Guno צְבִי
We fight, We win, Am Yisrael Chai
Kevin Alexander Gray, Columbia civil rights activist and restaurant owner, has died
COLUMBIA — Kevin Alexander Gray, a longtime South Carolina civil rights activist, author, editor and co-owner of Railroad BBQ in downtown Columbia, died March 7, an obituary from Leevy’s Funeral Home and a friend of Gray’s confirmed.
Gray was 65 and spent much of his life as a fixture of Columbia politics and activism. He served on the American Civil Liberties Union’s national board and was South Carolina coordinator for the Rev. Jesse Jackson’s presidential campaign in the 1980s.
“Kevin fought for people, he was clear about his ideas, he was outspoken, he was unafraid to challenge authority,” said Michaela Pilar Brown, a prominent name in the city’s arts scene and owner of Mike Brown Gallery.
Gray, one of five children, grew up in Spartanburg. His family owned Gray’s Groceries, a small grocery store, Gray in that 2022 interview. He described himself as “radical, even back then” and said his father often feared for his son’s safety in the 1960s South.
“That was my father and his brothers, how they came up... they came up at a time when the Klan was active,” Gray said.
Gray was good at understanding the needs of the community and even better at knowing how to articulate that, his longtime friend, Lawrence Moore said. Moore also said he would tease Gray for his keen ability to memorize song lyrics.
Gray worked as an editor of Black News, a longtime weekly newspaper in Columbia.
https://www.postandcourier.com/colu...cle_fe398728-bdbb-11ed-8e6c-ebe0e9fedb0a.html
COLUMBIA — Kevin Alexander Gray, a longtime South Carolina civil rights activist, author, editor and co-owner of Railroad BBQ in downtown Columbia, died March 7, an obituary from Leevy’s Funeral Home and a friend of Gray’s confirmed.
Gray was 65 and spent much of his life as a fixture of Columbia politics and activism. He served on the American Civil Liberties Union’s national board and was South Carolina coordinator for the Rev. Jesse Jackson’s presidential campaign in the 1980s.
“Kevin fought for people, he was clear about his ideas, he was outspoken, he was unafraid to challenge authority,” said Michaela Pilar Brown, a prominent name in the city’s arts scene and owner of Mike Brown Gallery.
Gray, one of five children, grew up in Spartanburg. His family owned Gray’s Groceries, a small grocery store, Gray in that 2022 interview. He described himself as “radical, even back then” and said his father often feared for his son’s safety in the 1960s South.
“That was my father and his brothers, how they came up... they came up at a time when the Klan was active,” Gray said.
Gray was good at understanding the needs of the community and even better at knowing how to articulate that, his longtime friend, Lawrence Moore said. Moore also said he would tease Gray for his keen ability to memorize song lyrics.
Gray worked as an editor of Black News, a longtime weekly newspaper in Columbia.
https://www.postandcourier.com/colu...cle_fe398728-bdbb-11ed-8e6c-ebe0e9fedb0a.html