Who Is Stephen Blackwood?

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Stephen Blackwood convinced Clint McCance to step down from board

Amanda Terrebonne -- 19 hrs ago


Wednesday night, a Midland school board member resigned on CNN, after many cries across the nation for him to step down over an anti-gay Facebook post he made.

"All I can do now is apologize for my poor speech," says Clint McCance during a Thursday interview with CNN's Anderson Cooper.

The apology was heard around the world. Also in the room another man, Steven Blackwood, who Cooper spoke with only briefly.

Many not knowing Blackwood put the whole thing in motion after seeing McCance's anti-gay rants on Facebook.

"I've just got to find him," says Blackwood, addressing Anderson Cooper.

Not knowing McCance, let alone anybody in Pleasant Plains-- he headed north from Little Rock.

His first stop the Superintendent's office. "They said to me, well we'll give them the number and I said gentleman that will be fine and I appreciate that, but that's not going to be enough because this man is in danger," says Blackwood.

A danger McCance was obviously aware of, saying McCance showed up holding a pistol when the two first met in a park outside pleasant plains.

"He said man I don't know you, I'm scared. I'm getting threats and having to send my family out of town," says Blackwood referring to McCance.

Blackwood says apologizing didn't seem like the issue for McCance.

"There was no pride problem in him coming forward." Blackwood says it was letting go of his school board position.

He told McCance, the apology meant nothing, without the resignation.

So why would Blackwood even come forward in the first place?
Turns out his 19-year-old son Alex committed suicide two years ago this month.

"For whatever reason he couldn't find enough hope to keep it going." Blackwood says he wasn't bullied but just depressed--
and felt he had no where to go,

He now makes it his mission to help other's through the Alex Blackwood Foundation for Hope.

A foundation he says is about stopping suicide, and replacing ignorance with the truth. For more on suicide prevention, visit the Alex Blackwood Foundation for Hope website.

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The Alex Blackwood Foundation for Hope started in 2008 in Little Rock, Arkansas. Its mission is to promote collaboration for Suicide Awareness and prevention. Steven Blackwood is the President and inspiration for the formation of the foundation, which was brought to fruition by Connie Hill and her family. As a survivor of suicide, Mr. Blackwood lost his only son Alex in 2008 at age 19. Quickly realizing how important it is to break the cycle and the silence of depression and suicide, he passionately began forming the ABF. With an understanding of the risks of depression leading to suicide, the foundation has rooted itself as a new source for delivering a message of HOPE. Depression is treatable, and suicide is preventable.

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