Chris Singleton is the son of the late Rev. Sharonda Coleman-Singleton. He is a former minor league baseball player, drafted by the Chicago Cubs. After his mother’s death, he became a nationally renowned speaker with a message of resilience, forgiveness, and unity. He now shares his message with over 80 organizations annually, including Boeing, the Houston Texans, Microsoft, Biogen, Volvo, the Washington Wizards, and over 100,000 students and educators across the world. One of his children’s books, “Different—A Story About Loving Your Neighbor” was a best seller in its category and has been featured by numerous outlets, including The Obama Foundation.
What do you wish everyone knew about your mother? How have you sought to continue her legacy?
Something I wish everybody knew about my mom is that she had the most inviting, kind presence of someone you’ll ever meet. Her smile made you feel warm inside! I want to continue her legacy by spreading love to as many places as I can and being the change that I wish to see in the world.
While being confronted with evil and immense loss, you have accomplished great feats. Tell us about your personal journey of growth in the decade after June 17, 2015.
My personal journey of growth happened when I realized that I could not change the past, but I could do something magnificent with my future. This thought process helped me to be optimistic about the good that could still happen in our world despite the tragedy that I faced already.
What words of encouragement or advice would you give students who are faced with struggle and tough times?
Some advice that I have would be a quote by a man named Charles Swindoll, “Life is 10% action and 90% reaction.” This means we can’t control 10% of our lives. For some, their 10% may be easy, and for others like me, the 10% is the tough times that we face as young people. The hope is that we still have 90% of our lives to work with and we can do something great with our 90%.
What gives you hope for the future?
The hope that I have is seeing firsthand, after so much pain and tragedy, that I can still have pure joy when I look at my kids laughing and playing—loving life. I would have never thought I’d truly find joy again, but after now finding it, it shows me that no matter how hard things are right now, there truly is a light at the end of every tunnel.