Brookview Elementary celebrated Black History Month on Friday, February 20, with a special program featuring keynote speaker Mark Kerrin, who was Rosa Park's bodyguard.
Before the program, students participated in a “Living History Museum,” acting as notable African American figures from throughout history.
Later that afternoon, students gathered in the auditorium for the main event, which featured an exciting performance by the Hope Chapel Dancers, and then the first-grade students performed a re-enactment of the Montgomery bus incident and boycott. After the dramatization, Ms. Winifred Henry, a teacher at Brookview who organized the event, introduced Mark Kerrin.
Before becoming the personal bodyguard to Rosa Parks, Kerrin served as the bodyguard for the mayor of Atlanta, and trained with both the secret service and the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office.
In 1994, Kerrin was living in Jacksonville and saw on television that Rosa Park’s home had been broken into. Kerrin wanted to help, so he arranged to install a free security system for her. He and his daughter traveled to the
Detroit area to install the system, and surprisingly met Ms. Parks, who was not supposed to be home at the time.
Kerrin formed a friendship with Ms. Parks and agreed to become her bodyguard on two conditions: he would not be paid, and he would work personally for her and only her. Kerrin served as her bodyguard until her death in 2005. He even traveled around with her body after her death for several funeral processions around the country to make sure one of her requests, to not be photographed in her casket, was kept.
When he spoke of Ms. Parks, Kerrin said she was his “Lady of Peace” because she was the ultimate example of peace to him.
"Rosa Parks amazed me," he said. "She treated everyone the same. She would talk to presidents, royalty and celebrities the same way she would talk to everyday people."
When he addressed the Brookview students, Kerrin encouraged them to pick their friends because of who they are, not because of the color of their skin.
"As you go through life and make friends, don't judge them on their race," he said. "What is right and wrong does not have a color. We are all Americans and that makes us one big family."
After he spoke, Kerrin presented the school with the first copy of his soon-to-be published children's book about Rosa Parks. The book features pictures of Brookview students from when he has visited the school in the past.
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