MEMPHIS, Tenn. —
Local 24 News has been speaking with activists, parents, and city leaders about what it will take to actually create much-needed change. A common answer to that is how we talk to our younger generations about racism.
John Coates and Delvin Lane are two fathers, long time friends, and football coaches from different backgrounds. Both have had to have conversations with their kids and players about racism.
Lane said this conversation happened often with his kids when they were growing up.
"We had talked about the n-word, what it means to be poor, what it means to have money, so it was an everyday educational opportunity," Lane said.
Lane and Coates have coached football together for more than 20 years between Booker T. Washington High School and Raleigh Egypt High School. Both schools are predominantly African American, so racism was a topic of conversation often.
Coates has taught his kids and players that a person is more than skin deep.
"He created you and He created me," Coates said. "God doesn’t make mistakes, so don’t ever sell yourself short."
Coates and Lane agree we need to teach young people to stand up to racial injustice and see people for more than what they look like.
"How to be leaders in their community and how to take what they learn and be the leaders our country needs," Coates said.
Lane said as a parent you have the power to teach your child right from wrong and how to nurture them into good people.
"Any kind of racial bias you might have you have to humble yourself and really fight against it and teach your kids that it’s all about loving a person for who they are and not how they look," Lane said.