Give everyone a chance, no matter what

Everywhere you go nowadays, comes another story of how divided we are in this country. By class, by politics, by religion, by race. By everything, it seems. In the midst of this, I walked into Edgewood Road Hy-Vee on Thanksgiving eve to pick up my contribution to the family Thanksgiving potluck this year:

Kyle, the wonderful Food Service Manager, noticed my last name and said to me, "You're Dejon Brazant's sister? Wow! Your brother is a legend at Hy-Vee! He won more awards and received more honors than any other manager in Hy-Vee Department Manager history! I try every day to live up to his footsteps! There's a whole wall upstairs dedicated to your brother."

All the Hy Vee workers around him nodded in agreement. What I haven't mentioned until now, is that my brother and I are Black, and all the workers at Hy-Vee that spoke about my brother so glowingly, were white. They said they admired my brother because of "how hard he worked" and how "he always showed up and did the best job." I felt overcome with pride and thankfulness by everyone's graciousness and glowing words about my brother.

The moral of this story, is that if we give everyone a chance no matter their race, color, political party, etc, chance, maybe — just maybe — other people can hear stories about their family members, like the one I heard on Thanksgiving eve about my big brother. Happy holidays!

Danielle Brazant

Marion

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