Amidst laughter echoing through Charles C. Bell Elementary School’s corridors, students dressed as their favorite book characters and awaited to meet a very special guest.
Jorge Redmond is known to many throughout Buncombe County as being a lawyer for the Buncombe County Sheriff’s Office. However, his favorite job is to create books that inspire young children to dream big and become whatever they desire. Mr. Redmond along with co-author Ali Kamanda wrote the popular children’s book, Black Boy Black Boy.
“The thought of becoming an author never entered my mind,” Redmond said. “This book was a ‘COVID baby’ is how Ali and I describe it. The idea for Black Boy Black Boy came after national events played out, and I wanted young children to have a book to read with influential people in it that they can look up to, especially something that is relatable for my son.”
Mr. Redmond, like the students at Bell, was a Buncombe County Schools student. After graduating from T.C. Roberson High School in 1996, he continued his education at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. When he isn’t in a courtroom or fulfilling his duties as a father, Mr. Redmond visits elementary schools across Buncombe county.
Bell’s Media Coordinator Amy Brown says author visits have a profound impact on students.
“This visit and others like it have the potential to inspire students that they could one day be authors,” she said. “I’ve had author visits where I just cannot keep the book on the shelves in the months and years after - which is a wonderful problem to have!”
Seeing the students engaged and making connections is what this book is all about. Students openly talked about the important figures throughout the book with Mr. Redmond.
“Being able to be in the presence of these kids brings so much joy to me,” Mr. Redmond explained. “Kids are real, they don’t have the barrier that comes up as they get older. Their emotions and responses are genuine at this age, and I love being in their presence. To imagine a second grader talking about injustice is amazing to have those connections made.”
Ms. Brown was in awe of how the students soaked up everything Mr. Redmond said.
“One of the underlying themes of Black Boy Black Boy is how important it is to believe in yourself and Jorge really drove that point home,” she said. “He had students’ attention the whole way through and we could easily have spent more time with him.”
Mr. Redmond is working on a second book called Black Girl Black Girl, that he hopes to have out very soon. This book was written for his daughters in hopes they, along with other girls, have role models to look up to. Mr. Redmond’s children also attend Buncombe County Schools.
