WAYNESBORO, Miss. (WDAM) – A Pine Belt community is working to unify its residents with open discussion and togetherness.

The Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Committee, local officials and others came together to talk about how they can go about eliminating the racial stigma affiliated with Mississippi.

“The only way we are going to get past this, where everything is racist is to open up dialogue, we have to be able to talk about it,” said panel member Carl Boyanton. “We have a great crew here and I think we can actually find solutions, but if we don’t, at least it’s a start.”

“Everyone is equal. Everyone has an opportunity. Everybody needs to be able to say I’ve been included and not excluded,” said Karl Rogers, Wayne County NAACP branch president .

The panel was open for residents to come by to ask questions to the panel members.

“This is just as important as water and air that we breathe because so many changes are happening in the world and even in our community that we think it doesn’t affect us, but it does,” said Deborah Evans, who was attending the event.

Though the panel starts the discussions, panel members said that residents need to get involved to end the racism in communities.

“Everybody talks about it and stuff, but nobody wants to do it,” Boyanton said. “If everyone gets out there and does something, then we can change the narrative.”

“Let us come, sit down and talk together,” Rogers said. “You’ll find out we are more alike than we are different.”