A huge thank you to all who showed up for Vick Cemetery at Thursday night’s council meeting. Several people spoke during public comment, an important signifier of the depth of commitment to justice for this historic burial ground.

That said: though I was not surprised, I could not suppress my disappointment, then anger, at City Manager Grant Goings’ remarks. I’m still processing, but want to share this clip and my first thoughts.

This six-minute video begins as Goings responds to Councilmember Gillettia Morgan‘s question about the City’s plans for Vick.

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Below, an excerpt from Wilson County’s GIS website. The parcels around Vick are numbered, and their owners are as set forth on county tax records. The City does not own property across the street from Vick. Rather, down toward the bend in BLNF Street, at (6), it and the Cemetery Commission own an electrical substation and a parcel slated for the expansion of Rest Haven Cemetery. Given the distance from Vick, the narrowness of the street, and the lack of sidewalks, it is difficult to imagine how a new parking lot on city-owned land, however “nice,” is a viable option.

(1) Vick Cemetery [Cemetery Trustees of the City of Wilson]; (2) Odd Fellows Cemetery [Odd Fellows Society]; (3) Rountree Cemetery [Rountree Missionary Baptist Church]; (4) Wilson Farm Properties LLC; (5) Rev. J. Gordon Wright Trust; (6) Wilson Cemetery Commission; (7) Wilson Farm Properties LLC. 

Extra special thanks to Jen Kehrer for sharing this video clip.