“I’m just thinking back to when I was so sure it was a girl. I had all these ideas of what her life would be and everything. And when I found out that it was a boy, I was a little nervous. I have to raise a boy, a black boy, in this type of society.
“With everything going on, I hope that he stays true to himself and doesn’t let peer pressure get a hold of him. I just hope he stays true to himself and knows his worth and value.” -Franciesca Dixson-Russel
“I’ve changed so much that I can’t explain. I want to just dive in and I wish I wasn’t me almost. I wish I had experienced more and known so much more. I wish I would have been open in a way that I just wasn’t. I don’t know if that’s the fault of my
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“My fear is that I’m not doing enough to prepare them. How am I going to ensure that they know? That’s a big weight as a mom. It’s bigger because they are black and they are innocent and sweet.” -Jontisha Graves
“A dream is that he can be seen as a human being. He is a black boy that will turn into a black man, and you know, I don’t want people to be fearful of him. He’s a human. He’s a person. We’re the same but different and we are not to be feared just be
“The hope for my son is that he grows up in a world that has peace and love. I hate to sound cliche but peace and love- at least from his perspective. I hope he’s able to filter out the negativity and embrace the positivity and take control about how
“And the hope is that what the Creator has placed in us to pour into Kingston, will be far more rooted and give him the holding and foundation and security to say, “Regardless of what this person has just said, I know who I am. I left out of that mee
“I’m not kidding. It’s like blood on the door. It’s like a white flag. It’s saying this is a safe space. Some people have the Black Lives Matter signs, some people have the fists in the air. Any of those, when we see it, we know this is a place for u
He’s a big kid that looks like a man. He looks older than fourteen from a distance. When you meet him, I think he’s very disarming with people. He’s a kid that speaks directly. He’s not a mumbler, he looks you right in the eye and says, “How are you
“Deonte was a son, a brother, a friend, a cousin. He was the kid that you would want around. If you’re sad, he makes you laugh. If you needed anything he was there. He wasn’t a shy kid. He was a fun person to be around. He played every sport but his
“When the George Floyd thing happened they were both out of town. When the looting happened, they were out of town. They came back in the midst of it. I’m like, “Oh my goodness, y’all have to be home at this time. I know y’all gonna do what you have
“The policeman that sat on George Floyd is sitting on someone who has hogtied them. He’s sitting on his prized pig, his prized possession. It is very animalistic. That was the collective, there was a collective consciousness. You have to juxtapose th
“Justin is my one and only child. I decided early on that I only wanted one child. I remember when he was first born, I was in labor for eighteen hours and I couldn’t deliver naturally so I had to have a C-section. I delivered him and of course, I di
“I think we all have levels of blindness to ourselves, who we really are, and who others are. So a favorite prayer of mine is, “Open my eyes Lord, that I may see. Open my ears that I may hear. Open my heart that I might receive.” I think you have to
“Everybody was devastated when Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated. Everybody went crazy because he had done such a beautiful job for so many people. But we had to keep pushing. You have to keep on pushing. Regardless, he would have wanted us to