Listen to Will’s Story

“America’s history was present in that little park. Those who wanted change and those who wanted to stand in opposition. It was all there. And I think I was surprised that day to see how much support was there for us as a people.”

— Will Jones

Will Jones stands “UNAFRAID” amidst the hate.

March 22, 2016 at 10:00am

Interview Transcript

Will Jones 

My name is William Austin Jones III, also known as Will Jones. I actually live in Charlottesville, Virginia. I'm from Atlantic City in Pleasantville, New Jersey. I am the co-founder of the Prolyfyk Run Crew. I'm a husband to four children. I'm a father to a beautiful wife. What did I just say?! I'm a husband to a beautiful wife. And I am a father to four beautiful children. I'm a barber in the area.

Eze Amos 

Tell me about this moment. This photo was taken on March 22nd of 2016 at approximately 10 a.m.. This was the first time, I believe, the city council members and the citizens of Charlottesville and, of course, you know, people from outside, flag– waving Confederate flags, came out to our city. And this was the morning the city read out Zyana’s petition to take down the statues. Can you tell me more about this photo? 

Will Jones 

Let me tell you about this moment in this picture that you have here. I wasn't listening to music. I just used my headphones as a prop, so to speak, to be able to be in the midst of all of those people and be able to hear what they had to say, but not feel like they knew that I could hear them. You know, I saw myself in, you know, amongst enemies, honestly. And so it was necessary for me to be calm and be able to listen and see. You know, you caught a moment of my eyes being closed. You know, I may have been doing some breathwork at that moment, but most of the time I was looking and I was paying attention to where people's hands were and who were the very quiet men who were, like, looking like they wanted some action. Yeah, kind of like—it's crazy that Nipsey said this, but I was kind of like “the spook by the door”, and I on purpose, I stood in their crowd so that I could be the first to their people if we had to get to their people in that way. So I didn't come down there for the statue, I came down there because Wes is my brother. And that was a real life and death type of thing to me. It wasn't going to be peaceful if it did get turnt up. So yeah, the truth is, man, I was I was kinda in warrior mode right there trying to stay calm and and be watchful. But I wasn't listening to music, yeah. 

It was a lot going on that day. What I was able to pay attention to was it was a lot of ignorance present. A lot of hate present. I think it was America's history was present in that little park: those who wanted change and those who wanted to stand in opposition. It was all there. And I think I was surprised that day to see how much support was there for us as a people. How many white people were willing to, like, kinda stand in opposition to this stuff. It was my first time really seeing that play out. And so, that was, you know, there was some gratitude there for that. I was grateful that white people were able to see their responsibility in this matter. So that made me feel good about the community. But I still didn't know if they were really aware of what was really happening, how bad this could really get. There's a lot to unlearn, there’s a lot to unpack, there's a lot to be healed from. And so I think that we're doing the best we can given all of that. I don't think that we as individuals are dragging our feet. I think only time is going to allow us to really heal and really recover from this country. Like, forget just A12, I mean, we still recovering from what they have always done to us, like it don't just go to this day, like this day should just give them some space to be like, “Oh, we are still f**king up.” And then be like, “Well, if we feel this much trauma from A12 as individuals that are white, how much trauma must they be feeling from history?” And so I think A12 gave the white community an opportunity to be like, “We ain't being decent humans if we don't hold space and give more for this to be equitable so that these people can heal from what has been done to them for years.”

Music credit: DEX 1200 / Alert / courtesy of www.epidemicsound.com