What makes Memphis and its culture so unique?
It's not the food.
It's not the music.
It's not the people.
It's not the history.
It's so much deeper...
The people here are proud of their roots.
Because those roots tell a story that goes far beyond culture.
They came from seeds planted in environments where they said nothing could grow.
So they didn't water it, wouldn't give it sunlight, never fertilized the soil, yet still, we grew.
Odds stacked against us, without viable support or resources, still, we grew.
We withstood doubt throughout it all.
Our only nourishment was determination.
You didn't get much of a first chance.
There were absolutely no second chances.
Our only options were to stay buried or to grow.
So we grew.
We grew through the doubt, lack of support, diluted resources, the pain, the pain, the pain.
So much pain.
But it's not the pain that defines a person; it's their ability to grow through it.
Yet still, we grew.
But there’s another part of the story.
The part that happens after you finally break through.
It's at the moment when we finally blossomed through everything we've withstood.
They finally decide to come around.
But not to offer support, not to give you resources, not to alleviate your pain.
They're here to tell the story of how, despite everything you've endured, you were still able to produce fruit for them.
