C O V E R S T O R Y
This was life-changing for the young men as well
as for the community of Frayser.” Out of this
venture, “The Harmony Home-Style Café” was
also developed. This amazing program raised
money to feed and serve police officers once a
week. “This was at the dawn of the new
millennium – around 2001/2002 time frame.
Imagine this. We had young men from the Frayser
area serving and talking to police officers every
week. This gave young men the respect for police
authority and they learned how to remain cautious
of actions that would lead them down roads of
destruction. This connection was impactful
because it gave young men hope and it also gave
them knowledge. After the young men would
serve, they would sit down in a roundtable
discussion that addressed food cost, revenue, sales
and strategies on the best way to keep the business
running. Young men needed to understand that
money is something that you do not have to be
afraid to earn and manage properly.”
This non-profit ministry blessed 20-25 young men
each summer and this peripheral ministry would set
Anderson on a plateau to produce academically
successful schools within the Memphis community.
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“I had the idea to create schools because
I felt the need to protect our young Black
men and become a support system to those
who really had no thought of what a support
system was.” Anderson knows what it is
like to be rejected as an individual, but just
as Joseph maintained an inner drive even
while in prison, this enormous dream of
building school systems would not let the
arrows of discouragement win. “Young men
needed to see another Black man emerge
from the rubble. Yes. The rubble. It’s the stuff
that is left in the after-math of a storm and you
have to find a way to get through it. I always
had a sense that NOTHING was going to crush
my faith because I knew God was bigger than
the negative circumstances and not-so great
people that tried to hinder the progress of
what I had envisioned. I never turned my
back on God and because the church saved
me, I was not going to turn my back on the
church. I repeat, nothing was going to crush
my faith because no one had enough power
to stop the plan of the Almighty God.”
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