MEMPHIS, Tenn. — Marcus Taylor, II is graduating from Whitehaven High School after successful seasons as a running back and strong safety.
"I just actually thought it was important for me to go take my talents back to where they actually belong at an historical black college or university with a black head coach," said Marcus.
He's headed to play for the tigers of Tennessee State University instead of a larger predominately white university with a better financed football program and the events brought on by this country's racial reckoning were a factor.
"Me and my dad have a lot of conversations about the things going on with a lot of George Floyd and all the rest of the stuff that's happened, so I've just got to listen because he knows what he's talking about," said Marcus.
Situations Marcus's father, Marcus Taylor, Senior, is preparing his 18 year-old son for now.
"My biggest thing is that I pray for his safety along with other young men that I know are his friends," said Taylor.
Marcus says he and his peers are often targets of racially charged activity even once committed to an institution before finishing senior year.
"People make fake pages and says a couple of racial slurs. Kids get riled up and at lot us get out of our character and people don't know and they judge us based on what our reaction was," said Marcus.
So, with the village it takes to raise a child, his father instills values.
"The thing for me is to keep him aware of his surroundings, make sure he understands that and make sure he has character at all time. Be a man and don't put me in a situation that I have to take the long trip wherever you are to have to bail you out or cutup with whosever in control (laugh)," said Taylor.
That support system includes the Whitehaven community and Marcus's coach, Rodney Saulsberry, who supported his players when they wanted to use their voices through kneeling and other activism.
"We have to be willing to stand out and speak up, because Martin Luther King said my biggest worry's not my enemies. It's the silence of supposedly my friends," said Saulsberry. And Saulsberry recognizes the value in HBCU's when it comes to the continued development of the whole of his athletes, academically and socially.
"I just thought that was the best decision I ever made. Not a 4 year decision, but a 40 year," said Marcus.