Different Perspectives of Benton
Perspective Three of Six: Why I fight
Character Point of View: Fr. Percival 'Percy' Bell. Episcopal Priest, Rector of St. Mary's Episcopal Church.

I know there are people in this town that wish to hang me. I'm aware of it, and that fact does not bother me in the least. In fact I take them wishing to hang me as a sign that I'm doing something right. I have long given up on the notion that I can bring all the churches together to share in the common cup and eat from the common table. I could if I swallow my pride and turn on certain members of my small flock. But where would the honor in that be?

My name is Percival Bell, I'm a priest in the Episcopal Church, I was educated at St. Katherine's Episcopal School, a fine old Episcopal school that is located on the high bluffs that overlook the mighty Mississippi River. The school is a private school, and is one of the oldest private schools in the state. The school, like the church, has endured the tumult of the seasons. That thought alone gives me hope for the future.

I was born into a very, old, and very respectful family, the Bell family, who had been among the first to settle Vicksburg when this region was open up to settlement. The first Bells had been farmers. They grew cotton. Cotton grows well here in the south. The coffee colored soil and the hot, humid summers are ideal for growing the plant. There was wealth in cotton, wealth that transformed the first generation of Bells from poor folks into rich land owning aristocrats.

I will forgive you for saying that America does not have a landed nobility, that you must look across the ocean to find any remaining traces of the landed aristocracy that once controlled much of the world. I will forgive myself in saying that because you have not looked at the region many have forgotten. This area, this Mississippi Delta is home to an American born and breed landed aristocracy, from which I come from.

I'm ashamed to say it was the wealth, wrenched from the land, by enslaved men and women who worked from the first rays of the rising sun to the rising of the moon that made my people wealthy. That afforded them the chance to send their sons abroad to be educated in the classics such as Latin, Greek, and the Bible.

It was for the keeping of that wealth that Mississippi along with her sister Southern States broke off and formed Confederate States of America. I know many will go to their graves saying the war between the states was fought to keep states rights intact. And that the modern day Republican Party is doing just that, I chuckle and remind them the Republican Party was the one who raised the Federal armies and freed the slaves in the first place and now seems to enslave them again. I don't think they understand my sense of humor.

The Civil War came and went, my folks still kept their wealth and their land. We somehow regained it in the Reconstruction era that followed the war. Held on to it during the Great Depression and through the many other times this world has turned. It was this wealth, passed down from one generation to the other, that made for easy living for me and my folks.

It was this wealth that afforded my family the chance to send me first to St. Katherine's Episcopal School to be given the finest education this region could afford me. I was well schooled in Latin, Greek, the Sciences and The Bible.
I also became well acquainted with the Classics. Students at St. Katherine's are required to attend Episcopal Services once a day as part of their classic Education. Daily I took communion wine and thrice I took it on Sunday. By the time I was given my diploma I was well suited for the next step in life. My Mother and Father had seen it fit to pass on the farm to the middle child, my now deceased sister. Lisa Bell, and had seen it fit my older brother would take up the practice of law. I being the youngest and the second born male it seemed was deemed bound to the priesthood.

And so after I received my diploma from St. Katherine's Episcopal School, I was told to enroll in Sewanee: The University of the South. Sewanee is a four year Episcopal Liberal Arts college that is located in Sewanee, Tennessee. It is owned by twenty eight southern dioceses of the Episcopal Church and has traditionally educated the softer, more genteel sons of the south.

Four years came and went, and a few more. At last I completed my course of study and on a bitterly cold October morning, a cold that rarely comes to Mississippi I was ordained to the priesthood at St. Andrew's Cathedral in Jackson, Mississippi by then bishop Duncan Montgomery Gray Jr. who said to after the service was over and done with. “Nothing good will ever come of you.” Charming fellow that Duncan Montgomery Gray Jr. was.

Anyway I have told you enough about myself. Allow me to tell you a little about St. Mary's Episcopal Church and her congregation.

St. Mary's Episcopal Church is a small wooden church with white walls and a pink roof. The church is located in the heart of what many consider 'Downtown'. The street that runs in front of is brick, and the church building itself dates back to 1902. The church is the second Episcopal church to call Benton home, the first was torn down following the American Civil War. It seemed Southern Forces had used the church as a make-shift field hospital following the Battle of Benton.

St. Mary's congregation is mostly drawn from the small business owner class that call Benton home. But really everybody is welcome. I do not make a habit of checking new members' bank accounts. I feel, what they give is what the Lord God has placed on their hearts and the Lord God knows them better than I do. And I trust him to provide in times of need and in times of plenty.

