A Call For Community: Yadkin Group Wants To Find Common Ground
Yadkin Valley Community Matters wants people to sit down and talk
ELKIN-Change starts with a conversation. That’s what the founder of Yadkin Valley Community Matters believes. If you’re going to make a difference, everyone needs to be heard. The problem, he feels, is that too often we talk at each other rather than with each other.
“If you look at Elkin and the Yadkin Valley, at Wilkesboro, even up to Sparta, everybody pretty much knows each other,” said West Caudle. “But we’re not listening to each other. While we may not agree on every detail, if we sat down, had discussions and listened, I think we could find common ground.”
That idea was what motivated the Elkin native to organize YVCM. On June 2, Caudle was part of a peaceful protest in downtown Elkin with about 70 other people, calling for an end to racism. Over a six hour period, people came by and donated water or food, saying they couldn’t stay but wanted to help. Afterwards, there were phone calls and messages from those same folks and others, asking when the next event would be. But Caudle wanted to do more than hold another event. Many people who reached out felt their voice wasn’t heard when it came to a variety of issues. Caudle wanted to change that.
“I started thinking about how we could make people listen,” Caudle said. “We want to empower people across the Yadkin Valley. They don’t have a way to express their voice, the things they see and want to change.”
The people who reached out were from different walks of life. They didn’t agree with each other on everything, but found common issues to support. People from all over the Yadkin Valley could do the same, Caudle felt, if they just took the time to listen to each other. That’s why he launched Yadkin Valley Community Matters, to come up with ways to start those discussions.
The First Attempt
June 6 was the first official Community Matter event, a protest in Elkin to support the Black Lives Matter movement. And despite only having two days notice, people from all walks of life came out in support and marched peacefully. Unfortunately, all of that was overshadowed by an incident that happened during the March. An Alaskan man, 50-year-old Leroy O’Dell Boles, hit Caudle with his vehicle and then got out, holding a handgun, and started arguing.
Police arrested Boles and charged him with assault with a deadly weapon with intent to kill, being armed to the terror of the public and failure to yield to a pedestrian. The Seward, Alaska resident, who also owns a home in Traphill, is being held in the Surry County Jail under a $60,000 bond. Caudle said he was just bruised by the vehicle, as he was mainly able to get out of the way. But while the focus has been on the incident, he feels people missed out on the fact so many residents came out to the rally.
“There were people from all over the Yadkin Valley that came together, were peaceful, lawful and gave voice to reason in a world where we are completely at odds with each other,” Caudle said. “There was a lot of good that came from that. I think we got hope from Saturday’s event.”
Moving Forward
Up next for the Community Matters group is a unity walk and peace rally, set for June 20 at 9:30 a.m. It’ll be held at the Yadkin Valley Heritage Center, 257 Standard Street in Elkin, with a focus on honoring Juneteenth and creating positive change in the Yadkin Valley. Juneteenth, also known as Freedom Day, is a holiday in honor of June 19, 1865. That’s the date when Union general Gordon Granger read federal orders in Galveston, Texas, announcing that all those who had been slaves were free. Even though the Emancipation Proclamation had been announced in 1862 and the Civil War ended in April of 1865, it took months after the war for the proclamation to be enforced throughout the country.
“We’re going to honor and recognize the significance of Juneteenth and talk about ways of making positive change,” Caudle said. “The whole gist of it is to bring people together. I’m a firm believer that if we can just get people to sit down and talk, there’s no limit to what we can do.”
Brian Carlton is the editor of NWNC. He can be reached at brian.carlton38@gmail.com.
