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Let's plant a seed
Dear Rural Nebraska,
I am reaching out to you in an effort to plant a seed. I am urban and mostly African-American. During this stressful period of disease and viruses, I’ve had the time to realize more so who I am and who you are. I have discovered that you and I have so much in common, while ridiculously separated by distance, sometimes color, sometimes race, sometimes political persuasion, my reflection has taught me the truth of the matter. That truth is that we both have the virtue of fertile ground, and an abundance of seeds. So, what shall we do?
We both have the challenges of mass unemployment, before and during the virus, minimal and reducing investments in our relative communities, mistaken perceptions about each other, love and faith in God, and share love of life, family and community in the tragedy of the Coronavirus evil. By the virus defines us not as rural or urban but only as potential victims. We have survived years of slavery and racism, you have drought, insects and flooding, we both have survived. But we remain together in our preparation to plant our seeds and we are united in our desire for our seeds to yield a better future. So, my question is, “how on earth could we be divided?” We have more in common than we have differences, yet we haven’t acted like we have more in common. We have wasted so many years and generations relishing in our differences. We have not used our abundance of common seeds.
We’ve pointed our fingers at each other, we’ve voted differently, we have exaggerated our differences, yet when we have come face-to-face, we have seen with our own eyes, our commonality, and now thanks to this horrible virus, we sit at home in our little-bitty silos and realize, “Oh my God, we have a common humanity, we have so much in common that our neighbors are our neighbors, with closeness or distance and we are joined by our love of our families, our communities, our state, our Huskers, our corn, our soybeans and our large buildings and abundant busy "Urbaness." .
Did you know that one of the most growing phenomena in urban life is urban gardens? Did you know that we love and adore our elderly? Did you know that we have the uniqueness of having international cultures within our grasp? I say, during this time, we should pick up our respective plows and plant the seeds of togetherness, unity and future and be glad of it?
The time has come for Nebraskans, rural and urban, to come together and fight for communities needed capital and resources for now and for future. Fight separate, we lose. Someone once said, “A house divided against itself cannot stand.” Failure on either side, will be failure for both sides. We need each other. Let’s plant and let’s yield together, forever.
Sincerely,
Your Urban Neighbor!
Preston Love Jr.
— Preston Love Jr. is founder and CEO of Black Votes Matter Institute of Community Engagement and adjunct professor of the Black Studies Department at the University of Nebraska-Omaha. Learn more at prestonlovejr.com