Miami activist and businessman Daniel Agnew mourned and celebrated by community

Theresa Agnew had been asked a lot about what sparked her son Daniel Agnew’s social activism. So at Daniel’s celebration of life service on Monday, she gave a reason: reading.

“The books were about African American history and also African history dating back to the Bible,” Theresa said to the crowd. “For the most part, we don’t know who we truly are but as I dug and began to share, it was something that resonated with Danny. He was just in there and he really needed to get out and do something and not just talk about our situation, our problems. He felt the need to be a part of the solution.”

Friends and family gathered Monday afternoon at New Jerusalem Primitive Baptist Church in Miami to honor the life of Daniel “Danny” Agnew. An activist and co-founder of the Roots Collective, Agnew passed away June 15 in a car crash at the age of 34.

The celebration of life service brought out hundreds from Miami and beyond who laughed, cried and, at times, raised a fist in solidarity with Agnew’s work. A mix of artists, activists, elected officials, entrepreneurs and community members sat side by side, a testament to just how many lives Agnew touched.

“He checked in on a lot of people, he tapped in with a lot of people and helped them to move and stay afloat,” Daniel’s older brother Phil Agnew said in an interview.

Through Roots Collective and his work with other organizations, Agnew brought Black Miami together. His love for Black people was a point reiterated throughout Monday’s service as was his commitment to fighting for them, both in words and actions.

“People can’t pay me to switch up my passion,” Agnew told the Miami Herald in March 2022. “This is what I live for: helping people, building out the base and continuing to create a family within South Florida.”

“We were meant to be a bridge to bring two different worlds together and allow two different worlds see each other,” Roots Collective co-founder and friend Isaiah Thomas told the audience. “If we went to a big social justice event, we’d be sitting back like ‘We’re missing the hood.’”

Developing the social consciousness of neglected Black communities was at the heart of Agnew’s work. That desire dates back to his days growing up on the Southside of Chicago. The second youngest of four brothers, Agnew was born March 23, 1989 in Blue Island, Ill. to Barney and Theresa Agnew.

At a very young age, Agnew’s entrepreneurial spirit began to take shape. His father, Barney, had a book business that took the patriarch to estate sales, thrift stores and a whole host of other places in search of best novels to sell.

“That’s definitely where Daniel got his entrepreneurial spirit from,” Phil said.

Agnew’s life, however, wasn’t easy. As a teenager, he got arrested and landed in a correctional boys boot camp. The experience didn’t deter him from his purpose – it only gave him a better understanding of the people that organizers need to reach.

In 2012, Agnew’s passion for activism ignited after he and Phil moved to Miami following the killing of Trayvon Martin. The brothers would be instrumental in co-founding Dream Defenders, a social justice organization that spent 31 days in the Florida Capitol to demand gun reform following the acquittal of Martin’s killer, George Zimmerman. In December of 2012, Agnew met Thomas, forming a brotherhood that would eventually birth Roots Collective.

“Danny came up with the name ‘Roots,’ the logo, the symbols,” Thomas said in an interview. “Danny started Roots. He would always put co-founder because we were there but Danny started Roots.”

A multi-dimensional organization committed to the economic growth of the Black community, Roots Collective has had many forms since its inception in 2015. It has been a lifeline for Black businesses with the Black Marketplace. It has been an after school program. It has been a summer camp. It has been an apparel brand with clothes centered around Black empowerment. It has even been an event space with the Roots Blackhouse hosting many a parties over the years in the heart of Liberty City.

“We believed in balance,” Thomas said. “We gone have fun. And if we can make some money having fun throwing our own party, let’s do it. Throwing a party is organizing. To get people to come to your event once a month or every week, you’re a great organizer. That was a way for us to bridge Black culture. To bridge activism culture with the streets.”

As Roots began to grow, Agnew would use the organization to further address the needs of Black Miami. With the pandemic in full swing in 2020, he and Sherina Jones would start the Village Free(dge) to feed homeless people and struggling families. That’s why Phil can’t help but call his younger brother a “visionary.”

“My brother built himself from the muck and mud of West Englewood, Chicago,” Phil said to the crowd. “He built himself up from the jail cell. My brother was a warrior. My brother was a lover. He had a bigger heart than any of us. His capacity to love and care for other people is one of renown.”

Phil then ended his eulogy by telling everyone in attendance to carry on Daniel’s legacy.

“We owe it to my brother,” Phil concluded. “We owe to the warrior. We owe to the visionary. We owe to the artist. We owe to the lover to do everything we can. Pick up that pen. Pick up that paint brush. Do whatever you got to do but do not stop and complete the mission.”