Letter of the Month winner: James Hawkins, Yukon

Meet the writer

Originally from Dill City, Hawkins has been in secondary and higher education for more than 40 years in Colorado, Texas, Mississippi and Oklahoma. Currently he's a professor of educational administration at Cameron University in Lawton. He has served as a national examiner for the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award. Jim and his wife, Ruth, are active members of Quail Springs Baptist Church, where Jim serves on the leadership team, finance committee and as vice chairman of the deacons board. Jim and Ruth have two grown sons and four grandchildren.

The letter

I'm weary of hearing, reading and seeing black versus white, Republican versus Democrat, red versus orange, liberal versus conservative, North versus South, etc. My New Year's resolution was filled with hope that we could be a nation together again, but I suppose I'll have to wait for another national tragedy for that to happen. I wrote a majority of my doctoral dissertation about a former governor in Mississippi, William F. Winter, who sought and succeeded in his time by making the educational playing field level for all children. Trying to unite black and white was a huge challenge in that beautiful Southern state but Winter did so because he cared for the well-being of all. Mandatory school attendance and kindergarten for all were a part of his education reform act.