Commissioner Mario Chavez: People over politics

This is the second in a series of three opinion columns by Mario Chavez.

If Shreveport were a party, that is the party, I would belong to. When I decided to run for Mayor of Shreveport, I spent much time in prayer, speaking with my wife, and talking to Godly counsel. One thing I learned is what God’s Word says about foundations. Hebrews 11:10 says, “For he looked for a city which hath foundations, whose builder and maker is God.” I came to the conviction that for too long our city had been creating a foundation of politics over people. For too long in Shreveport, it has been about dividing people, families, and communities. 

All you must do is open social media; you will see that divide. We need individuals who hold public office to realize they work for the people. We need leaders who are not looking for a job, a career, or a name; we need people in office who truly desire to put Shreveport first. It is about every part of our city. We must stop separating neighborhoods in Shreveport. We must find common ground in our city. We spend so much time focused on differences in our city, we need to begin to talk about what we have in common, celebrating and highlighting what unites us. Our city is crying for leaders who focus on what will unite more than what will divide.  

The issues that plague Shreveport cannot be solved by one person, one party, or one idea. We know to truly transform our city, it is going to take a community willing to put differences aside, meet in the middle, and work together to fulfill a common goal. That common goal is a city we can be proud of. We have all gone to other cities and seen wonderful things and thought “why can’t Shreveport have this?” WE CAN. The bible tells us “The people perish where there is no vision.” Shreveport has lost her vision. We as a city must collectively decide today, we are going to become the city we envision and have longed for. This campaign, our campaign, is not about running for political office, it is about identifying what divides us politically, racially, and economically, and setting those differences aside for the benefit of us all. I have lived in Shreveport for almost three decades, and I have never seen the issues we face today in a more dire situation.