Smiling. Black. Breathing: Devan Davis

Opinion | the point-of-view | Keyona Porshaà

Oftentimes, bright-eyed black boys grow up to become black men driven by pressure and strengthened by survival. Despite all odds, obstacles, and lack of guidance, they smile; they’re black and breathing.   

At least a year has passed since we last spoke, when an ambitious Strategic School Operations Specialist (Washington, D.C.) answers the phone. Lightheartedly, he shares that he is at Best Buy, handling a new headphone purchase, and will have to place me on a brief hold. Between his tone and expression, he maintains the smooth, professional poise he boasted in college. 

Smiling, Black, Breathing is a space dedicated to Black men who continuously defy the odds despite not having an ideal model to follow, while selflessly submitting themselves to lift young men as they climb. This edition of SBB is centered on University of Louisiana at Lafayette graduate Devan Davis, a prime illustration of SBB. 

It’s 2018, and seated inside a Fayetteville State University classroom in a button-up shirt, khakis, and Sperrys, with structural bone features and locs that suggest deep African roots and a grounded sense of self, a young Davis sits focused, balancing the pursuit of educational development and both personal and societal pressures. Albeit steeped in strength, the preluded visual is a description that most Black American men need little interpretation for. Black men understand all too well the actual weight of a smile, the protection of a stoic expression, and the skeptical calculation of measured steps with no hands to hold or footprints to follow. 

Rather than stand empty-handed, paralyzed by frustration, or expectant and entitled, Davis has had to survey his disadvantages and what works in his favor to forge a new path to his personal dreams and career goals. He starts with the first major detour of his life. 

“My father passed when I was 14, and that was disappointing,” Davis said. “And honestly, from that time until today, I have not had a male figure within reach who has been a mentor or leader to me or for me. As soon as my dad died, I became a statistic, a part of a single-parent household.”

Disadvantaged but determined, the Fayetteville native progressed through the halls of Lake Rim Elementary, Ireland Drive Middle School (which eventually merged to become Douglas Byrd Middle School), Max Abbott Middle School, and Terry Sanford High School. He directed his footsteps toward the courts and fields that would provide coaches and mentors, even if only for a moment, who would guide him to higher levels and goals. He jokes that he wasn’t naturally fast, as some might assume looking at his slim physique, but he did devote his athleticism and bounce to the Terry Sanford Bulldogs as a high jumper, guard, and forward. 

“The sports I played were where my next set of leaders came from; the coaches that I played for were my mentors. It was huge. Then that changed as I got older–I never heard from them after I aged out of the recreation league, which was disappointing.”

For individuals like Davis who refuse to accept defeat, you remember those types of moments and transmute them to not only accomplish the goals you set out for yourself that are also cultivated by your village, but you find the young boys and men that remind you of yourself, and pour into them all the things that you felt you were missing. 

From the court to the classroom

Davis readjusted his sights back on the classroom, making himself available as an instructional assistant. Starting at Ferguson Easly Elementary and eventually transitioning to Ed V. Baldwin Elementary School, he floated from classroom to classroom, offering one-on-one reading sessions and, oftentimes, moments of decompression to defuse attitudes. 

“I figured my best route was education through sports. I knew education would be the route I would take. To change the dreams of children and feed into hope, why not? [Positively impact] their social, academic, and emotional realities.”

Steadfast and selfless–a demeanor that equipped an assured Davis to help guide a young team of Hoke County Middle School basketball players to a 2020 championship. He recounts the responsibility of managing academics and his investment in the future of young athletes as an Assistant Coach when he describes the night they won the championship. 

To avoid academic punishment for himself from Fayetteville State University, he sacrificed the first half of the big game. When he finally arrived, the first quarter was ending, and the team was down about seven points. His arrival shifted the team’s morale, sparking the point guard to drain a half-court buzzer-beater before the half. 

The team came out after halftime energized, and one play after another, they edged past their opponents to come back and win the title. 

Competitive edge, selflessness, and grit are the values Davis carries inside the rooms he steps into. The epitome of beating the odds, he has mastered taking the wins and losses in stride. Being the dreamer and the representation. 

Besides tools, resources, and guidance, Black men need representation, spaces to feel, reassurance, and stability. How can you dream of what you’ve never seen? Black male excellence like the kind that Davis exudes exists beyond athletes and rappers.

“Everybody wants the mystique; everybody wants their story to be extraordinarily rare. Mine is not. As soon as my dad died, I became a statistic, a part of a single-parent household. But now that I’m getting my master’s and will hopefully become a college professor, I may become part of the 8% of Black men who achieve that. It seems small or unrealistic, but I think that’s what greatness is [all] about. I feel like I have a chance at doing something great that can inspire people who look like me who've been through what I’ve been through and done what I've done that they can do this too. Literally.”

In our community, inheriting responsibility prematurely without guidance is not an exclusively lived experience. For many of us, whether we succeed or not rests solely upon our own shoulders. Evident in his ability to recognize, without becoming his deficits, remain curious and creative to alchemize his potential and continue to be the type of Black man who holds space for himself and others to be smiling, Black, and breathing.