Dixie Ribs

I am not sure I fully understood the power of forgiveness and reconciliation until I lived with Florida State Rep. William L. (Bill) Flynn, owner of Flynn's Dixie Ribs, a barbecue restaurant known also for its Key lime pie, in 1980. Flynn represented South Dade County, where my family lived. I met Flynn only a few years before the photo of the men in blackface and a Ku Klux Klan costume appeared on Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam's yearbook page when he was a medical student.
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I learned from my parents that in the 1960s, Flynn didn't let blacks eat in his barbecue restaurant. Two black community leaders said Flynn had even chased them away from the property with a shotgun. But he had since renounced his segregationist ways as a result of the civil rights movement and implored my mother to entrust him with my care.

I don't know what was in Flynn's heart and mind. Had he rejected segregation at his restaurant because it was the morally right thing to do? Because he was legally required to do so? Because it was an opportunity to earn more revenue? Or, because it was politically expedient, since blacks were now able to exercise their right to vote? Regardless, he did it, and in doing so, publicly confronted his past.
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As a young adult, I didn't understand how people could so drastically change or evolve their views, but I knew my parents wanted to give Flynn a chance to prove himself. While my parents' decision was not supported by many in the black community, they still felt it was necessary for reconciliation.

Source: Johnita P. Due - "What a Dixie Ribs joint owner taught me about forgiveness and reconciliation", CNN.com, February 3, 2019
https://www.cnn.com/2019/02/03/opinions/william-flynn-power-forgiveness-reconciliation-johnita-due/index.html