Time magazine has named New Orleans City Councilmember Cyndi Nguyen and New Orleans Saints linebacker Demario Davis to its list of 31 "people who are changing the South."
Nguyen, who was elected to the New Orleans City Council last November and took office in May, is mentioned as the council's first Asian-American member. She is also singled out for her efforts with the New Orleans East non-profit group, VIET.
"Nguyen, who as a child immigrated from Vietnam with her parents, is the co-founder of a nonprofit that aids non-English-speaking communities in the region. She says her election shows that all kinds of people can come together in New Orleans. 'Even though I didn’t look like the majority of people, I care deeply about people in the community,'" Nguyen tells Time.
Davis, a native of south Mississippi who signed with the Saints earlier this year, is singled out by Time for his Devoted Dreamers Academy, a summer program for low-income kids in Jackson, Miss. "As a kid in Mississippi, New Orleans Saints linebacker Demario Davis didn’t pick the typical childhood role models like athletes and superheroes. Instead, Davis idolized Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X. 'I just always gravitated toward people who sacrificed for the benefit of others,'" he says in the article.
Though Time singles out Davis' work in Mississippi, the magazine also mentions a recent effort by Davis and Josh Norman of the Washington Redskins to spend $10,000 at a San Antonio Walmart on supplies for immigrant families. "In May, he and fellow Saints player Benjamin Watson wrote a letter supporting legislation to restore voting rights for some previously incarcerated Louisianans. The bill became law a few weeks later," Time writes.
The special edition also features an essay from author, New Orleans native and former Time editor Walter Isaacson on the importance of the Mississippi River. New Orleans resident, author and essayist Julia Reed also contributes to the magazine with a piece on the favorite southern restaurant, Doe's Eat Place, in her hometown of Greenville, Miss.
