“My mom said, ‘You’re going back. We worked too hard to get here.’”
In the weeks after George Floyd was murdered, I spent a lot of time out in Minneapolis. I grew up on the north side. This is my city. I helped a friend clean up broken glass after his store was looted. I was on the 35W bridge when the tanker truck drove
through a crowd of protesters. I’ve been thinking a lot about race and justice and change. I’ve been thinking a lot about my own
journey as a Black man in America.
As a student at North High School in Minneapolis, I was recruited to play basketball at Gustavus. Even as a high school student, I knew that coming from the inner city to a place like Saint Peter would be an abrupt change. I visited campus and knew it wasn’t for me. My high school counselor changed my mind. He convinced me that Gustavus was a place where I could get a great education and continue to play basketball.
I didn’t like Gustavus at first—I remember vividly how much I stood out. The basketball guys made me feel welcome, but I was only around them for a few hours a day. I had my guard up all the time. I was close with a couple of other Black students, but I didn’t connect with anyone else. The feeling that I didn’t belong just kind of built up. Nobody ever said it, but I was convinced they didn’t think I should be here. Instead of staying on campus for J-Term as a freshman, I went home to Minneapolis.
I told my mom I wasn’t going back. She’s always been one of those sturdy, no-nonsense moms. She said, “You’re going back. We worked too hard to get here.” I was the first in my family to finish college. We didn’t know how the FAFSA worked, but we figured it out together. I knew I owed it to my family to stick with it.
When I got back to campus, everything was different. I was still resentful, but few guys I knew had made all these connections over J-Term. They got to know people, started hanging out with others outside of our little group. It was like they discovered something brand new and they wanted to share it with me.
I started opening up to students, professors, and staff. Tom Brown, the Athletic Director, was amazing. Professor Jeff Owen and I connected over economics and basketball. I had dropped a class I took with Professor Kate Knutson, but she emailed me regularly to check in and make sure I was doing okay. And Virgil Jones, Director of the Diversity Center? He’s the reason I stayed. He was the connection between me and the rest of campus. I rejoined the basketball team. I volunteered with Building Bridges. I was a member of the Pan African Student Organization.
After graduation, I worked at United Way in downtown Minneapolis. Today, after being a commercial banker at Choice Bank for six years, I’m transitioning into a new role as a senior talent management specialist. I want to be a role model and I’m excited to put my experience and passion to use making change. We all play a role in building a community. It’s up to me to help set an example for how we can all work together.
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