Reggie Dial: Remembering difference makers, leading future ones

LUBBOCK, Texas (KCBD) - For years, Reggie Dial has spent his time serving the community of Lubbock.

As president of the 100 Black Men of West Texas, Dial works to mentor young adults and create leaders who will shape the future of Lubbock, the state and the nation.

A Lubbock native, as a child he was part of a special group.

“I was part of a group of kids in the early ‘80s that got bussed from Wheatly Elementary to a school that they had just built called White Side Elementary,” Dial said. “At that time, Lubbock was trying to diversify the schools.”

His time at Whiteside planted Dial in the middle of a city effort to better integrate Lubbock schools.

It was the first time Dial felt out of place in a classroom.

“If I’m not mistaken, I was the only African American in that class,” Dial said. “So that was the first time that I felt different.”

It gave Dial a point of view he hadn’t had before and gave him a better understanding of the community around him.

“It was a benefit for me to be able to see the other side of the tracks,” Dial said. “To be able to see those different type of experiences.”

That knowledge and experience would serve Dial when he eventually joined The 100 more than a decade ago.

Attracted by the organization’s mission for change and equality, Dial says he was brought in and taken under the wing of other members.

“It’s so important to have somebody that believes in you,” Dial said. “It’s so important to have somebody who can guide you in the right direction, and somebody to correct you when you’re wrong.”

That’s who Dial says he wants young black men and women to remember - not just the Martin Luther Kings or the Malcom Xs of the world, but the ones who grew up right here in Lubbock and made a difference.

“Being around people like Quincy Write or Mrs. Ruby Write. Being around people like Dr. Hill and Mrs. Stephanie Hill. Being around people like Mrs. Rose Wilson or Mr. TJ Patterson. Those people played such an influence in my life,” Dial said. “Not by always talkin’, by just seeing their actions, seeing what they’re doing in the community.”

Dial believes keeping their work going will create a domino effect that will impact more than just Lubbock.

“If we can fix our community we can fix the city,” Dial said. “If we can fix the city, we can fix the state. If we can fix the state, we can fix the nation.”

Dial says he wouldn’t be who he is without the neighborhood he grew up in or the people who mentored him.

“I don’t think I would be the man I am today without the community I grew up in,”Dial said. “Without East Lubbock.”

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