How George Floyd’s Death Led these Two South Jersey Brothers to Make a Change in Lumberton

The summer of 2020 was unlike any other summer for Generation Z. When the video of then-police officer and now-convicted murderer Derek Chauvin kneeling on George Floyd's neck went viral, youth across America felt a call-to-action.

Some went to protests, others created petitions, and still more took to social media activism. In Lumberton, brothers Jaivien and Jadon Kendrick created clothing lines to uplift youth amidst the solemnity felt by the Black community following Floyd's death.

Now just two years later, the pair is looking to make a change in their own community — getting lights on at the Village Green basketball courts and bringing people together through the game.

Jaivien, a college student at Bowie State in Maryland, and Jadon, a student at Rancocas Valley Regional High School, have lived in South Jersey their entire lives. Each has been on the receiving end of not so neighborly anti-Black rhetoric.

"We're in a predominately white area so I didn't see a lot of people like me so of course I was bullied and people would always say things to me. It never really made me question myself but it always made me question well, why, what's the reason," Jaivien said. 

Often, Jadon and Jaivien brushed off the hate. But, Floyd's death created a call-to-action moment for the Kendrick brothers.