“Montgomery is not a battlefield. It is a city of families, faith and future. The people of this community deserve solutions rooted in partnership, not political soundbites.”
—Montgomery Mayor Steven Reed
Surprise us, Mayor Reed.
Surprise your supporters who defend you through thick and thin. Surprise your critics who lay every tragedy at the feet of your leadership.
Surprise those who have always been and always will be with you. Surprise those who never gave you a chance and probably never will. Surprise Democrats and Republicans, conservatives and progressives, young and old, black and white alike.
Surprise your nation. Surprise your state. Surprise your city too.
Surprise your colleagues. Surprise your friends and family – but most importantly, surprise yourself with what you do.
Upend the national narrative! Act out of character! Play a different game! Upset our politics as usual and make lame our routine rituals of hype, hope and blame!
Reach out to the most unlikely of partners – invite the Trump administration into the Montgomery fold – not as resignation to federal imposition, but as courage to ask for a helping hand.
Embrace your political enemies publicly as friends. Take any aid they can give, including deployment of the National Guard, if necessary. Take the lead and propose a stepped-up federal-city task force full of carrots and sticks.
Don’t wait for the attorney general, lieutenant governor, or governor to lead on this – and certainly don’t wait for them to force your hand!
Make Montgomery a spur for the nation, a place of reconciliation, where men of immense political differences can stand shoulder to shoulder to make evildoers fear justice once again.
I do not expect you to surprise us, Mr. Mayor. I understand if you don’t wish to accept the audacity of this plan plainly written by a fool – though I would be overjoyed to be proven a fool by you. Though many people would be unhappily surprised if you were to propose a partnership with Trump, it would be more than worth it to upend the national political discourse and open new paths for Montgomery beyond political soundbites or the usual partisan fights.
Montgomery is not a battlefield most days for most people – until it is.
The mass shooting in downtown Montgomery over the weekend reminds us of this bloody reality that keeps disturbing our city’s tranquility.
Maybe the issue isn’t simply lack of manpower or morale (though it has undeniably been a big part of the problem bedeviling the city for several years). Maybe we do need more judicial reforms at the state level to keep violent criminals off the streets as well as laws to bolster and hasten the administration of justice both before or after conviction, especially in cases of heinous crimes of violence.
That said, I am the first to admit government policy, whether it be a policy of more carrots or bigger sticks, can only do so much to combat evil men given over to their desires.
Politics alone could never liberate us from sin and death – and is more often a uniquely powerful temptation to sin and death rather than liberation.
A city of countless churches on almost every other block, Montgomery does appear a city of Christian faith and family.
Yet, when too many rotten fruits continue to stain Montgomery’s city streets with the blood of their brothers, I can't help but think some of our households and houses of worship are false – barely households and houses of worship at all – places torn apart by lawlessness within the heart only to bear the bad fruit of lawlessness on Montgomery’s streets.
Indeed, though I would love to see Reed surprise me with a daring move to make friends of his political enemies in common cause – more than any political salve, I pray more houses of family and faith in Montgomery repent of their falsity – though I must pray this for my own house before all others.
As Christ warns in Matthew 7:15-23:
Beware of false prophets. They come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravenous wolves. By their fruit you will recognize them. Are grapes gathered from thornbushes, or figs from thistles? Likewise, every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, and a bad tree cannot bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. So then, by their fruit you will recognize them.
Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of My Father in heaven. Many will say to Me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name drive out demons and perform many miracles?’
Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you workers of lawlessness!’
Joey Clark is a native Alabamian and is currently the host of the radio program News and Views on News Talk 93.1 FM WACV out of Montgomery, AL, M-F 12 p.m. - 3 p.m. His column appears every Tuesday in 1819 News. To contact Joey for media or speaking appearances, as well as any feedback, please email [email protected]. Follow him on X @TheJoeyClark or watch the radio show livestream.
The views and opinions expressed here are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the policy or position of 1819 News. To comment, please send an email with your name and contact information to [email protected].
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