My Story
Hey y’all.
I grew up in Stone Mountain, Georgia and as a southern raised Black woman my identity strongly influences and shapes the work I offer and is based on my personal experiences. Stone Mountain is a city known for the revival of the Ku Klux Klan (KKK) on November 25, 1915. Annually the Klan would rally and burn 3, 60-foot crosses until 1991 at Stone Mountain Park. These dates are significant for me because the rebirth of the Klan happened 70 years to the day before my birth and my family relocated to Stone Mountain one year after the KKK stopped rallying at Stone Mountain Park. While I am fortunate to have never witnessed a Klan rally, whispers of not being in Stone Mountain Park after dark were the warnings given to my family when we first moved there.
Despite, a racist history, growing up in Stone Mountain afforded me an informal civil rights education because several civil rights leaders were involved in giving back to the community by engaging with youth about their experiences. I have been fortunate to hear Representative John Lewis speak a few times throughout my life in addition to Martin Luther King III. They shared their own experiences growing up in the Confederate South and fighting for justice so we can all experience the freedoms and civil liberties we are privileged to have today. Their messages of collaboration and unity despite people’s differences stayed with me and informed my values of justice and community.
Both personal experiences with Klan history and civil rights leaders, while quite different, still existed in parallel to my formative years as a child. They inform my drive for leaving the world better than how I found it. This motivates me to do work that supports individuals to be more resilient in the face of oppression. Everyone deserves an opportunity to be valued and treated fairly. I think that starts with a base level of understanding yourself. Humanity is what connects us all and if this is distorted for any individual it is often replaced with hate based on the fear of difference. That fear is the foundation for oppression and I believe can be unlearned through education and experiences that eradicate fear. We all deserve to be seen for who we are and not have that be colored through someone else’s fear.