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Before Yvonne Johnson died last month, she had already decided she wouldn’t run again for her at-large seat on the Greensboro City Council.
She hoped to see her son Vernon Johnson, 55, run for the seat.
“Service is the rent you pay for living on this earth,” Yvonne Johnson often said.
At 82 years old, she had spent most of her adult life in service. She participated in the Woolworth’s sit-ins against desegregation and the 1963 March on Washington. She was the first board chair of the Women’s Resource Center of Greensboro and founder of her own nonprofit, One Step Further. She spent decades on the city council, including her term as Greensboro’s first Black mayor.
It was time for her to truly retire, she reluctantly decided. But she wanted her son to carry on her work.
“We talked about it and I considered it, prayed on it, talked to my family about it,” Vernon Johnson told The Thread last week.
Shortly after his mother’s funeral, the city began taking applications for someone to finish her unexpired council term. The application process will run through January 17, with the council meeting on January 28 to hear from applicants and take a vote to appoint someone to the vacant seat.
After consulting his sister, Lisa Johnson-Tonkins, Vernon Johnson put himself forward for the position. He hopes to run for an at-large seat in his own right next year.
“I decided that yes, now is the time and I have the capacity to do this to serve Greensboro,” he said. “Which really I feel I have been doing for well over 30 years now.”
A graduate of UNC-Wilmington and N.C. A&T, Vernon Johnson has worked in education for over 30 years, first as a public middle school history teacher and now at Cornerstone Charter Academy. He’s also worked part-time for the city’s Parks & Recreation department as a lifeguard and pool manager.
“I was born in East Greensboro, I have taught in Northwest Greensboro and I live in Southeast Greensboro,” he said. “So I feel like really I can relate to people all over the city, I’ve seen the issues and I can make those connections.”
Having taught children who are now adults who stayed or returned to Greensboro has given him perspective on the city’s needs, he said.
“For me, I think the three big things are economic development, public safety, and affordable housing,” he said. “If we want the city to grow, that really has to start with the younger generations. We need the jobs and the industry to attract them. They need a safe place to live and start their careers and raise families. But they also need to be able to afford to live here.”
Too many former students have told him they’ve been priced out of buying a home in Greensboro, he said, and rising rents are leading them to look elsewhere.
Vernon Johnson won’t be alone in seeking his mother’s seat. As of last week, 32 people had applied, according to a running list obtained by The Thread.