He has lived

Eye on Alumni profiles former student Robert “Bobjohnson1word” Johnson

By Latoya Williams

How many people can say that they have had the chance to experience living two life spans in one lifetime From street corners humming with memories to the classrooms echoing with ambitions, from the glow of newsrooms to the quiet cavities of city hall. Robert “Bob” Johnson is a name that travels around Saginaw.

Johnson has gone from doing what he had to survive the city streets as a young Black man to moving into his own personal office as the Director of Public Relations for Saginaw Public School in the marketing and communication department.

To meet him is to feel something raw, something unfiltered. He carries the weight of his two lifetimes proudly and well. He is a man molded by the city’s grit yet softened by its grace that he learned evolving beyond his difficult start as an adult.

The choices Johnson made at the start of adulthood brought him to his lowest point. When his peers were frustrated with their action, he took a hard look at himself.

“I was sitting around with other people in trouble,” he said “I was watching all the other people blame everything except for what they did to cause them to be in the situation they were in. It was right at that moment that I was like, I gotta do something. This ain’t cool.”

When attending a Delta graduation for a friend, Johnson felt this was the way to get him away from that. Johnson started at Delta working toward a degree in Digital Communication, and would receive a degree in 2010.

His fifteen-year career at MLive really started in the Collegiate newsroom. Johnson recounted a memory about an infamous comic strip that appeared in the paper, which received a ton of negative press in the region. “Everyone wants to know why Delta students were participating in such controversial activities.”

After he earned his degree, Johnson made his way to MLive and worked his way through the ranks. Throughout his time with the publication he was promoted to editor for both the Saginaw and Bay City, which highlighted that not only could he do more than write, he could lead.

During his career as a journalist, he received many awards; the one he values the most? The Associated Press Media Editors award.

From there he decided just writing about the stories was not enough, he wanted to actually touch and change lives, so he began working with the city’s youth as the gang diversion manager.

He helped 22 young gang members from different gangs all across the city transform their lives from crime to citizens. With Johnson’s help those former gang members received certifications in the construction field while participating in community service projects.

His work with the youth led him to start his non-profit organization called “Communities Working 2gether” that Johnson managed and operated for 15 years, being the bridge that separated people from services and information in the community.

Johnson now lives a meaningful life full of purpose that includes traveling abroad, spending time with his family and serving the community that actually gave him a fresh start in life.

If he could whisper to his younger self something that he currently knows, he would say: “Don’t let fear hold you back.” “Question everything!” Life taught him how lies can masquerade as limitations and “BobJohnson1word” does not allow room for that.

To Johnson, everyone and anyone is his teacher ranging from colleagues to grandchildren. Wisdom, he believes, is not reserved for the old or the titled; it lives in every voice that dares to speak their truth. Johnson became the true meaning of something from nothing, being highly intelligent, multifaceted and a huge humanitarian. He is proof that greatness does not always announce itself large and loud; sometimes it arrives quietly, in a small package with a thunderous heart.