Stephen Myers Ferreira

Title

Stephen Myers Ferreira (Abstract)

Interviewee/ Narrator

Stephen Myers Ferreira

Stephen Ferreira

Stephen Myers Ferreira

Interviewer

Naeem Mangum

Date

November 20, 2023

Location of the Interview

Sewanee, TN

Length

47 minutes, 25 seconds

Abstract

Myers Ferreira was born and raised in Memphis, Tennessee, and now currently attends University in Sewanee, Tennessee. Myers first encountered the Black Lives Matter movement in 2020 when George Floyd was brutally murdered. Ferreira encountered the movement on social media, and found outrage within his community shortly following the killing. Myers’s touches on receiving the news from social media and news stories his mother sends him over the phone. Myers did not use social media much until recently, and usually uses it for entertainment. In Memphis, his community was outraged by the killing of George Floyd and he saw firsthand a lot of protests and public unrest. He felt that the generations most affected by the Black Lives Matter movement were Generation Z and the Millennials. He felt this way because these Generations are the youngest, and will be most affected in the future as well. Myers felt like the black lives matter movement affected his life in how he became more aware of his surroundings and truly realized how prejudiced people are. He touched on how his family in McGhee, Mississippi are marginalized and have been heavily taken advantage of by white people for generations. Myers talked about racism he experienced in Memphis in a building called Crosstown. Crosstown is a repurposed Sears warehouse, turned into a mall-type community center, with a large selection of institutions and shops. When prompted, Myers said that the racism he experienced at the crosstown community center didn’t affect how he felt about the place, due to him being so young. He felt that the black lives matter movement succeeded in getting the word out there, and bringing attention to the cause. He felt that the movement failed in the bad press, and the violent nature of some of the protests, but he doesn’t feel like it truly failed. Myers feels the trajectory of the black lives matter movement is headed in a positive direction, despite the people trying to tear it down.