DAVID | TEACHER

When people look at me some see an angry Black man. Others assume I am a former athlete. My wife and daughter see LOVE. My young students see an authoritative figure. On many days I am all of those things and I happily accept and embrace it all.

My story begins in Tokyo, Japan as a “military brat”, the son of an Army Master Sergeant. Living among other American families in a foreign country we looked out for one another. There was always a sense of community and American pride. There was no racial divide because we only saw red, white, and blue. It was like living in bubble… a security blanket of love and encouragement. It was there in fact, where I first learned about teamwork. As a scrawny fifteen-year-old boy I joined the football team. We worked hard on and off the field. I made the team as a running back. A dream position that would carry me all the way to the NFL.

In Japan we were always reminded that our actions represented an entire nation. As a Black American, I represented my race whether I accepted that job or not.

We moved back to the States and THAT’S when I learned about blatant racism . We settled in a town just outside of Louisville in 1991, I was sixteen years old. Within weeks there were newspaper articles about the new football kid in town, the “Mystery Man McCann.” They were writing about me before school even started. It seemed like the perfect fit. It seemed like a place to succeed on and off the field… but looks were deceiving. Instead it’s the first time I heard the word nigger on and off the field. In the stands… “put McCann in to play, yeah let the nigger on the field” as my mother and father quietly sat. Can you imagine hearing that about your own child? Imagine hearing your own teammates on any occasion cry out the word nigger… for no other reason than to say it. Can you imagine? No need to confront. No need to fight. No need to put myself in harm’s way. You bury it and prove them wrong on the field.

Some days I am angry about how I was treated on and off the football field as a young running back in an all-white, Southern Kentucky town.

I eventually graduated, and went on as a “walk on” running back at Murray State University. Success there would eventually lead me to the Pittsburgh Steelers and the Dallas Cowboys practice squads and training camps for the next three years. Those racist lessons from Kentucky and the grace of God led me to the highest level of my football career.

Those cries of racism from Kentucky ring in my head still but instead of being angry I use it to teach young minds in Chicago every single day. While people may see and judge my exterior as an angry Black man… I am the furthest thing from it.

I am a man, a husband, a father, a brother, and a teacher.