Adding insult to injury, McCray was summoned to a meeting of local officials in Edinburg. While there, McCray learned that other neighbors near the apartment had also been terrorized by the five people, who McCray learned were family members. They threatened to burn a house down and they had criminal records. All the townspeople knew about them, the sheriff and all the deputies. More importantly, all the responding officers knew this particular family and their history of assault. McCray recalled overhearing an officer at the station say, “We’ve got to get that family out of this county” when he was arrested. The fact that the responding officers knew about the family’s violent history yet chose to arrest McCray instead of them angered the pastor.
At this point in the sermon, McCray’s wife, Valerie, chimed in to say “you were very respectful” to the people at the meeting.
A recent news article reports the charges against McCray were dropped on Wednesday, June 10, 2020 and that the five individuals involved have been arrested. Sheriff Carter came to McCray’s house to apologize and an investigation into the conduct of the responding officers is underway.
However, McCray says that there is still more to do.
For Such a Time As This
Going back to the title of his sermon, McCray said his story is not just about him. Rather, like Esther, who was placed in a position of influence “for such a time as this”, McCray believes he was put in this situation, with the influence he has in the community as a property owner and pastor, for a similar reason. However, not everyone has the influence McCray has and they are treated much differently. Speaking to Northern Virginia Daily, McCray says without education and community standing, others can’t defend themselves like he was able to. For those unfortunate people, “It’s done, it’s over, you’re just in jail with no help.”
McCray said one of the lessons of Esther’s story is that even if you’re in a comfortable position, you can’t afford to be complacent. Mordecai warned Esther not to rely on her position of comfort and think she wouldn’t also be touched by the decree to kill all the Jews. Perhaps this is why McCray supports Kaepernick now, knowing what it has cost that man to make a statement from his position of influence in the national spotlight.
While McCray knows “God will turn this thing around,” he still feels compelled to act. He attended his first protest in decades on June 6, 2020. At a Black Lives Matter rally, he told his story and said, “Through it all God is on the throne. I’m made in the image of God. I’m made in the likeness of God. I’m a Kingdom son, and my black life matters. And your life matters.”
