Five decades is a long time to be sure, but for things that matter, and things that hurt, those 50 years flash back to reality as if it was only yesterday.

Tragic, traumatic events have a way of marking our memories forever. Few among us old enough to remember the events of Sept. 11, 2001, can forget where we were.

For several hundred Natchez residents, mostly black, they will never forget the horrible events of October 1965.

Now dubbed the Parchman Ordeal and among the least publicized events of Natchez’s Civil Rights Era struggles, the events today seem unimaginable.

Approximately 200 men and women were rounded up by police and hauled to prison where many were horribly mistreated all because they were black.

No charges were ever filed against the 200 or so victims of the Parchman Ordeal, named after the location of the state penitentiary where the alleged protesters were hauled into the night.

Until Friday, no one had officially ever said, “We’re sorry.”

Fortunately, the City of Natchez’s leadership had the good sense to apologize for the mistakes of the city’s past leaders by simply apologizing profusely.

The apology was five decades too late.

It was merely words that could in no way undo the horrible mistreatment of the past.

But, the apology was a beginning and a much-needed, heart-felt start to continuing the healing of the hurt that is now more than half a century in our past.

While the city’s police officers in 1965 were the ones ushering people onto that bus, all of Natchez’s white power establishment were really behind the matter.

We’re thankful for the city’s attempting to apologize and clear the air, and we’re thankful for those brave souls who endured the mistreatment so all could be treated equally.