Fifty years ago, a group of under-appreciated, underpaid black men who kept the city of Memphis healthy by purging its streets of waste, refuse and trash had to remind elected leaders and city fathers that they were indeed human. They held placards in public calling for basic dignity, stating simply “I Am A Man.”
Four years ago, gatherings of unheard, unseen young people who held the hopes of America’s future by carrying the promise of progeny and reality of our pending racial majorities remixed the earlier assertion shaping my personal affirmation of identity. #BlackLivesMatter echoed and amplified the earlier claim of humanity. Read more here.