Editor, The Smithfield Times:

“Surry is Something Special” is a decades-old saying that remains true to this day. What’s “special” about Surry may vary depending on whom you ask.  

We’ve always maintained a rural way of life that many of us treasure, especially after a day trip to one of the sprawling urban areas that surround us. For some, it’s the safety and security of knowing our neighbors and sleeping well at night whether our doors are locked or not. For some, it’s an agricultural way of life passed down from generation to generation. We’ve always been a one-stoplight town where everyone knew everyone and would be willing to lend a helping hand. Though some of those dynamics are notably shifting, they remain core values that native Surry County citizens are proud of. 

Race in America has always been and perhaps always will be an uncomfortable, sensitive and often avoided topic. What we cannot allow to happen is bad actors using race as a guise and means to create chaos; and that’s just what a handful of citizens are doing to try to undermine not only the Surry County administrative team, but members of the Board of Supervisors as well. There’s an old saying, “If you tell a lie long enough and enough times, people start to believe it.” 

The work a board of supervisors does should not be self-serving, but citizen-serving. Will every citizen agree with every decision? Absolutely not, but a board must act in the best interests of its county’s residents. Sitting behind that board table is not a seat of comfort but rather a seat of understanding and hard work and having to make difficult decisions at times. 

The assumption that Surry County is a place of turmoil, hate and extreme racial tension is false. Fellow Surry County citizens and surrounding neighbors, please ignore this nonsense and all those who exacerbate such tomfoolery. Surry County is a place of love and community. Do we have differences and challenges? Absolutely, no different from any other community in America. We also have the capability of acknowledging these differences and challenges while working through them respectfully and amicably. 

To quote Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.: “Don’t allow anybody to make you feel that you are nobody. Always feel that you count. Always feel that you have worth. And always feel that your life has ultimate significance.”

 

Walter N. Hardy Jr. 

Surry County supervisor

Bacon’s Castle District