Reconciliation takes change of heart, speaker says By Elsa Baughman
JACKSON — According to Dan Hall, vice president of InvestLinc Securities LLC, racial reconciliation is not a new issue and it was not invented by Americans. On the contrary, he said, it’s a global, historical issue.
“Racial reconciliation at its core is not a black/white issue, is not a southern issue, is not even an American issue; it is a human issue,” he told a group of Mississippi mayors, government officials, Christian leaders, and guests at the 15th annual Mayors’ Prayer Breakfast, Friday May 2, at the Mississippi TelCom Center in Jackson.
Hall, a founding member of Mission Mississippi, sponsor of the event, was the keynote speaker.
Hall said if racial reconciliation is a human issue then we must understand at the core, it is a heart issue. “It is a heart issue with social implications, with economic and educational ramifications, and daily life situations,” he said.
He explained if the core issue is a heart issue, then the cure resides in the willingness to change the heart. But, he asked the audience, “What if I change but the person sitting across from me doesn’t want to change?”
“I can’t be reconciled unless we can both seek in our hearts to change,” he said.
Hall said Mission Mississippi had a certain and unmistakable call to address racism as contrary to God’s heart. “We believe that no follower of Christ should tolerate bigotry, racism or injustice.”
Barbara Rose Brooks, mayor of Leland, said racial reconciliation is something people need to talk about, not only in Mississippi but across the world.
“What Mississippi is doing should be on the front row,” she said. “They are (Mission Mississippi) taking the leadership in a lot of events that are going on because we are trying to create love, harmony, and reconciliation.”
Marshand Crisler, Jackson council member who plans to run for mayor next year, said Hall was very motivational. “He touched on some points that are important to us as human beings,” he said. “We need to understand the issues we deal with every day are not race issues, they are heart issues, spiritual issues. What we have to do is get our spirit right. If we call ourselves Christians we need to do just that, that is to be Christ-like.”
After the breakfast, a press conference was held to release findings from a recent survey conducted by the Godwin Group that shows improvement in race relations in Mississippi.
was not invented by Americans. On the contrary, he said, it’s a global, historical issue.