How Will We Rise?

In Memory of Bryant Williams (1978-2017)
Work waits. The news came from left field, mid-meeting Tuesday morning: my sustainability co-conspirator and friend, Bryant Williams, had died. The abundant succession of condolence posts on Facebook reflect the wide breadth of his friendly warmth, love for people and range of activities. Bryant believed in the potential of those he met, and in the organizations for whom he worked and on whose boards he served. I first met him during a tour of Calumet with the Southeast Environmental Task Force, an entity with which he’d long been involved. Environmentalists of Color, The Plant, Cook County, and the Rebuilding Exchange, amongst others, benefitted from his involvement. I am not yet ready to mourn, but rather am left staring, along with many others, at this fresh, too-soon absence. Habit propels me back into the daily routine which I reluctantly resume, if only to begin, in some small way, to realize and honor the legacy of this bridge-builder, father, comrade.