A Waco community group is advocating a unified message to create a safer local community for all citizens as calls for justice and answers continue in the wake of allegations surrounding injuries suffered by a 12-year-old student while on a Live Oak Classical School field trip.
“The incident at Live Oak was definitely the spark, I have had a vision for a while now that we need to be in a better position,” said Nelson Hackworth, the founder of People Openly Working for Equality and Reform. “We have the power to be able to do that as long as we are all able to work and come together.”
Hackworth established POWER as a community organization to rally residents of Waco and speak out against inequalities against all races throughout the region. The group held a community meeting Friday, focused on issues facing the black community after the young black student was reportedly hurt by three white boys while on a overnight school field trip in Blanco County. The victim had rope burns around her neck, and the student’s mother was not notified until 48 hours after the incident.
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“We need to pool our resources, come together and lean on each other so that we can get certain things done to put us in a better position,” Hackworth said. “We need to have the quality of life we deserve as people.”
More than 40 residents gathered at the Brazos River Plaza in East Waco and listened to Hackworth’s vision. The meeting came a week after more than 100 demonstrators — including several from Dallas — staged a civil protest outside Live Oak School in downtown Waco last Friday and chanted for racial equality.
The family’s attorney, Levi McCathern, previously told the Tribune-Herald that he planned to file a civil lawsuit against the school for not properly rendering aid to the child. Live Oak’s attorney, David Deaconson, said the injury was an accident and the school has since changed protocol in how it addresses injuries to children and when to contact a child’s parent.
Authorities in Blanco County said they still are investigating whether the alleged actions of the three juvenile boys were criminal. Phone calls to Blanco County were not returned Friday.
Hackworth said while the group is still demanding more answers from the school as to how the injury happened, he said the entire community needs to stand together to make sure no one gets hurt or racially profiled.
“We cannot be all divided among ourselves at our will, and that is taking away what our own values are built on,” he said. “There is no limit as to what we can accomplish as long as there is unity and we are all working toward a common goal.”
