It was billed as a concerned citizens community meeting, which made the mostly empty pews at New Zion Missionary Baptist Church seem all that much more noticeable.
Fewer than 50 people were in attendance Monday afternoon when the Rev. Calvin E. Collins, pastor at New Zion, led the first of what proved to be several prayers offered up for Greenwood's collective soul.
Allowing for the people who came and went, you could stretch it and say total attendance was closer to 70, but then you'd have to include the half dozen or so people from the University of Wisconsin, here to get a first-hand look at life in the Delta.
They surely saw more than they bargained for.
Among the conspicuous no-shows were City Council President Arance Williamson and fellow Council members Johnny Jennings, Carl Palmer, Larry Thames and state Sen. David Jordan.
Sheriel Perkins and Jo Claire Swayze were the only Council members present.
More than 200 people attended the first such community meeting, held one month ago to the day. While the agendas of the two meetings remained much the same, the circumstances have changed dramatically.
The first meeting was called in the aftermath of a spate of shootings that left three dead and two wounded in south Greenwood within one week. Angry residents came to the meeting demanding to know what police and city officials were doing to stop the violence.
Questions at that first meeting ranged from the number of police on patrol the night of the shootings to the number of street lights in the area.
At the time, there had been no arrests made. Many of the residents said they feared for their lives.
Now, one month later, Greenwood police have arrested three people in the deaths of Billy Gillion, 16, and Sammie Purnell, 23. Mayor Harry Smith said arrests also are expected soon in the death of Earnestine Strong, 42. Strong was shot and killed as she sat near the window of her home at 125 Palace Street.
Smith noted that Greenwood police have logged $40,000 in overtime on the cases so far, adding, "I feel confident we have the right suspects in custody."
He added that within the last two weeks alone, Greenwood police have arrested some 50 suspected drug dealers and taken 20 illegal guns off the street. Most of those arrested remain in jail, unable to make bail.
"I feel like we've taken a good number of bad people off the street," Smith said.
Smith further pointed out that since the first meeting a number of additional street lights have been installed in south Greenwood and others repaired, giving the predominantly black neighborhood just as much light as "other areas" of the city.
But if Smith and Police Chief Ronnie White, who also was present, expected congratulations Monday for a job well done, they left disappointed.
The reaction from those in attendance to this itemization of police activity was reserved at best - which may or may not have led the Rev. Patrick Phillips, pastor at Wesley United Methodist Church, to pray at one point, "Help us to see our police as an extension of heaven and not as the enemy."
City Councilwoman Perkins was more to the point when she exhorted the audience, "We should be excited about our city! This is not a funeral!"
The meeting included a "solution finding period," in which suggestions were solicited from "citizens, community leaders and clergy on making Greenwood a safer and better community to live."
There were the usual comments about the need for stronger families, for greater church and community involvement, for more prayer - and even one extended defense of women in ministry.
But there were few if any specific solutions offered for reducing crime and violence.
As fast as concerned residents lobbed questions intended to ferret out weaknesses in the city's response to the situation, Smith sent them sailing back.
Why hasn't the city done something about the dilapidated housing that blights some entire blocks? one wanted to know.
We have, Smith replied. Over the last two years the city has torn down more than 100 dilapidated buildings. But the legal process is cumbersome and the city faces numerous constraints in how fast it can move against errant property owners.
What about holding parents accountable for children who are allowed to roam the city's streets at all hours of the day and night?
The city has truancy laws and they are enforced, Smith rejoined. But once a child enters the criminal justice system, the juvenile courts determine what punishment is meted out - not the city.
Said Smith, "Frankly, I believe the laws are out of date. Twenty-five years ago juvenile delinquency meant mostly drinking beer or chewing gum in class or smoking cigarettes. We all know that's not what we're talking about today."
Troy Brown, the former dean of student services at Mississippi Valley State University, suggested that perhaps the city should consider raising taxes to put more police on the street. "Drug dealers," he said, "have no problem spending the money. Maybe we should spend some money, too."
Smith pointed out that the city has expanded its police force by 11 officers in the last eight years.
Then, perhaps betraying his own sense of frustration with events, he added, "The answer is not in more police. It's in what we're willing to put up with as citizens. When we put our foot down, when we finally come to the point where we say 'we're mad as hell and we're not going to take it any more,' then maybe this thing will change."
One of the most poignant exchanges took place between Smith and Menasha Polk, the sister of Billy Gillion, one of the victims.
Polk had earlier alleged that she called the police the night of the shooting to report a group of young people were roaming the streets in her neighborhood and that the police failed to respond. At the meeting Monday, she presented an itemized listing of her phone calls as proof she had placed the call.
Still obviously distraught at her brother's death and too emotional to talk, Polk requested that Troy Brown ask the city officials present why there had been no response.
Brown held up the phone listing and relayed her concerns in a straightforward manner, without rancor. But the tone of the meeting had changed. A hush fell over the New Zion sanctuary.
Even if he had wanted to, Smith told someone afterward, it was one of those moments when you realize there is no place to run and hide.
Smith took the microphone and asked White to describe what his department's investigation had found.
White responded by saying that the police had reviewed both their own logs of calls received that night and those of the county's emergency 911 system, and the only record of any call that night was one that came roughly 30 minutes before the shooting took place. And, he said, a police unit did respond to that call, but found no crime taking place.
He added that on the night Earnestine Strong was shot, there were two police units within three blocks of the shooting.
Then Smith took the microphone again and pointed out, "You can't arrest people for standing on the street corner."
One of the more promising suggestions of the meeting came from the Rev. Cedell Raggs, pastor at Turner Chapel AME Church. Raggs and his church have begun hosting what he hopes will be a series of father-son breakfasts.
The idea, Raggs explained, is that strong father-son relationships help boys grow up to be better men.
"We started a month ago," he said. "We had 38 folks altogether and some 13 to 15 boys. We plan to meet on a monthly basis."
Raggs emphasized that the fathers and sons who attend the breakfasts need not necessarily be related. Young boys who have no father at home, he said, still need a father figure in their lives.
He noted that plans already are in the works for a father-son retreat later this year.
"I am encouraging people from all races to come and help us work with these young men," Raggs said. "Can you imagine what it would be like if 400 fathers took 400 sons on a retreat of training and uplifting and nurturing?"
It would, perhaps, be a start.
