We’re in this…#together

Meet my daughter Amira Ayers and her "brother" Johnathan Ayers. We met Johnathan in 2019 when we moved to Georgia from Ohio. Johnathan walked up to me, with his hand extended for a handshake, saying "Hi, I'm Johnathan Ayers. I heard we have the same last name". Come to find out, Amira and Johnathan's birthdays are only 3 days apart (yeah despite the height difference, they're both 12 lol) and they pretty much have the same personality; so we call them The Ayers Twins. We later met his family and clicked in the most unexplainable way. We've been inseparable, as family, ever since.

In November, their school went on a field trip to the Civil Rights Museum in Atlanta. No number of words can explain the impact it had on Amira, Johnathan and their friends. I mean, these babies were crying and hugging one another in sheer disbelief of our history and what people like Dr. King did to change life for all of us. Even though I had already introduced Amira to "Eyes on the Prize", she was still overwhelmed with appreciation for the Civil Rights movement. Johnathan sat at the "sit-in" simulation twice wanting to experience what it was like for Blacks to "sit-in" at diners and be harassed or even killed. He got up the second time and said "I'm still shaking. That's horrible". We continued to view the exhibits and at one point he said, "Can you believe that if we would have met back then we couldn't have been family?!" It took everything in me not to break down in tears. Before we left, they asked me to take this picture in front of Ruby Bridges (who was the brave little girl who pioneered the integration of schools). They both said "thanks Ruby" 🖤. At the end of the trip, we took them to the gift shop, and Johnathan bought playing cards with historical Black figures on them and a book about Selma because he was so hungry to learn more.

This experience will live in my soul forever. It shows how much progress we've made but also the importance of never letting Dr. King's Dream or work fade away. As we commemorate his legacy today let's continue to educate our children (of all races) on who he was, what he sacrificed his life to do, how far we've come and the importance of continuing to push forward...#together.