D ear South Florida ...

Your Black neighbors have something to tell you

No one watched the killing of George Floyd like Delray Beach businessman Rahein Jones. The complex emotions roiling the country have churned in Jones’ heart every day since Oct. 18, 2015.

That was the day his cousin, Corey Jones, was fatally shot by a Palm Beach Gardens police officer while waiting in his car for a tow truck along I-95.

If you are a white resident of South Florida looking for someone to interpret Black Lives Matter protests, provide guidance on how to navigate this historic moment and offer ideas on how to help, Rahein Jones would be a good place to start.

Jones took part in a couple of protest marches in Palm Beach County, but he is also a stakeholder in his city: He and wife Patricia have operated a popular downtown Delray Beach restaurant, the New Vegan, since 2013.

“It’s a touchy subject, but it’s not hard. Black people, we want the same thing as anyone else,” says Jones, a 44-year-old father of five, with a new grandchild on the way. “We want to raise our children. I want my grandchildren to have the same opportunities everyone else has. … Just trying to make sure your kids come home every night. That’s all anybody wants.”

Here, in their own words, Black South Floridians of all walks of life — from a mayor to a muralist, a high school soccer coach to Dwyane Wade’s stylist — speak with urgency and optimism about what they see as a tipping point for race relations in America.

Asked what white people should do

MICHAEL LAUGHLIN/SUN SENTINEL Designer and stylist Calyann Barnett at the Shop in Pop Up Shop in Miami’s Wynwood Arts District.

CARLINE JEAN/SUN SENTINEL Miami painter Anthony Reed II, aka Mojo.

MICHAEL LAUGHLIN/SUN SENTINEL Rahein Jones and his wife, Patricia Jones, at the New Vegan restaurant in Delray Beach.

MICHAEL LAUGHLIN/SUN SENTINEL State Rep. Shevrin Jones: “We are in a very interesting time within our history.”