Soraya Mathias Blog

Jaw-dropping statistics lead many of us to believe that the above statement rings true for all African American males. Education is not anywhere near the top of their list of priorities or even if it is apart of their lists at all. With high school dropout rates continuing to remain high and with sisters steadily out numbering them on college campuses, one would think there is no need to speak of Black men achieving at higher educational levels.

“School and Black men just don’t mix” is the thought that many people have grown to believe.

That may be true for some Black men but it was men like W.E.B. DuBois who put that theory up for question.

On February 23, 1868, William Edward Burghardt DuBois was born in the cold state of Massachusetts and unlike most African Americans at that time, DuBois didn’t experience the harsh racism that other Black people did as his family was accepted in the community. DuBois took advantage of his unusual situation, focusing on the one thing that he had full control over…His mind.

Not only did he attend college but he took his pursuit of higher education a step further and became the first African American to earn a doctorate degree from the prestigious Harvard University, the same institution that President Obama graduated from with a degree in law.

With all of the education that he received, W.E.B. DuBois decided that it was time he took on the teacher role becoming a professor at Atlanta University. Academics were of extreme importance to him but he never stopped fighting for the rights of African Americans, co-founding the NAACP and leading the Niagara Movement.

Numbers don’t lie and stats are straightforward. But they don’t solely determine the future of our young Black men. What will become of them is not based on these things alone. It all comes down to their determination, self drive to make something of yourself and become anything but the stereotype.

Are the odds against Black men excelling when it comes to education? Yes.

But are there those who defy the ignorance that is attached to our race? Yes.

DuBois did.

And so have the many educated brothers that have followed in his footsteps.

So much can be said about the late Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. His powerful speeches have been recited and replayed years after their deliveries, having the same impact on people that they had initially. And his extreme determination to create tranquility amongst people of all racial backgrounds, striving for equality for all mankind has never been overlooked. There is no doubt that Dr. King had a special gift that he continued to use up until his death in 1968.

Although he did not live a long life, the accomplishments of Dr. King were of such magnitude that we dedicate a day to him and what he did for our race.

MLK Day is used as a day to revisit the past and how Dr. King and other civil rights leaders came together to fight for a worthy cause, one that affected our well being tremendously.

As we celebrated MLK Day in various ways though, did you think to yourself: Can we really say that the dream that King had is now a reality?

“Dr. King was a visionary. He thought on levels that many of his peers did not, especially when it came to forming relationships with people of other races. To this day, some of us don’t necessarily believe in some of the things that he preached about but I feel as though what he was striving for was so positive and beneficial to our generation. As far as his dream actually coming true, I think we have made progress but we still have a long way to go”

Arianna B.
Age: 33
Boston, MA

“I believe that the dream is slowly becoming a reality. The election of President Obama led me to say that. What people need to keep in mind though is that his election didn’t 100% solidify progress for Black people as a whole. That’s why I used the word “slowly””

Troy W.
Age: 38
Portland, OR

“I don’t think the Dr. King’s vision has been fully brought to life for many reasons. Yes, we as African Americans have way more opportunities than we once had back in the day. We have better job opportunities now, we are able to receive higher forms of education and we are becoming president of the United States. But despite all those great things, we are still very much prejudged merely because of the color of our skin and are not granted the same things that other races are without having to work extra hard for them. As wonderful as his vision was, there will always be some things that we can’t change”

Maliyah D.
Age: 19
Milwaukee, WI

“Honestly, I think that Dr. King’s dream has been disrupted by the very ones that he was standing up for, African Americans. He wanted us all to live in peace and harmony, love one another. Are we doing that now though? Black on black crime continues to skyrocket and we don’t shy away from an opportunity to tear one another down. King spoke strongly on educational advancement for African Americans yet we are dropping out of high school left and right. Is it me or is something very wrong with this picture?”

Roderick R.
Age: 24
Atlanta, GA

Have we forgotten the struggle?

Or is King’s dream still in the process of being reached?

New educational program using Hip-Hop lyrics angers teachers in Oklahoma.

By: Taren Vaughan

Teaching kids the valuable information that they need to be successful is not an easy job to conquer. And it has become a much more difficult task to master in this day and age. With the emergence of social networks like Twitter and Facebook, picking up a book to read for fun has become a thing of the past for most students. Their main source of entertainment comes from watching those “informative” music videos and reality TV shows that keep them glued to the screen for hours on end. And in turn, the result of that is a lack of desire to learn anything school related. So what is the obvious solution to this problem? Come up with a program that involves lyrics.

The Oklahoma City Public School System is attempting to incorporate an educational program that involves using Hip-Hop and Rap as a way to reach youth who are not performing well in school. As this may seem like a good idea, the choice of words for the songs are not highly favored:





“Andrew Jackson thinks he's a tough guy. Killing more Indians than there are stars in the sky. Evil wars of Florida killing the Seminoles. Saying hello, putting Creek in the hell holes. Like Adolf Hitler he had the final solution. 'No, Indians, I don't want you to live here anymore.”

