Originally posted on Facebook on Saturday, June 19, 2021.

In Week 25 of 52 Weeks of Gratefulness, I give thanks for Kim Moreland.

"We can do better than this."

I didn't know this woman from Adam's housecat but these are the words that follow a direct message to me on Facebook. The message is dated October 18, 2018. She's the owner of Moreland Inc. and was, at the time, Vice Chairman of the Oktibbeha County Republican Party. Her comment is aimed at the heart of the deep, divisive political polarization that is swelling across the country. She continues,

"It's dumb to think that people of different political parties can't work together. Sure, there are areas where people disagree but there is still plenty of common ground where we can work together. I look around Starkville and see problems we're not addressing because we won't work together. I'm tired, Paul, of being accused of hating black people simply because I'm white or that you're against me because you're black. We're smarter than this. We're better than this. We can do better than this and really put Starkville on the map if we can work together."

And from that time, I've witnessed Kim Moreland actively looking for areas of common ground and putting in the work needed to make good things happen. What impresses me most about Kim is that she doesn't busy herself with the pageantry of charity. She doesn't write a check, make a donation or volunteer simply so she can say that she's done a good deed and go back to life as usual while the rest of the world is on fire. She invests towards a specific outcome and doesn't stop working until the outcome is achieved. The work I've seen her readily give herself to, often at great expense, is making sure barriers are removed and the necessary infrastructure exists for anyone who is trying to do more with their lives.

I could talk ad nauseam about the many ways she has contributed to the betterment of our community but one in particular stands out. There had been weeks of meetings with a particular group of potential donors about the investments needed to bring the facilities at the J.L. King Center up to par for our youth development and adult education classes. The meetings had all but stalled and my appeals, as a black man to a white audience, seem to have fallen on deaf ears. But a few weeks later Kim Moreland requests an audience, and these are the words that she spoke during that meeting,

"There are not many projects that I just believe in. I get approached a lot. But the day I walked into that building and you see a 50 year old man working on getting a GED… It's something I fully believe in and we need to better support that building for the whole community."

That meeting, with the same people we'd met with before without success, yielded thousands of dollars in investment. Kim Moreland did not just give her time or money. She used her name, influence -her identity to speak on behalf of others and to bridge the divide between US and THEM so that there would just be WE.

Kim Moreland is a shining example of the hope and potential of our community. We can, in fact, do better. She's proof and I'm grateful. #52WoG

With – Friends of J L King – The J. L. King Center