Statement: #BlackLivesMatter Tonya Lewis Taylor - I WILL GRADUATE Program

From the desk of Tonya Lewis Taylor,

My great uncle went missing and was never found after he glanced at a white woman in the grocery store. It was later discovered that he had been lynched and buried, and his body was never found. 

I was in shock as I listened to my grandmother relive this heart-breaking time in her life when black lives didn't matter. A time where a single look at the wrong person could get you killed. 

A few years later, we visited my grandmother's hometown down in Clyo, Georgia and I remember she took us to see a hot spring way back in the woods. My sister and I were incredibly nervous, as city kids, we weren’t used to walking way into the woods. Yet, my fearless grandmother, who grew up in this town, knew those back roads well and proceeded to show us this beautiful natural wonder. 

We arrived at the hot spring and what an amazing sight it was. Hot water, clean and clear as glass, sprouting out of the earth with steam and force. A breathtaking sight to behold. As my grandmother, my sister, and I stood there gazing at the amazing sight we heard the sound of a rifle being cocked. The white woman standing behind us holding the rifle said these cold words that sent chills down my spine and unnerve me even until this day: "Nigger what y’all doing back here this is private property." My grandmother explained that she was bringing her grandchildren to the hot spring that she used to visit when she was a child. The woman replied " I could shoot you dead now... get out of here niggers and don’t come back"  

I knew there was racial hatred in the world but that was the first time I had ever experienced it personally. From that moment on.... my eyes were opened, and I vowed I would always stand for justice and equality.

Therefore, I stand today and always as the founder of the I WILL GRADUATE Youth Development Program and the Entertainers 4 Education Alliance, Inc. for justice and equality for George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery, Eric Garner, Trayvon Martin, Amadou Diallo, my great grand uncle Johnny Sears, and the countless men and women who have been killed for just for being black.

#BLACKLIVESMATTER

Tonya Lewis Taylor, 

Executive Director/Co-Founder

I WILL GRADUATE Youth Development Program