"What a terrible thing it is to have lost one’s mind. Or not to have a mind at all. How true is that.”
J. Danforth Quayle, the 44th Vice President of the United States shared this in a speech on May 9, 1989 to the United Negro College Fund Convention.
Monday, Jan. 26, 2009 was the first day of the new semester for the Skills Center tutorial staff.
A handful of folks off-boarded the 72R at the Bus Transfer Center.
Today would become a flashback of the troubling times and racist, homophobic hysteria of the 1950s and 1960s. Suddenly, a loud, brash, piercing female voiced barked, “Get your gay black ass up the road!” A high-pitched male voice ahead of me rapidly replied, “I may be gay and black, but you’ll still be ugly in the morning!”
The 6-foot-2-inch dark, young man wearing a black hoodie began walking back to possibly confront this homophobic heifer.
I immediately intercepted him by blocking his access path and asked, “Young man, are you a student on your way to class today?”
He recognized me and relaxed before answering, “Yes, I am.”
I replied, “Then my best suggestion is to turn around and get on with your academic business. You are here to get the best education possible. Keep that as your primary focus. Don’t choose to be a victim. Be a victor. Do not allow anyone to poison your joy! If you are black and gay, so what? Who cares what she thinks or believes?”
Always remember that homophobia is simply a combination of fear, ignorance and lack of or limited exposure to cultural diversity. And if you add an ounce or two of stupidity it increases the bigotry quotient.
He smiled, thanked me and turned to continue on his original path.
During the last six decades, history has recorded an inordinate number of young men of color as dead or incarcerated because they choose “to give the power away.”
Being a young male of color does not usually enhance your social situational status when it involves contact with the various so-called criminal justice agencies. It is not an uncalculated nor ironic legal blunder that black folks are about 10 percent of the general population and more than 40 percent of the incarcerated inmates in the U.S.A.
According to a 2002 report by the Justice Policy Institute, the number of black men in prison has grown to five times the rate it was 20 years ago. Today, more African-American men are in jail than in college. In 2000, there were 791,600 black men in prison and 603,032 enrolled in college. In 1980, there were 143,000 black men in prison and 463,700 enrolled in college. So there is a very fine, sociological and socioeconomic line between jail and Yale.
Our lot in life is usually measured according to time, situation and action. Progress and success are achieved by taking advantage of the daily gifts, blessings and opportunities which became available. Education is one of those gifts of life.
Education has always been a priority in my family. Our grandparents always reminded us, “Education is a blessing and a precious gift especially for people of color.”
Many students may not be aware of the following historically documented facts, but less than 75 years ago it was against the law in at least 10 states in the U.S. to teach people of color to read, write and count in the public school systems or colleges.
Internet articles and research recall those violence-filled days of the 1950s and 1960s. I still remember crying as I watched the television news segment involving civil rights activists attempting to advocate for racial equality in southern schools and having fire hoses turned on them or police dogs set on them.
Your keys to academic and social survival are diligence, patience, love, respect, compassion, tolerance, gratitude and acceptance.
Learn to ignore, work around, neutralize or eliminate any and all toxic people in your life.
If anyone calls you a derogatory name, do not dignify the name by calling with a response.
Just take your ass to class.
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High road starts with education
Published: Tuesday, May 5, 2009
Updated: Tuesday, May 5, 2009
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