Jones hails immigrants as inspiration

By Zachary Reid

Published: January 2, 2009

On his first full day as mayor, Dwight C. Jones put Richmond on notice that hard times are here to stay and that the path to renewed prosperity doesn't necessarily go through City Hall.

The preacher politician pointed to the immigrant community, not the city's social service agencies, as the place to look for hope during a 35-minute sermon yesterday at the annual Emancipation Proclamation Day service at Fifth Baptist Church on Cary Street.

"These people who have been here 10 or 15 years have more than folks who've been here 100, 150 years," he said of the immigrant community.

They have more, Jones said, because they've been willing to live in crowded quarters and work long, often grueling days for the greater good of their families.

The problem, he said, is "we're unwilling to work like that."

Speaking to a nearly full house of more than 300 people, his message was heavy on spiritual intervention though not neglectful of the power of the local government he now leads.

One minute he was imploring the crowd to look to the power of God for answers, and the next he was asking everyone to roll up their sleeves and prepare to pitch in "like we haven't done in a long time."

"I wish this was good times," he said. "But we are living in bad times. I want you to know we are in a bad way today. If the recession hasn't touched you, just look two or three pews in front of you or behind you, and you'll see someone it has.

"It's not time to be passive about your church, and it's not time to be passive about your civic responsibilities."

Jones also challenged the local news media to share his passion, seemingly ending any debate over whether he'll continue to preach while serving his four years as mayor.

"I trust in God," he said, pausing for a moment to make sure the small media contingent was paying attention. "And I don't care who knows about it. My destiny is in the hands of a God who sits high and looks low."

He said that during the campaign, he ran into people he knew all over the city.

"They didn't address me as Delegate Jones, or mayor-to-be Jones," he said. "They addressed me as Pastor Jones. There's no higher calling than that."

If Jones the mayor sticks to the tune of Jones the preacher, Richmond is in for four years of hard work and not handouts.

"The time has come to stop waiting for someone to save us. It's time to take responsibility," he said. "You can't reap what you don't sow. You can't harvest what you don't plant."

He said he learned that lesson twice: from his parents and by raising his own children.

It was a lesson that took the first time but was forgotten when bringing up his children.

"I was so busy giving them what I didn't have, I forgot to teach them what I know," he said.

And what he knows, he said, he learned from his parents: If you want something, you work for it. If it takes effort and determination, that's what you have to put forth.

He said he expects no less from anyone else.

"We need to stop raising soft children," he said, drawing an extended ovation.

"You can't look to me or City Council to make problems go away that you can make go away for yourself," he said. "You got to work to get to where you want to go."

The program was sponsored by the Baptist Ministers Conference of Richmond.

Among those in the crowd were former mayor and state Sen. Henry L. Marsh III, D-Richmond; fellow former Richmond mayors Walter T. Kenney and Rudolph C. McCollum Jr.; City Council members Ellen Robertson, Delores L. McQuinn and Kathy Graziano; and School Board member Betsy Carr.

J. Rayfield Vines, president of the state NAACP, also was on hand.

As Richmond's first black mayor, Marsh said the legacy that he and Kenney created was evident in Jones.

"We were just preparing the way for someone who would be greater than we were," he said.

Contact Zachary Reid at (804) 775-8179 or .