FOCUS was the order of business at a prayer breakfast Saturday held for mayoral candidate Sheriel Perkins.
FOCUS, the theme of Perkins’ 2013 mayor campaign, stands for Faithful, Open-Minded, Committed, Unifying Servant, attributes that Perkins said are crucial to a successful mayor and qualities that she feels she possesses.
Perkins said that the term came to her when she asked God for guidance.
The candidate is up against political newcomer Jelani Barr in the Democratic primary May 7. The winner of that contest will run against Carolyn McAdams, Greenwood’s imcumbent mayor and an independent, in the June 4 general election.
About 160 people attended the event at Greater Turner Chapel African Methodist Episcopal Church, where religious leaders from across the community, representing a range of faiths, called on the help of God to re-elect the former mayor of Greenwood. For many, the early morning breakfast — complete with hearty servings of grits and scrambled eggs — might have felt like a church service. But each prayer had a political message running alongside its call to praise God.
One key message of the prayers was implementing churches to help get out the vote.
The Rev. Anzette Thomas, discussed the many ways throughout history the vote has been threatened for African-Americans, and how in many cases those threats still exist, with voter ID laws and other forms of infringement.
“We need to exercise that right,” she said. “We need to use it and appreciate it.”
When Perkins took the mic, she reiterated the call to vote, but her main message was a reflection on the programs she helped implement while in office.
Perkins said that most mayors are given four years, while she was only given two-and-a-half.
“Others were able to finish what I left undone,” she said.
The candidate was referring to a counting mishap in 2005, during her initial bid for mayor. Perkins ran against incumbent Republican Mayor Harry Smith and was declared winner, but errors were found during a recount, and Smith was named winner by six votes.
She filed a lawsuit over the results, and in 2006 a judge ordered a new election after some votes were called into question. Perkins defeated Smith in a September 2006 special election and served as mayor until McAdams defeated her in the 2009 general election.
“While in office, I gave every employee a raise, and I wasn’t pushed to do it. Under my leadership we were granted $50,000 to repair streets in Greenwood,” said Perkins.
She added that she also increased youth summer program from 20 to 100, an increase brought on not just by her own power but also by divine intervention.
The idea that God played a role in many of the successful elements of her first mayoral run is a key theme in Perkins’ platform. Alluding to the Harvard students who come down to Baptist Town annually to help with housing rehabilitation, Perkins said that God had lent a significant hand in putting the right people in the right place at the right time for that to happen.
Her legacy on that mission, too, is kept by a higher power: “You won’t see my name in The Greenwood Commonwealth as doing anything in Baptist Town, but God knows,” she said.
Looking forward, Perkins said that education is a key part of her platform, especially keeping interim Superintendent Jennifer Wilson in place to become the next superintendent of the district.
“If we fail, we will be having charter schools,” Perkins said woefully. She then added, “For some.”
Perkins also said that she looks forward to a more equal Greenwood, one that does not differentiate from one side to the other.
In the same breath, however, she said that sharing is not the same as equality.
“A certain side of Greenwood has shared with you. It has not been equal,” said Perkins.
• Contact Jeanie Riess at 581-7235 or jriess@gwcommonwealth.com.
