The Voice of Ida B Wells

Well, well, well… if you are not registered to vote, the time is now. No excuses, no delays. Because what we are witnessing in City Hall today is not simply politics — it is a clear reflection of how power chooses to serve itself while disregarding the people who made that power possible.

A $25 service fee, whether you’re cutoff or not — that’s not leadership, that’s exploitation. The faces inside City Hall have changed, yes, but where are the Black employees? We are more than janitors and decorators. We are thinkers, leaders, and builders of this community, yet once again we are pushed to the margins while friends and family of the powerful are ushered through the doors of opportunity.

He hired his wife’s best friend — and even the husband worked for him, whom he once helped through a GoFundMe. The same circle grows tighter while the people’s table grows smaller. And that $25,000 still sitting on the table — untouched, unspoken, unexplained — is a testament to the silence that follows injustice.

Ask yourself: of the last five people hired, how many were Black? None? One? This is not equality; this is erasure. The “faithful HR director” who once covered for these deceptions is gone, and now the truth is plain to see.

He’ll show up in our churches when the election nears. He’ll smile at our events, shake our hands, and whisper promises he won’t keep. But where was he when he raised our fees, when he silenced our voices, when he pretended not to hear our calls? Only a chosen few can reach his office without an appointment — the rest are left outside, waiting for democracy that never arrives.

So, Minden, the curtain will close soon. And what you do behind that curtain — that sacred act of voting — is your business, your power, your resistance.

Stand up. Speak out. Show up.

Let it be known that Minden’s people cannot be bought, silenced, or ignored.