It started with a picture.
Black men were told to escort their children to Flat Shoals Elementary School for the first day of classes on Aug. 8. Markevius Kemp was crouching to talk with his boys — kindergartner Micah, 5, and second-grader Marquez, 7 — when a DeKalb County School District employee captured the three, seemingly in the middle of a moment, the younger boy fixated on his older brother, big brother on dad.
The photo, used with a short story about the event, was shared on social media more than a thousand times in the first 24 hours.
Many applauded Kemp for doing something black men get knocked for not doing enough: being there.
“It’s been a struggle, but I need to be there for my kids,” Kemp says. “No matter what.”
According to U.S. Census data, more than 24 million children here don’t live with their biological fathers, which is about one in three children. In black families, nearly two-thirds don’t.
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