In Cairo, faith wasn’t passive, it was the center of cultural and social life. Throughout the city's history, people faithfully organized, protested, and demanded change.

To many, Cairo is unknown, but to those that do know the community, recognize its unmatched power in America's story.

...and?

And of those, several hundred are kids and young adults.

This is a great piece about Cairo's basketball team and its importance in giving the youth an activity. AND a focal point of pride, grit, and determination where together they can bond and build community in the face of adversity.

Even former HUD Secretary Dr. Ben Carson completely wrote off Cairo on a visit calling the town "dead" and saying residents would be better off if they left.

But Cairo isn't dead. There's still 1,500+ people who call the community home.

Since I first traveled to Cairo, at the junction of the mighty Mississippi and Ohio rivers, the first thing that always came to mind was the youth. Imagine growing up in a place that everyone writes off as dead, decaying, desolate and destroyed.

"History, despite its wrenching pain, cannot be unlived, but if faced with courage, need not be lived again."

- Dr. Maya Angelou

#ElaineArkansas #ArkansasDelta #MississippiDelta

Elaine is believed to be the deadliest racial confrontation in Arkansas and bloodiest in American history, but no one ever spoke a word about it in my years of education. That was on purpose, for a century, the history and stories of Elaine were purposely hidden or destroyed.