In May of 2019, during AP exam week, we received news from the office that one of my students had been deported. No, he didn’t commit a crime. He wasn’t at the wrong place at the wrong time either. My life was shaken to the core by this incident because, in a flash of a moment, my students’ lives were shaken by the reality that their friend was no longer with us. It felt like we were mourning the death of a loved one. It was abrupt, it was humiliating, it was unfair. I remember sitting on the steps of our school consoling his high school sweetheart. I consoled her in silence because nothing I said was going to be enough.

The Big Payback started out a little slow for Tennessee Justice for Our Neighbors until Hamid Durani sent a late night text pledging to match the next $5000 donated.