This Cedar Rapids couple fell in love at a Black Lives Matter protest

CEDAR RAPIDS — Sophia Joseph first laid eyes on Turé Morrow at the initial Black Lives Matter protest last summer in Cedar Rapids.

Morrow, 46, a Black man, spoke passionately and publicly about the racism Black people experience in Cedar Rapids and across the United States and advocated for a peaceful protest.

“He’s a very good speaker, and he had this charisma and aura about him,” said Joseph, 37, of Cedar Rapids. “And I found him very attractive. He caught my eye right away.”

Morrow first became aware of Joseph when she created the Marion Alliance for Racial Equity and helped organize a Black Lives Matter protest in Marion.

“I created the Alliance, and he showed up to every single meeting. He’s such a servant leader, so devoted and always asking how he could help. I respected him as an activist,” Joseph said.

At that time last summer, many of Joseph’s friends were self-isolating because of the pandemic. The only people she really saw in person were the people she protested with at Black Lives Matter marches.

“You build this bond because you’re not seeing anyone else, and then there’s this one face,” Joseph said. “It moved quicker than a normal relationship.”

As they attended more protests and continued to run in to each other, Morrow and Joseph became friends. When the ice cream truck would drive by a protest, Morrow would buy ice cream for all the kids, including Joseph’s three children.

“He became someone my kids can rely on, who’s there and consistent,” Joseph said.

Morrow was working on creating We Are CR, a nonprofit organization designed to encourage people to vote, intervene with street and gang-related violence, and unify around issues impacting the Black community. When he learned Joseph was a financial adviser, he asked for her help.

“We started working together, spending time together, and the more meetings we had the more time we would spend,” Morrow said.

They officially started dating July 23, and by Sept. 1, Morrow said he had already purchased an engagement ring.

The proposal

Morrow proposed to Joseph at a BBQ surrounded by their family and friends. It was starting to get late that day and people began leaving, but Morrow said he begged them to stay.

“I started to make a toast, and I got down on one knee, and I confessed my love to her,” Morrow said.

“The vision for what we want to do with our lives, what we want to bring to our community, and our visions for this world are 100 percent in line,” Joseph said.

Vision of equity

Joseph said her eyes were open to racism in Iowa in her first marriage. He is also a Black man, and she watched the way he was treated differently and the way their biracial children are treated differently.

She worries especially for the safety of her son, James Thompson, 11.

“He has a lot of my personality,” Joseph said. “He’s stubborn, determined, outspoken. Watching George Floyd be murdered and the lack of care for his life haunted me as a mother.”

Morrow also has children, grandchildren, cousins and other family members who he doesn’t “want to see become victims.”

Morrow and Joseph are learning how to support each other in their relationship. For example, Joseph is trying to remember to drive more carefully.

“Some ways she drives scares me, because if it was me driving like that I would be afraid of being pulled over by the police,” Morrow said.

Morrow also worries about being in all-white spaces.

“When meeting her family or friends, the first thing on my mind is what’s going to come out of this situation? How is it going to turn bad?” Morrow said.

“It’s frustrating because I know Sophia expects other white people to think like her, and that’s not always the case,” Morrow continued.

“Things I do I wouldn’t think twice about — like pulling over at 10 p.m. on the side of the road to catch a Pokemon Go — make him very nervous,” Joseph said. “That’s white privilege. Black people are used to being approached, harassed and called suspicious.”

Action in the derecho

Joseph closed on a new house in Cedar Rapids on July 30, a mere 10 days before the derecho that downed trees, pulled roofs off houses and caused millions of dollars in damage.

She had no electricity at home for 10 days and no internet for 30. Since they had a gas stove and a freezer full of food, Morrow and Joseph began cooking. By the end of the first week, they were delivering 50 meals a day to people in the community.

“In a hardship, you can handle things two different ways,” Joseph said. “We took action rather than dwell on what we couldn’t do.”

Planning a wedding

Morrow and Joseph are waiting until after the pandemic subsides to plan a destination wedding. In the meantime, they don’t see the work they’re doing slowing down any time soon.

“Whenever I feel like it’s starting to slow down, we get tossed into something else,” Morrow said.

“I don’t intend to slow down,” Joseph said. “I work best in chaos. I am far more productive if my plate is a little too full.”

The couple is intentional about family time on Sunday and Tuesday evenings. This spring, they’ve fallen into a pattern of getting out the grill on Sunday afternoon and barbecuing while the kids play in the yard.

Joseph is a self-employed financial adviser and business consultant. Morrow is working on several endeavors and runs “daddy day care,” he said.

Morrow and Joseph both serve on several boards, including We Are CR, the Marion Alliance for Racial Equity, the Advocates for Social justice, the NAACP Environmental and Climate Justice Program, and are mentors with the Wellington Heights Community Engagement Program.

Comments: (319) 398-8411; grace.king@thegazette.com