The Mission

The Mission

by

Dr. Gale Ragan-Reid (9/30/2013)

“For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain” (Philippians 1:21, King James Version [The effects of Paul's bonds].

Greetings in the grace of Christ Jesus,

Will you die for me? This powerful revelation, made manifest, in Christ Jesus, awakened our soul to salvation. Many like-minded, in faith, passed through the gates, of faith, to life everlasting. “Open ye the gates, that the righteous nation which keepeth the truth may enter in” (Isaiah 26:2, KJV [Exhortation to confidence in God]).

In, 2005, on the 25th day of October, at 8:52 PM, I received an email from my dear friend, Terry V. Percy, who was more than an attorney because he loved business and he was an educator. He was in stormy weather, in the city of Miami, Florida, down south in the suburbs. He said,“Here I am sitting on my patio, 8pm, the 2nd full day of no power. Sitting in the dark, with my transistor, my laptop and my Nicaraguan cigar, gazing off in the dark, with only the stars and the cell phone towers breaking up a vast sea of blackness”. I replied to his email,

“I love you. Sometimes, the process of life

required that you walked on water and kept your

eyes on Jesus. Do not lose faith. I tell my sons this

because the pressures and stresses of life's

unfairness might in the end, work for all our good,

when the big picture – macro view, revealed

God's plan, for us all.”

I did not realize the storm that Attorney Terry Percy, was in, that day, actually opened up the storms, of his life, for it was not too long before the gates of perdition, revealed what happened in the past, in the Mississippi Delta, the land of his birth, the unspoken truth that he hid from me, even me, his dear friend. You see, Dateline NBC News, anchor Lester Holt rumbled in the archives of documentaries and found an unsung hero, Booker T. Wright. A man, who did not appear in the history books but to whom, the Civil Rights struggle would forever be grateful to, for he candidly spoke truth of black and white relations, in the Mississippi Delta during the Civil Rights resistance in the 1960's. Also, a man, who lived just 54 miles, from where Attorney Terry Percy, grew up in Mississippi.

God sent Lester Holt, Inside Dateline, in the archives of NBC NEWS. My friend, still did not speak of it, when the “Legacy of Booker Wright, waiter murdered after speaking out on 'whites only' restaurant in Mississippi, aired on NBC News Dateline, anchored by Lester Holt, in 2012. Perhaps, Terry did not say anything because of the effect of the 1966 documentary, “Mississippi: A Self-Portrait” by Dateline NBC News that forever changed the life of a Mississippi man, Booker T. Wright and eventually, caused one of his own folks, to take his life. In the rumblings of the storm in 2005 emerged NBC News search, back in the archives of documentaries and also Raymond De Felitta's search, back in the archives of his father, Frank De Felitta 's films. How could a man's story of truth awaken a town, to the point, of unbelief, in good faith and good neighbor, so much until a neighbor, took the life of the man, who revealed his truth?

Well, there goes free speech, in America and respect for the United States Constitution, for Civil Rights, was merely talk and when the talk became practice, let us say, all hell broke loose in the town of Greenwood, Mississippi. Now, Greenwood, Mississippi, was about 54 miles north of Greenville, Mississippi, where Attorney Terry V. Percy, grew up. And, in the spring of 1965, when the filmmaker,

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Frank De Felitta, came and dug up the souls, of the unspoken, in search of the truth, from the white leadership of Greenwood, he ended up getting the truth from a descendant, of slaves. It was a perilous time in the Civil Rights struggle and Attorney Terry Percy, was 18 years old, ready to leave home to go to any university of his choice, for he grew up, under the teachings of the Seventh Day Adventist, reading the bible, from cover to cover,and gained a lot of knowledge, to tow.

Attorney Percy chose a university in Alabama and left the rumblings of the nearby town. I searched a map, an internet tool and found the directions, from Attorney Terry Percy's town to Greenwood. The search said: “

“Start out going north on MS – 1/Dr. Martin

Luther King, Jr. Boulevard (Blvd), for 0.05 miles.

Take the first right onto US – 82 E/US -278E.

Continue to follow US – 82E, for 52.8 miles.

Merge onto Main Street, for 1.2 miles. Welcome