Shafiq is 68 years old and was born in Pensacola, Florida. His family moved North in 1953 for work and for better opportunity.

On racism in Cleveland: “I didn’t sense it really until I was about 8 or 9. There was an incident in the Hough area. There was a Caucasian family living next door to us. I remember an incident with a person in that house, and I just remember it was an ugly scene. No real violence. I just sensed something—couldn’t put it all together—that it just wasn’t right.”