Also counted among the congregation of my small church are names that are intertwined with the History of Benton, some have even been around since the town was founded. Names like Potter, Brewer, Edward, Croft, Smith, Shoemaker, all of those families helped to buy the land the church sits on, and helped to pool together the money to pay for the mortgage. And oddly enough in some roundabout away I'm kin to three of those families. I'm kin to the Potters, Brewers and Crofts. Distant kin, but kin nonetheless.

I'm proud of my tiny church, it's small but there is so much love in it. Now, I should say that Benton, for being a small southern town, has a large, or so I would say noticeable population of people who fall within the bounds of the LGBTQ+ community. Quite a few are transgender. Why do I bring this up?

Because there is a fellow pastor in town, his name is Abraham Lincoln Shawn. My archenemy if you will. Who would love to me hung from the nearest street lamp and my church burned to the ground and my gentle flock scattered and fed the wolves. He is a cruel little man. He has little love for me and my church  and yet I, because I must pray everyday that his soul will be healed. And God will shine his light down upon him.

You see Abraham Lincoln Shawn is, and I'm loath to use this word, a leader of a church that I must call nothing more than a cult. His flock comes from the swamp bottoms, and the cane brakes. They are afraid and in their fright they have turned to Abraham Lincoln Shawn for guidance. He has in turn turned their fears into deadly venom.

These people are the modern Ku Klux Klan. The more well read among them have read The Tuner Diaries. And I'm sure many of them keep a signed copy of the text in their personal collection, next to their copies of Mein Kampf. They scare me, because I know I must pray for them and yet I know they will gladly kill me should the chance present itself.

That is not to say I have sat back and waited for the wolves to come and carry me away. No, I have by and large assembled a league of men, women of all races and creeds to counter them. The men, women and sometimes teens volunteer their time, give freely what they can and give what they can to help those who might fall prey to them. They volunteer in soup kitchens, take up time with the elderly and shut in, promoting the town. In short, they fight misinformation with correct information and have established a network of self-supporting cells acting to transform Benton.

What role do I play? Well I work behind the scenes. I secure funds for their operations through the Bell Family. I use my own connections to bring in fresh talent. Among those who have answered my call is William Percy, a Greenville Percy and a Lawyer who left a well established practice to open up a charitable law practice here to help low income LGBTQ+ people get the paperwork they need done, done right and done for free or for a very low cost.

The next one is a young nurse Dawn Anna Sharbrough who also happens to transgender. Look beyond that, she is a skilled nurse and Benton is in need of skill nurses. I inserted her into Benton Academy where she is now the school nurse and not only does she serve as my eyes and ears. But she also looks after transgender students who attend that school. Ms. Sharbrough is one of the famous Sharbrough's that calls Sharbrough's Landing home. She has pledged to do what she can to help me in this fight.

The last thing I've done is brought my nephew James Donald Bell, often called Daisy here to Benton. James lives with me and my wife. James is a knight, he has a strong sense of honor, and a strong sense of what is right and what is wrong. He will defend the meek and the mild till the day of Judgment.

What else have I done? Oh yes, I have formed the many downtown merchants into a committee to promote business in the downtown area. Many of these merchants attend church here. The committee also promotes a peaceful, accepting Benton. One where all people are welcomed and cherished. And so I've done what I can do without showing my hand.

I only hope I've done enough to turn the tide when the time comes. I guess we will see before long. And before you, Let me tell you a little more about the counter measures I've taken. Benton has on its payroll fourteen full time police officers. Pretty remarkable considering the town only has a population of around six thousand or so. Of those fourteen police officers four attend church here. One of them happens to be my niece, Josephine Bell, who transferred from the Vicksburg PD to the Benton PD at my personal request.

Besides being the rector of St. Mary's Episcopal Church, I'm also the Chaplain for Benton's Police Force. My hope is to use that position to not only provide emotional comfort but spiritual direct to the brave men and women of the Benton PD. I also make a point to visit both schools. And provided emotional comfort for the students and the teachers.
I also sit on the board of directors for Benton Academy and have become the Chaplain for their sports program. I see it as an excellent chance to provide spiritual oversight to the young men who play sports there. My wonderful wife also takes up time with the cheerleaders and other female athletics.

In short I am doing everything I can to check his rise to power. I will not go down without a fight, nay our victory is already secure. Because as long as I breathe I will fight. Why? Because it's the right thing to do.