#BlackHistoryReimagined, Day 3
In this series, I re-imagine the lives of Black folks gone too soon.
#BlackHistoryReimagined, Day 3: Rayshard Brooks, born on January 31, 1993, has spent most of his life in the Atlanta area, but temporarily relocated to Toledo, Ohio, in 2019 to care for his sick father. While in Toledo he took a home restoration job where he had been known for being a very hard worker doing everything from flooring to carpentry. He had been the first and last to arrive at work each day even with his only mode of transportation being a bicycle. A dedicated family man, he had returned to Atlanta in December 2019 to be with his wife Tomika and their four children. During such time he was able to gain access to a vehicle and sought to continue his career to support his family.
On the evening of June 12, 2020, Brooks had gone out for some drinks with friends. After which he headed to an area Wendy’s for a late-night meal but fell asleep in his parked car which subsequently blocked others from entering the drive-through. He was approached by several unruly police officers who pulled him from his car and began interrogating and assaulting him, even shooting at him. However, since Atlanta Police Department had been successfully defunded and many eyewitnesses were present, it wasn’t long before a specially trained mediator arrived to diffuse the situation. As the evening faded into the early morning hours of June 13, Brooks was able to alert the responders that he had too much to drink and asked if he would be permitted to walk home as opposed to being arrested since he had not committed any crimes. The mediator was able to help him contact his wife who arrived shortly thereafter to pick him up. Early eyewitness accounts had already spread throughout social media which left area residents angered by the outlandish response of the officers. They took to Atlanta streets in protest, even setting fire to the Wendy’s.
Brooks celebrated his daughter’s 8th birthday the next day with a gathering of his immediate family. Since the pandemic had made it hard for him to continue gig style work, he started his own restoration company, specifically working to restore areas damaged in the aftermath of negative police interactions and other riot-like situations, including the Wendy’s. His company is doing quite well, even having been called in to renovate heavily damaged areas of the U.S. Capitol after the recent insurrection, after which he celebrated his 28th birthday.
[#BlackHistoryReimagined is a series of posts that re-imagines the lives of black folks gone too soon, by writing a story that does not end in their deaths. Throughout this month, I implore you to go on this imaginary journey with me and think of what could have been. The stories are based on the people’s real lives; the ending has been altered to allow them to live out whatever they were actually working on or could have done had they been given more time on earth.]
