He was also a Black man born in the 50’s who knew the dangers of police interactions even in peaceful protest.

My dad was everything to me and even more of that to the community: Little League coach, Deacon, brother, uncle, friend, BBQ Champion, and Mayor of South Memphis.

These memories of my dad as a giver, rule-follower, and civil rights activist who pushed me to be respectable, created the backdrop for why I do this work alongside a respectable, Harvard educated, Black man who was also raised in Memphis.

He is raising a black son, homeschooling him in a pandemic, and struggling with when is the right time to talk to him about racism, the police, and how being good just is not enough.

Rebuilding and repairing education systems must happen in tandem with dismantling the economic and social injustices that a pandemic and black deaths at the hands of police have exposed.