STILL STANDING

Jackie was born under the noise of New York City sirens but raised in the quiet red dirt of Elberton, Georgia. From the outside, he looked like every other strong Black man taught to keep moving, keep working, keep smiling, and never let pain show. But silence has a cost. Behind Jackie’s calm face lives a boy who never healed from abandonment, a young man who learned to swallow grief, and a grown man fighting battles nobody can see. He is undiagnosed, unheard, and unseen — until life forces him to confront the broken pieces he has been carrying for years.