OAKBORO, NC — Sharon Ingram was startled by the fingers gently rapping on her car window as she read her book while waiting for her 10-year-old son to finish football practice.
She looked up to see a man she barely recognized, a father on the team with a kind smile and dark brown hair who introduced himself as Jason Bartell but told her to call him "Jay."
"Are you Jordan Poole's mom?" he asked.
Jay already knew the answer. She was the only Black parent at a practice with one Black child on the team. He also knew her story, and the loss her family had endured during the previous year.