He saw the ghost of his racist grandfather. It helped lead to meaningful healing

https://www.npr.org/2023/06/18/ [login to see] /john-blake-cnn-racism-family-baltimore-book
"I'm pretty sure I don't believe in ghosts. Now, I say pretty sure because there is part of me that doesn't want to rule out the possibility.

I have heard others talk about this period of time after a person dies, when their soul or their spirit hasn't settled into whatever comes next, and that person's essence feels close. I have felt that, for sure.

Right after my mom died, she was in my dreams a lot. It felt so real that I would wake up thinking she was alive, and then I had to go through a muted form of grief all over again when I realized it was a dream.

Then there's the way my parents' favorite songs have come to me. I remember the first time I went into a grocery store after my mom died. They were playing, "I Just Called to Say I Love you," by Stevie Wonder – she would sing that song all the time. And when I drove from my father's funeral back to my hotel a couple years ago, the song on the radio was "American Pie," by Don McLean. Whenever my dad sang that song, you knew he was in a good mood".