- I will never understand what it's like
to be black in this country.
But I can listen and try to take in the stories
and experiences people are willing to share.
And this show can be a platform
to start important conversations
that hopefully trigger change.
That's why I had to share my next guest story.
Take a look.
- My name is Sean
and I'm from Nashville, Tennessee.
I live in this really interesting neighborhood
called 12 South.
When I was a kid,
my family lived all around,
and I could go get ice cream at my aunt's house
or popsicles at my aunt's house or Sunday dinner.
But as time progressed,
the neighborhood changed.
It's much more gentrified now,
much less diverse.
I've always enjoyed walking in my neighborhood.
But with the killings of Amman Aubrey
and George Floyd,
I was paralyzed with fear
I didn't want to see a white neighbor not recognize me
and call the cops
and I didn't wanna be like a monarch
and get killed for walking while black.
So I told my mom about my fears.
She said," I'll walk with you."
So we went on a walk.
And then I posted my feelings on a social media page.
The next day,
I got messages from neighbors
and people wanting to walk with me.
The response was breathtaking,
expecting there to be maybe 10 people,
but more than 60 showed up.
We did a second walk.
And hundreds of people showed up
and a third.
And even more people showed up.
There were people in their yards cheering and clapping.
And I'll walk with you.
You don't have to be afraid.
I'm sorry You feel this way.
Thank you for letting us know you feel this way.
That first walk broke my fear.
- So we have Sean on the line with us
along with his mom Lynn.
- Hey, Sean. You there?
- Hey
- Oh my gosh.
It's so nice to talk with you.
Thank you for joining us.
- Thank you for having us.
- Yes, okay.
So Shawn,
you say this fear of walking in your neighborhood,
had been building up for a while, right?
- It has it's been built into my,
DNA for years and then with the killing of George Floyd
and remembering like Amada and getting killed,
it just crippled me.
Like being stopped in my neighborhood
for walking while black
and all the things that you go through
as a black man in America.
And I my mom's only son
and my grandmother's only grandson
and my sister's only brother.
And I refuse to let my mom bury me.
So if taking a walk was going to end my life,
I just thought Well,
- I mean, that's an incredibly sad statement.
I'm...
sorry.
It's just such a,
like an insane thing
to not feel comfortable walking outside of your house.
So Lynn, I mean,
I can only imagine I'm a mama like,
how did you feel when Sean called saying
he couldn't get off the porch?
- Well, the first night it happened
I just kind of said okay, go to bed.
Relax, and we'll you know,
just try it again tomorrow.
Then the next day on Tuesday,
when he said mama can't get off the porch
I said, Hold on,
what we're not gonna do is be paralyzed by fear.
Let me get my shoes on,
and we're going to walking
And so we just took off and went walking,
and we, you know,
cut up in the neighborhood and walking on the streets,
and I just kind of,
we just hit it around like we normally do,
and he was able to get off that porch,
but we didn't want that fear to paralyze him.
- Shawn, after you posted
how you were feeling on social media,
First of all,
where did you get the strength to do that?
Because that's kind of a big thing to be vulnerable
and own on social media,
that fear and then
people gathered to walk with you, right?
So can you tell us about that?
- So I posted on social media,
literally immediately following my walk with my mom,
my mom made a post,
and then I posted,
but I only posted on Facebook,
and I was like,
Okay, these are my feelings.
And I didn't particularly post
on the neighborhood app because I didn't want it to be...
The last time I went on that app,
It was especially black man walking.
So literally, I heard the evil.
I heard God say,
"Do it, do it anyway."
And I obeyed God.
And literally moment,
five minutes later,
50 comments will walk with you,
we support you,
we will walk with you.
And it was so overwhelming.
And when we showed up
near my mom got dropped off at the place.
And there were 50 or 60 people in the neighborhood,
but it was, I can't explain the feeling.
I literally looked and just took out walking,
like walking.
It was nothing.
I couldn't do anything.
And I was like, Oh my god,
I went Facebook Live.
And I said, Look at my neighbors.
They have my back.
- And it's about connection.
I think that's the thing.
And that's what I think is so awesome about,
you know, something you did
and maybe initially was about a fear.
But what's funny is that fear turned in to hope.
And I think that's the coolest part of it
and to use that fear to feel something bigger and better
and brighter.
Hundreds of neighbors have join together to walk with Sean.
That includes My next guest
who was on that very first walk.
Let's say hi to Carrie, everybody.
- Hi, Carry.
- How are you doing today?
