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Cousin's Death Motivates Navy Vet To Finish School

By Andrea V. Watson | May 24, 2017 5:24am | Updated on May 26, 2017 9:37am
 William Taylor (right) will graduate from East-West University in June.
William Taylor (right) will graduate from East-West University in June.
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Provided/William Taylor

ROSELAND — William Taylor says he had to finish college because his cousin, who died at 17, cannot.

The 30-year-old Roseland native had just returned from a four-year stint in the Navy when his cousin, Tyrone Lawson, was shot dead in 2013.

Tyrone was a Morgan Park High School senior when he was killed after a fight between two top-ranked basketball teams. The teen was fatally shot outside Chicago State University.

Tyrone had always dreamed of a better life and wanted to join the Navy like his cousin. Taylor had enlisted after tiring of his job as an assistant manager at a clothing store in Ford City Mall. He looked for better job opportunities, but quickly realized with no college degree, his options were limited, he said.

The best move he could make was joining the Navy, Taylor said, a move that inspired Tyrone.

“I think education is one of the keys to bettering our situation,” Taylor said. For him, that situation included the gun violence that plagued his neighborhood, his communit, and ultimately hit home within his family.

A combination of wanting to achieve the dream his cousin never got the chance to chase — to get a degree — and a desire to set a good example for his 4-year-old daughter, motivated Taylor to enroll at East-West University in 2015 to study business and accounting. He is set to graduate this spring.

“It’s not just the only thing that motivated me, but it was one of the things that inspired me to keep pushing to pursue my degree so I can get out and try to effect change in my community,” Taylor said.

With his degree, Taylor hopes to invest his energy and expertise right back into his hometown. His focus is specifically on nurturing and supporting small businesses, of which he said he's "a big proponent."

“They can help improve Chicago,” he said. “The ‘ma and pa’ [shops] can bring back stability.”

The African-American community needs more jobs, Taylor said, which will help curb the violence. So he wants to help create them.

“People are angry because of the lack of opportunities,” he said.

There’s purpose in pain, Taylor said, which is why his cousin’s tragic incident continues to fuel his motivation.

“That’s one young man who wasn't able to make it, so let me take that burden on my shoulders and make it; show my aunt we still care, we’re still going to do something,” said Taylor.

Taylor said he hopes that others will follow in his footsteps and prioritize reinvesting in their communities not with money or fame, but with an education.

“Everybody wants to be the next Michael Jordan or Lebron James. We have enough athletes, we have enough rappers. It’s not time to be entertained anymore, it's time to be educated.”