3 INSPIRED PEOPLE FALL 2020
SYLVIA GRAHAM
Sylvia Graham knows how hard life can be on the Columbus Northside, in an area called “The Blocks.”
“I grew up there and came from those streets,” Says Graham. “We were poor and we didn’t have role models. With the way I grew up, there were so many chances to give up.”
There is something else she knows: “You don’t have to live in poverty because of how you grow up,” she says. “I know that from my own life. We have doctors and lawyers and people who travel the world and do great things who came up on these same streets.”
From her impoverished beginnings, Graham has spent 48 years working on the Northside. She grew up down the streets from Skeets Hot Dogs on 14th Ave. North, pestering the owner, Selvin “Skeets” Wells, until he gave the teen a job. Working there, along with several retail jobs where she rose from low-level employee to manager. In 2008, she bought Skeets. Two years ago, she bought Rex’s Direct Foods on Alabama Street. Today she’s considered one of the most successful black business owners in the city.
“I was determined to find a way,” says Graham. “All those years, I worked and saved and told myself someday I was going to own my own business. I’m thankful to have a willing mind and body.”
She has a simple message for young black women: “Girls, we are not in chains anymore,” she says. “No matter your situation, keep thinking about the power you do have. I’m a firm believer in the law of attraction. You have to try to stay positive. I’m a living witness to what that can do.”
BERT MONTGOMERY
Bert Montgomery is something of a paradox. He is a Southern Baptist who isn’t a Southern Baptist and, although his congregation is small, he’s one of the most visible pastors in Starkville.
Affable by nature yet resolute in support of those on the margins, people who may feel alienated from mainstream Christianity as practiced in the South, Montgomery occupies an unconventional role in the Starkville faith community.
Whether it's speaking in defense of the LGBTQ community at city hall meetings or standing alongside Blacks in a protest or march, Montgomery has preached his message of inclusion and understanding since his arrival as pastor at University Baptist Church 12 years ago.
“I don’t know,” he said. “Sometimes I think I’ve done too much, not that I don’t believe in what I’m doing. I’m a straight white guy. I do leverage my privilege on behalf of those who don’t have it. But, especially now, we are seeing people who can speak for themselves, so maybe I need to be there more as an ally. I’m happy to do that.”
Montgomery, 52 and married with two adult sons, is conventional in many respects. He grew up in the New Orleans area, studied briefly at MSU and attended seminary in Kentucky. He teaches sociology and religion as an adjunct professor at Mississippi State and pastors a church with an attendance of about 40, many of them college students, some of whom are LGBTQ and many of whom are Black.
“Mississippi State brings people into the community from all over the world, racially diverse and diverse in religion and other ways,” Montgomery said. “I like to think our church is a reflection of that diversity.”
NORMA JONES
When Norma Jones moved to Columbus in 2002, she was shocked that there were few resources and no support groups for families with special needs children. She knew from frightening experience how much it was needed.
“When Peter was born, the doctor came in with a worried look on his face,” Jones recalled. “I couldn’t figure it out. Then the doctor said he might have Down Syndrome. It sounded like a death sentence for us. My husband and I cried and cried. It was like we lost a child. We didn’t know anything about Down Syndrome. We were asking, ‘How do you fix it?’”
By the time the Joneses moved to Columbus, fear and grief had turned to acceptance and hope, thanks mainly to the resources and support they received from other families with special needs children.
Jones was determined to address that need in her new home. Together with other special parents she formed Special Needs-Special Spirit Columbus with Jones serving as president, a position she held for 16 years.
“We started having workshops, working with the school districts and the state,” she said.”Before long, we started to branch out. We started a bowling league in 2004. Now, we’re up to about 32 bowlers.”
Jones said the group’s monthly programs provide a critical need among special needs families.
“Most of the kids need more socialization,” Jones said. “People with special needs don’t naturally have friends. Lots of times, they aren’t invited to social events. And when they go somewhere, they are different from everyone else. [...] With our program, they’re not the ones who are different. They fit in. They make friends. It’s wonderful to see.”
STORY BY SLIM SMITH
PHOTOS BY DEANNA ROBINSON & ANTRANIK TAVITIAN