- I'm great. How are you?
- I'm It's alright.
It's alright.
This story is so moving.
I've started crying at the top of the show,
cause it's such a beautiful thing are happy tears.
But Carrie, how long have you been living
in the same neighborhood as Sean and Lynn.
- So I moved into 12 south in 2005,
so about 15 years.
And when I moved in,
I picked 12 South because I love the diversity,
the sidewalks,
the location is amazing.
And you know, at the time,
there's all these cute historic bungalows,
so just kind of fell in love with it.
- Yeah, I love that.
So, Carrie, what made you decide to walk with Sean?
- Well, I mean,
seeing his posts just really broke my heart
that anyone in our neighborhood wouldn't feel safe.
Also, that I didn't know him
and I've been here for 15 years.
So it really wasn't a question.
I think for me actions speak louder than words.
So it wasn't,
I just needed to show up
and let Shawn know that my house is a safe place.
And he is always welcome to walk with me
and I'll do whatever I can to make sure everybody feels safe
and welcome in our neighborhood.
- I just think it's a really important story.
And I know Carrie,
that you have something you wanna say to Shawn right?
- Yeah, so um, well, Shawn,
you have inspired me.
And I think at the end of the day,
my motto has always been actions speak louder than words
and be the change you wanna see in the world.
And you've been that for me,
and so you've just inspired me
to live every life every day of my life,
just making sure I get to know my neighbors take the time.
There's nothing more important in life
than investing in people
and community and I really believe that your mission
and just being vulnerable next door
that could not have been easy
to put yourself out there like that.
You know, you've really
You just have a heart of gold.
And you've inspired me.
And I'm beyond blessed to call you,
brother now and you're stuck with me for life.
And I will spend every day (laughs)
of my life continuing
to spread your mission and your heart.
- And was speaking of your mission,
I mean, Shawn and Carrie.
So you're now working together
to turn this into a nationwide movement, right?
Do you want Shawn, you want to start one?
Wanna tell us about that?
- Yeah, Carrie started a GoFundMe
because I knew very early that.
And I actually got messages from around the country
from people saying,
this is my neighborhood, too.
Will you come and walk with me?
So I was like, Okay, I can do it.
I can't not do this.
It became my life call
like I feel more sure of this than anything.
So we're gonna walk in Philadelphia,
we're gonna on, the Fourth of July,
we're gonna walk in Cleveland,
we're gonna walk in Miami.
We're gonna walk
if anybody wants me to walk in there neighborhood,
I'm going to come walking
God is made away
and he's gonna keep making a way
for me to keep walking
because I just have to follow what he told me to do.
He told me to post on next door
and all of these is happened,
so He' gonna make a way for me
to walk, from we're gonna walk
from the Fourth of July
to the inauguration of a walk a week.
And even if it's after the inauguration,
we're gonna keep walking until no one in this country,
or no one in any part of the world feels afraid
to walk in their neighborhood.
- Yeah, you don't want them to feel like how you felt.
That's understandable.
That's an amazing thing.
So there's a GoFundMe page is that working out?
- Is working on and it's like,
I get kind of freaked out.
I'm like, oh, how are we gonna do this?
It's cause I'm a very logical person.
So my Wait, where's the money coming from?
But I'm like,
I told me to do it.
I don't care.
It's gonna happen.
- Yeah, well leave with a servant's heart.
That's amazing.
Well, I have some good news for y'all.
Nashville based Tractor Supply Company
supports self reliance
and serves nearly 1900 communities across the US.
They're fulfilling your fundraising goal
by donating $15,000 to hash lock on
so you got to work got the money power, y'all?
- Oh my god. Oh my god,
- I know we want it.
We want this to be a nationwide thing too
and such I'm not lying.
I was in tears just reading about this
I had not heard about this yet before
you were gonna be on this show
and I was like, Oh my god,
this is the most moving thing I've ever heard.
It's so important more so now than ever.
And you know, you don't really know a person
or a neighbor until you walk a mile in their shoes
or walk with them in their shoes and,
and you'll be walking a lot of them now
since we've gone(laughs)
- Oh my God, thank you so much.
- That's amazing.
- Yeah, no, we seriously we are so so excited about this
and hopefully y'all come You know,
send us some footage of your walks
and how they're working out.
Not even that we've to air
just so we know like what's going on
and how we can help in any other ways.
Because this is really inspiring thing you're doing.
So thank you so much, Sean, Lynn, and Carrie,
you're all so inspiring.