ALL BLACK
While I was in Atlanta doing a workshop at a community development conference this week, I got a chance to visit a former student of mine, who is currently a freshman at Morehouse College. I am so proud of this guy, Mike. He's taken all of his entrepreneurial gusto and applied it with full force to his college life. He's organizing major social events, building his rolodex of contacts, and angling to submit a proposal for a retail location on campus where he wants to open a music store. It was quite rewarding for me to hear him speak highly of his experience in our program, and of how skills he learned there have been useful to his educational and professional development.
Morehouse borders two other historically black colleges, Clark Atlanta and Spelman. While I was in town, there was a major furor over the new governor seeking to bring back Georgia's old state flag, which has Confederate ties and which had been replaced by the previous governor in the name of progress. The new governor was elected largely because of the support of those who liked the old flag (and the old ways), and apparently is giving into their pressure to bring that despicable image back. Businesspeople, particularly in Atlanta, a huge convention town, as well as the black community, have been in an uproar over the symbolism and the potential boycotting of the state by conventioneers and businesses.
I asked Mike why he decided to attend an all-black school. He told me he just wanted to have a little time where he was in the majority. It gave me another perspective on the phenomenon in this country of "living while black." Catchphrases like "assimilation," "color-blind," and "merit-based" sound good, but are an affront to our nation's shameful past and racist present. I don't blame Mike for wishing for a pocket of normalcy in a sea of injustice.
I don't know what it's going to take for our nation to overcome its sinful history and current inequities. But I'm not expected to know how to fix myself if I am feeling searing pain in my stomach. I am expected to make it to the hospital. Our country is seared with the pain of prejudice; are we aware enough to get to the hospital?
While I was in Atlanta doing a workshop at a community development conference this week, I got a chance to visit a former student of mine, who is currently a freshman at Morehouse College. I am so proud of this guy, Mike. He's taken all of his entrepreneurial gusto and applied it with full force to his college life. He's organizing major social events, building his rolodex of contacts, and angling to submit a proposal for a retail location on campus where he wants to open a music store. It was quite rewarding for me to hear him speak highly of his experience in our program, and of how skills he learned there have been useful to his educational and professional development.
Morehouse borders two other historically black colleges, Clark Atlanta and Spelman. While I was in town, there was a major furor over the new governor seeking to bring back Georgia's old state flag, which has Confederate ties and which had been replaced by the previous governor in the name of progress. The new governor was elected largely because of the support of those who liked the old flag (and the old ways), and apparently is giving into their pressure to bring that despicable image back. Businesspeople, particularly in Atlanta, a huge convention town, as well as the black community, have been in an uproar over the symbolism and the potential boycotting of the state by conventioneers and businesses.
I asked Mike why he decided to attend an all-black school. He told me he just wanted to have a little time where he was in the majority. It gave me another perspective on the phenomenon in this country of "living while black." Catchphrases like "assimilation," "color-blind," and "merit-based" sound good, but are an affront to our nation's shameful past and racist present. I don't blame Mike for wishing for a pocket of normalcy in a sea of injustice.
I don't know what it's going to take for our nation to overcome its sinful history and current inequities. But I'm not expected to know how to fix myself if I am feeling searing pain in my stomach. I am expected to make it to the hospital. Our country is seared with the pain of prejudice; are we aware enough to get to the hospital?
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