Emores Petty

Sons of Liberty Coffee

by

Receiving the Nobel Peace Prize might seem a lofty ambition to some, but for Emores (pronounced ee-more-us) Petty — someone you might see wearing a “More Love” shirt behind the counter at Sons of Liberty Coffee — the idea doesn’t appear all that far-fetched.

When we first started chatting about his passion for freestyle BMX — that form of bike riding that includes half-pipes, grind rails and gravity-defying trickery (search the sport on YouTube and prepare to make some “what the hell was that”-type exclamations) — it opened the door for him to speak of his true passion: helping others. Midway through our conversation, he paused in the middle of a statement to say he hadn’t yet told me what his real skill is: suicide prevention. 

Before moving to Fort Worth just a few months ago, Emores worked at Sources of Strength in Denver, where he traveled around the country doing workshops on hope, help, strength and resiliency. And, he continues to do training with the Colorado-based suicide prevention group on Saturdays.

While being fully immersed in BMX and inspiring youth, he doesn’t see these two gigs as mutually exclusive, and he’s expertly using both to spread good. Sure, he learned how to ride the hell out of a bike — something he picked up when he was 15, only to realize he was a natural at the bruising sport — but he’s not about to use this gift for the sole purpose of monetary compensation.

“I push myself and ride and compete at a high level,” Emores says. “But just to say that a company deems me a pro and that I’m getting their paycheck, I couldn’t care less. I see what I’m doing in engaging with youth and people in general, and how I’m impacting the world. I think I can use BMX as an avenue to be able to affect people and as a tool. It’s not my end-all be-all to say I’m a professional BMX rider.”

To put his life up until now (he’s 26) in a nutshell seems like a futile task — he’s an extremely loquacious man who speaks of all his experiences like one would deliver slam poetry. He struggled to fit in and experimented with drugs and alcohol in Alabama; ran away to Fort Worth; went to college to major in weed and girls in San Antonio; dealt with racism from a friend in Denver; a whole lot in between; and has come full circle back to the Fort where his primary concern is taking care of his mom. 

His father — who died three weeks before Emores started college — has, as Emores puts it, four sets of children, and his younger brother went to prison right after he turned 18. He’s dealt with sexual abuse, depression, anxiety and suicidal thoughts, and is one of the most positive people you’d ever meet.

“Growing up, my mom always told us, ‘You got a heavenly father that’s bigger and better than any earthly father you could ever have,’” Emores says.“‘Always remember, you’ve always got somebody that’s there with you.’ And that was powerful, and it was something I always kept.”

One could easily go on an hours-long soliloquy about his time in Ashland, Oregon, where he worked at a cannabis-growth facility (before its legalization) and got in a rough and tumble relationship with its owner. Or about his time in Kansas, where he briefly went to school to study the juxtaposing subjects of aviation and psychology — and accumulated 10 hours of flight time to boot. And these are just two of the several wrinkles that make up Emores, and he thanks his moral compass for keeping him on track and, eventually, bringing him back to Fort Worth.

Now working behind the counter at Sons of Liberty Coffee, Emores often wears shirts with the words “More Love” and carries pins and stickers with the same graphic. The purpose is as straightforward as one might suspect — to spread love. He came up with the idea following the 2018 school shooting in Parkland, Florida, which left 17 students dead. 

“I was like, I gotta be a voice talking about a solution in this time, so I hopped in front of my camera one day and did a quick response to the Parkland, Florida, school shooting. Everybody is talking about the problem; what I want to talk about today is love. How do we spread more love? How do we love on people? How do we impact people before we even get to a crisis mode?”

The result has bred a life of its own, and Emores hopes this viral campaign can spread worldwide. 

“Some people say, you’re crazy, you think too much or whatever. No. I believe that there are people in the world who are hurting every single day, and they need people to love them. So, I’m wondering how can I create space for so many people to love and be loved to the point where people say, ‘This guy needs a Nobel Peace Prize. He has changed the world.’”