TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (WTXL) - Bill Proctor is speaking out against the violence in the Southside of Tallahassee, urging the black community "to stop using drugs, especially cocaine and 'designer drugs.'"
In a long letter, Commissioner Bill Proctor calls the recent violence across Leon County "heartbreaking", citing the Tallahassee man that was arrested after killing his mother an an infant that was shot while in a car.
Proctor wrote that in light of these incidents that drugs seem to play a role in, he is "compelled to offer the following statement":
"I urge the black community to remember that the “war on drugs” has also been a long standing war affecting the humanity of the black communities across this nation. There is no neighborhood or community that has NOT been affected by drugs. Black men and women are extracted and taken from our communities in large numbers due, in part, to the residual impacts of drug activity: whether a user, seller, associated to or a simple bystander.
Moreover, the mental health crisis in our communities is real and is not necessarily isolated from drugs because many persons self-medicate. It is unfortunate that illegal drugs, such as some narcotics and “designer drugs”, are utilized as self-medication in the place of mental health therapy, treatment and prescribed medication.
The Southside has lost its local Winn Dixie and Walgreens stores. We have been unable to receive the promised new Southside High School from the Leon County School Board. Additionally, we have not attracted a mall, Movie Theater or even a new housing community. However, the Southside has had a continuous stream of drugs which damages and impairs our sense of humanity and responsibility within our community.
It is difficult to attract and keep businesses that provide needed services to us when devastating crimes pierce our environment. It will be an uphill battle to attract businesses, jobs and products to an area riddle with crime and inhumanity.
In the Southside of Tallahassee, it is clear that drugs have disconnected us in various degrees. Black people need to stop using drugs, especially cocaine and “designer drugs.” We are self-marginalizing and destroying our own lives and people. We are a much better people than we are now acting. I am asking that we pull up…way up from where we have come to momentarily.
Multiple individuals suggest that people of color (melanated) simply cannot handle cocaine; it has been asserted that people of color cannot handle the level of chemical imbalance accompanied by the use of cocaine and drugs of the same variation. The continued use of this drug in any form will continue to disconnect men from honoring their mothers, wives, and children. We have to have faith in God, ourselves and each other to move forward from this wide-spread helter-skelter existence. Our co-existence depends upon how well the least of us is doing in our lives. We have to care about everyone and I ask that each of us is mindful of helping each other to get along better and achieve more.
We have reached an “all-time low moment” in history when a black man will murder his mother, a black man will attempt to kill his wife, and a baby is shot. Black people have sustained 400 years of external attack but we cannot sustain 40 years of internal destruction that derives from the poisonous and genocidal consequences and side effects of drugs such as cocaine, methamphetamines, “molly”, and other so called “designer drugs”.
We cannot sustain ourselves and build our communities when sons are killing their mothers, husbands are killing their wives and our babies are shot in cold blood. We must do better because God will not bless mess.
We must refocus our energies toward the ideals of love, compassion, respect, perseverance, faith, and charity. I call upon the ministers and pastors to lift the ideas of Ephesians 6:10-18. I ask this community to love one another, protect one another and speak up for one another, as God has done so for us all."
