Hoping to be your mayor: Myelle Thompson
By Steve Herring
Published in News on September 20, 2015 1:50 AM
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Myelle Thompson
Myelle Thompson said that even as a child he wanted to be mayor of his hometown.
Now at age 21, Thompson is by far the youngest of the four mayoral candidates on the city's Oct. 6 mayoral primary.
"When I was little, I said I was going to do it," Thompson said. "So when the opportunity came I was like this is my opportunity to see that there is a change for our community. It is going to take someone young to do it, who has a mindset to say, 'I am here. This is the type of experience I have.'"
And he is not intimidated by his lack of experience, saying he plans to call on the wisdom of others around him to lead a team approach to improving the city.
"No one knows how to be the mayor unless they are in the seat," he said.
And his vision for the future of Goldsboro is inclusive as well.
"It is going to take the city," he said. "The mayor can't do it by himself. The city councilmen can't do it by themselves. It is a team. If we do not play together as a team, we will not make it. Without the community you do not have anything."
Thompson does not feel that his age will be a disadvantage.
"I love to hang around older people," he said. "I love older people because I think they have more wisdom and knowledge, and they can teach me something.
"I am very young, but I have seen a lot. I have heard a lot. I think the city needs a change as all of these crimes rates are going on. Somebody has got to take a stand for this city -- the ones who really love the city and are going to get out on the streets and not sit behind a desk and try to figure out what they are going to do."
Thompson said his administration would be "fun," but that it would keep business as business and run smoothly and safely for the community.
"We are going to be smart about everything that we do," he said. "The benefit is not for Myelle. I am not here to get a name for myself."
Thompson said he considers himself like the Biblical David who no one knew much about, tending to his father's sheep, but who still faced the giant Goliath.
"I am just out there doing what my city needs," he said. "I am out there saying, 'Let me be that David that is going to face all of the Goliaths.' So therefore, if I face all of the Goliaths as far as this need as far as all of this crime, that is a Goliath, I am going to destroy it."
He wants to work with youths as well -- an effort he is already involved in through his personal foundation, which works with local children to help give them direction and support.
"I tell everyone it starts at our youth," Thompson said. "You can tell me all day that I need a degree, and such. Or you can say go to school or go to college. But if you never show me how to fill out an application or if you never lead me to that, I never know."
The focus of his foundation, he said, is to show young people the path -- and to be by their side as they make their way through the world.
"When you get them all in a room all they want is attention to say 'Hey, I love you,'" he said. "You have got to pull out the best of them and not only say I am going to pull out the best in you and leave you hanging -- I am going to work with you.
"Some of the problems that we have with crime are that you tell me to stop crime, but what are you giving me to do the opposite of to not do crime?"
Thompson said if he is elected he will work to ensure there is so much for youths to do that it will take their mind off trying to commit crime.
Thompson said he had been inspired by his mother, Katina Smith, an assistant pastor at a Smithfield church and his father, Tony Thompson, who is a carpenter.
Thompson said he has always been different. In elementary school he won the Title 1 program with a project on how to be a successful leader. He has a book on that same topic to be published next year.
"I was that child that I didn't need Jordans (tennis shoes)," he said. "I told (my mom) to put that money toward my education."
Thompson said he always told his mother to push him harder than she had ever pushed anyone.
"That is what she did for me." he said. "That is why I can say where I am now. I thank her for everything that she did to push me along with my father. He pushed me as well. Pushing me has gotten me to where I am at."
Thompson said that while a lot of money has been spent downtown that he thinks it has been worth the cost.
"Goldsboro is an up and coming city," he said.
As for areas outside downtown some things do need to be fixed and cleaned up, he said.