KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — We asked members of the community to put into words what the world feels like right now.
School board members, pastors, UT students, YWCA leaders, moms, Save Our Sons directors... each one spoke on how it feels to experience racism in East Tennessee.
Read their voices below.
"I feel tired, I feel mentally drained."
"I feel very sad today."
"It's difficult to describe how I'm feeling because I'm feeling so many emotions."
"And I'm emotionally exhausted."
"The Amy Cooper situation is something that I fear when I go out to those games."
"Confused and I'm fearful."
"As much as I wanna say it's an irrational fear, we've seen in history and on video that it isn't irrational at all."
"He said very clearly, I can't breathe."
"We literally haven't moved forward in our way of thinking."
"The things that I had to well up in me caused me to reflect on my life as a young person in the city of Knoxville.."
"It's very disheartening my biggest fear in americium is not if but when it's gonna happen to me."
"Wearing suits and ties and people still feeling uncomfortable around me."
"One of my kids somebody in my family or just somebody I know it's scary and it's very real."
"We have to keep pushing through."
"I would love to be viewed as your brother."
"But what I do know is that I have to get up every day with a smile on my face and continue to push through."
"Until we can all be on one accord I think we are living in very scary times."
"Take care of yourselves."