I happen to be one of those blessed individuals who still lives, works and worships in the neighborhood of his childhood.
I grew up with three generations under the same roof. On the two streets that formed a ‘T’ in my South Memphis neighborhood, this was not some
phenomena. It was commonplace. Every household held three generations.
It was authentic southern Black Culture at its best. We lived together and we took care of one another. And this care extended beyond the walls of the respective households. It was a community of care.
Our community was also just. We exercised a barter economy and the medium of exchange was love. My grandmother counseled younger mothers regardless of their health care coverage and my grandfather cut the lawns of the aging regardless of their income status.
As a kid there were households where I was sent to borrow two eggs or a cup of sugar and there were households where I was sent to take Sunday dinner. Our ‘wealth’ was rooted in our commonwealth and our physical and mental health was sustained in and by community. It still must be.
That past reality is still fresh in my mind. But this once vibrant and historic neighborhood is now rife with some of the nation’s most significant realities of poverty and food insecurity.
That’s why I stayed and started Knowledge Quest (KQ) in 1995, the year I graduated from nearby LeMoyne-Owen College. Knowledge Quest is a nonprofit organization whose mission is “to vigorously equip youth and their families to maximize their potential though education, wellness and economic stability.”
We have four strategic programs: the KQ Extended Learning Academies; the
Early Childhood Academy; Family Stability Centers; and Green Leaf Learning Farm.
The organization serves residents primarily residing in the 38126 Zip Code. We have three sites within a two-mile corridor along historic Walker Avenue in South Memphis. That Zip Code has a population of about 5,700 people; 95 percent are African American and the median age is 28.3 years.
Although our population is relatively young, 14 percent of residents are over the age of 65, and most experience some form of food insecurity throughout the year. They sometimes must choose whether to buy medicines or groceries. The nearest grocer is three miles away.
For younger families, there are limited opportunities for economic mobility. The Zip Code’s poverty rate is 56%, compared to 13.3% and 11.4% for Tennessee and the U.S. respectively. Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) are are common and severely impact short- and long-term physical and mental health problems.
These social and emotional health realities recall the words of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.: “There is a sort of poverty of the spirit which stands in glaring contrasts to our scientific and technological abundance.”
I call it the “treadmill effect.” We seem to have traveled so far as a nation only to behold that we have been running in place.
We’re helping people get off that treadmill. We operate by the same principles that my grandmother and grandfather well understood: That behavior doesn’t change unless the knowledge to see and do differently is internalized.
That internalization cannot be mandated. It emerges from trusted relationships and relatable experiences. Our true wealth remains rooted in our commonwealth and Knowledge Quest and the South Memphis community it serves is proof positive that our physical and mental health can be sustained in and by community.
Day by day my past reality is being realized again. I invite others to realize Dr. King’s dream, and the dream of so many of our matriarchs and patriarchs, for the commonwealth of all of Memphis.
