"Nolan Xavier Wells never made it home on the 4th of July. Let me tell you why this hit me personally. When I was a kid, I lived next to a cornfield in Missouri for about eight years. I had three friends, Eric, Al, and Xavier. Eric and Al were white, Xavier was black. Eric and Al and I did a lot of silly kid things together, playing chicken in the streets with our 10-speed bikes, playing war with our BB guns in the cornfield. As a black kid in a white community, I wanted to hang out more with Xavier, the only other black guy, but he lived farther away. Then one day, Xavier moved to Texas, and I never saw him again. I think that's why I felt a personal sense of loss when I heard the news about Nolan Xavier Wells. He was 18 years old, a wide receiver at Southwest Mississippi Community College, weeks away from his 19th birthday. On the 4th of July, he took a boat trip with friends to Horn Island off the Mississippi Gulf Coast. The friends came back. Nolan never did. Two days later, a park ranger found his body in the water off the island. Nolan didn't do anything wrong by hanging out with a group of white friends. I did the same thing when I was a kid. But if you go on a trip, there's one major rule. If we come together, we leave together, or at least we know where you are before we do leave. There's a lot of rumors and innuendo flying around, so it's hard to know what to believe, but we do know this, that Nolan's phone was found away from him on the boat, so he couldn't be reached. Investigators are looking at a video circulating online, but they've not yet confirmed its authenticity or connection to the case. And Sheriff John Ledbetter says that there's no sign of foul play so far. But we can't forget that this is happening in Mississippi. An autopsy has been conducted. The family has hired attorney Ben Crump, and they're demanding a thorough and transparent investigation. Nolan's loved ones are grieving, and his family has asked for privacy. I have no idea how this story will play out, but I keep coming back to the one thing I do know. Friends don't let friends disappear on a trip."