So former President Jackson is comparable to a man who had no moral or compassionate bone in his body? Let me not leave out the one portion of the song where our Founding Fathers were referred to as “Old Dead White Men”. With lyrics like these, exactly how could this be considered a teachable moment? Sounds more like a bash session to me.

As one would expect, this new "educational phenomenon" has not went over well with a number of people, a good amount of them being actual teachers. I don’t really know how successful a program can be when the ones who are supposed to be teaching it aren’t even impressed with it. Despite their initial disapproval, CEO and co-founder of Flocabulary Alex Rappaport assured educators that the songs “are meant to be the beginning of the discussion, not the end.” If healthy debate is what Rappaport is hoping for from this program, chances are that won’t happen. Granted our country’s past is far from perfect picture. And there are things about it that may anger or upset students. But using these kinds of lyrics to deliver a message will do nothing but lead students to form negative opinions with only bits and pieces of information. And that can backfire tremendously.

It can be challenging to feed kids knowledge in a way that they will enjoy the material, most importantly understand it, especially those who are considered at-risk. But do we really have to resort to these types of tactics?

The purpose behind Flocabulary and other programs of similar background is a positive one. Like any other educational program, the creators are striving to help students learn and make the best of their time in school. One could even go on to say that using song lyrics was not a horrible idea either seeing as though Hip-Hop and Rap are and always have been a huge part of our culture. That is not at all where the problem lies. It’s all about the way in which you present the information. And to be quite honest, Flocabulary and programs similar can have a tendency to be extremely offensive at times. Nice try Mr. Rappaport. But I think we may just need to stick to the basics.

Source: Fox News

Black college men are often victimized by their non-collegiate environment.

By: Angela Allen

A s a young black woman, the success of my fellow young black brothers is very dear to me. I attend one of the most historic and influential institutions of higher learning in the United States, North Carolina Agricultural & Technical State University. Our institution, along with many other historically black colleges and universities, stand for ideals that reflect integrity, success, eagerness for education, and the production of individuals that inspire, advocate and produce progress and change within our society.

While these ideals continue to stand true, they seem to be diminishing slowly right in front of my eyes. I have unfortunately witnessed the murders of fellow classmates too often during my tenure at A&T. These murders, tragically, have reflected a growing trend: the murder of the young college black man.

Within the past three years, the deaths of A&T students Ivan Coulton, Dennis Hayle, and Derek Hodge, along with other college incidents within the Greensboro and Winston Salem area, have many wondering why so many young men produced from these great institutions, are getting involved in altercations that continuously result in intentional and unnecessary death.

“This issue needs to be looked at in regards to changing the mindset and instilling values in the black man within the college campus,” says Whitney McCoy, 2009-2010 Student Government Association President of Winston Salem State University. “I think that it also has a lot to do with people that surround our communities. For example, mingling with the locals who don’t have the same mindset that college students do.”

Most HBCU campuses were founded and built within black communities long ago, that were once thriving with black-owned businesses, and unified by the moral and social challenges against African-Americans. Unfortunately, a lot of these communities have slowly dwindled due to illegal drug abuse and trafficking, which has promoted black-on-black crime.

Since most HBCU campuses lack gated perimeters around their campuses, community locals are granted access to interacting with students, more so than predominately white colleges and Universities. This lack of campus seclusion may lead to HBCU students exposing themselves to a party life involving community citizens prone to violent behavior, illegal drug use, and in the worst case, fatal out bursts. This was the case for Hayle, who was tragically murdered after leaving a party in early 2009.

“It is really heartbreaking.This is their chance for a better life,” says Dominique Donaldson, A&T Alumni and founder of the Dennis Hayle Scholarship. “I had to go through counseling until the day that I graduated to cope with his death. Working so hard with starting the scholarship has helped me to heal. You have to give back to the community and give kids from broken homes someone to look up to while they are young. You have to let them know that you can’t get too emotional about situations..it may end your life.”

“We’re doing what we can based on the circumstances. It’s not just about Dennis Hayle, it’s about everyone,” says Wayne Kimball, Jr., Current SGA President at North Carolina A&T State University. “We have to make sure that we are advocating for non violence and holding our law enforcement accountable for doing all that they can do. This issue needs to be addressed more so as a society versus just as a university. We can have fun, but we need to make sure that it is with the right crowd and avoid negative influences.”

The death of Coulton, in May of this year, can also be associated with those same negative influences. Although these victims may not be involved with illegal drug use, the people in these environments often times are. In many cases, the use of alcohol and drugs creates an atmosphere of individuals with weapons acting on impulsive feelings of anger and revenge, leading to fatality.

“Today’s fights seem to favor the coward holding the gun, not the courageous soul facing it,” says A&T student Malcolm Eustache, in a recent Greensboro News & Record editorial on Coulton’s tragic death. “The pressure of society’s barbaric assertions of masculinity has served as a psychological gun for impressionable young folks to mishandle.”

It is disheartening to think of how the founders of HBCUs would feel if they were here to witness that mishandling. It has been said that black men are becoming an endangered species. This is sadly becoming the case for many young black men at HBCUs. Campus status does not exempt you from this unfortunate reality. But making the choice between being involved in negatively influenced atmospheres and rising above your circumstance, can.