does not fall on the school system, that is why there is a need for the community to rally together to create change, because drugs, weapons and gang activity have no place in our schools. We need for parents to know there are consequences when their children mess up."
Rev. Keen asked rhetorically what his listeners would do after saying "amen" to his message. "We need to use our minds and create our won prosperity. We need to have the younger generation step up to the plate and recognize the old time values of our churches and our people." Keen said he feared that current values among the younger generation would turn the churches into entertainment centers and the leading job creation would be in the construction of new prisons.
Tom Perriello, who is challenging Fifth District Congressman Virgil Goode for his congressional seat, responded that the problems cited are ones that "we all have to share, parents, teachers and community members. This is a moment for each of us to step up and do our part," he urged. "It is time for us to figure out how each child can live up to his/her full potential," Perriello said.
Other members of the Prayer Day audience included members of the family of the late Neal Seamster who told listeners that they were not satisfied with the findings of Commonwealth's Attorney Kim White following a State Police investigation of the July 2 shooting which took Seamster's life at the Sheetz store in Riverdale. Seamster's aunt, Angela Meredith who has served as the family spokesperson, said she felt an outside prosecutor should have been brought in to determine whether or not charges should have been brought against the officer who shot her nephew. White, she said, worked with the officers involved on a daily basis; consequently she could not make an objective ruling in the situation.