Kimani Brown-Carpenter
Hometown Hero
story by JENNIFER BROWN-CARPENTER photos by CHARLOTTE BERKELEY
Harriet Tubman. Sojourner Truth. Frederick Douglass. Martin Luther King Jr. Malcolm X. Rosa Parks. These are household names, heroes of Black culture. They are men and women who became heroes by doing little things, standing up for what they believed was right, and making a difference one day at a time. Those little things led to big things, creating change on a national and sometimes even a worldwide level. Doing the little things, staying behind the scenes, can be tiring, thankless, and often remain unseen. And Kimani Brown-Carpenter has always been okay with that.
Kimani was born at Beaufort Memorial Hospital in January 1994. He was raised on St. Helena Island by his mom, Shon, and his stepdaddy, Benjamin, who has been part of his life since he was two years old. His biological father, Ubrazine, was a Drill Instructor at Parris Island when he was born. Kimani was raised with four of his ten siblings: his older sister, Kentura, and his three younger brothers, Ben, Brodrick, and Brenden. “Life was simple. We always had what we needed, the basic necessities.” He spent most of his childhood playing by the riverbank behind his house, swimming in the river with his dog, Spike, and riding bikes down Oaks Plantation Road with his siblings.
Kimani grew up in the church. His granddaddy, Benjamin Glover, was a pastor at Grace and Truth Gospel Chapel on St. Helena, and his daddy, Benjamin, took over the pastoral role once his granddaddy retired. “If the church doors were open, we were there.” Kimani accepted the gift of salvation when he was eight years old and has been living for Jesus ever since. It is one of the first things you will learn about him when you meet him. He exhibits contagious joy, and he will be the first to tell you gladly that it is because of Jesus.
Kimani attended St. Helena Elementary School from kindergarten to 2nd grade and then transferred to Lady’s Island Elementary. He attended Lady’s Island Middle School 6th through 8th grade and finished out his education at Beaufort High School. He graduated in 2013. Many teachers showed him how much they cared about his education as a black male in America. “All of my history teachers were black, and because of that, they spoke a lot about slavery and civil rights and the struggles of being black in America. But they also shared the triumphs we have seen over the years.”
Kimani played football growing up. He loved the sport. It was a way to be a part of a team and was a healthy outlet. He loved the brotherhood provided through his teammates and is still friends with many of them today. He grew up not knowing any difference from his friends. He just noticed his skin color was darker. When he was 14 or 15, he started to understand what it meant to be black while walking the high school halls. “I started to pick up on the comments in school. The black kids would tell me that I sounded white or acted white. I realized that there was a cultural and social difference between the two races.” At around the same age, he learned that he had great-great-grandparents who were slaves on St. Helena Island. It made him sad, but also thankful that he is alive today, and we have come so far.
Because Beaufort is a military town, there are always new ideas and people coming and going. “People in the military have a good understanding of what it is to be equal. To have that understanding spread throughout Beaufort is cool to see.”
Beaufort is also home to deep Southern roots. Things are changing, and doors are being opened. Practically, Kimani thinks the most basic place to start is not judging a book by its cover. He was an electrician for a few years and had zero electrical experience before being hired for the job. Instead of writing him off, his boss trained him. “It is as simple as that: not judging people based on what they know or how they look. Give them a chance, and be willing to teach, and they should be willing to learn. Don’t view other people as the enemy. The Gospel, in its totality, is the best and only way forward. We have to share the Gospel to move toward complete unity. We have to do the hard work together.” More voices are willing to have conversations and fight for change, and the next generation has more of an awareness. They want to fight for change, and Kimani believes they can create it.
On January 16, 2015, Kimani met his now wife, Jennifer, at Common Ground Coffee House. It was their very first open mic night. She made the first move, offering him her hand. They shook, exchanged names, and the rest is more or less history. They got engaged downtown on February 11, 2017, and were married seven months later on September 30. Their first baby boy, Kimani or “K2,” was born on May 21, 2018, and his baby brother, Malachi, was born on April 30, 2020. “Through the ups and downs of the last few years, one thing has remained true: Kimani is an amazing husband and an even better father.”
Kimani is a part-time PE teacher at Holy Trinity Classical Christian School (HTCCS). He teaches pre-k and lower school PE, and loves the kids there. “Kimani teaches with joy and delight. His godly leadership is a blessing to our students, and we are so grateful to have him on our staff,” says Lori Hinson, the lower school principal at HTCCS. Kimani is also on the Young Life staff, working part-time to reach the Battery Creek High School kids. He spends his days teaching PE, getting coffee with kids, attending meetings and events, and having weekly Bible studies with kids from Battery Creek HS. Andrew Lancaster, the Young Life area director, told me, “What Young Life kids and the Young Life community love about Kimani is that he doesn’t take himself too seriously. He is confident in who the Lord created him to be and can laugh at himself. He has the rare ability to lighten up a room with his soft smile and laughter. God’s joy is displayed through him and how he lives his life.”
Kimani would be happy to remain in the background, but everyone who knows and loves him wants him to be celebrated. In his 27 years of being alive, he has touched so many lives and continues to make a difference. His wife and kids think he hung the moon, and even if he didn’t, he must have come pretty close.
