Richard O. Jones

If Harriet Tubman was alive today, she might make the following statement: "There would be more African American scholars today if we could convince them that they are geniuses."

When I look at popular culture today, I recognize the damage. I recognize that there's an entire society of young men convinced that they were meant to be gangsters and thieves. There's an entire culture of females that proudly wear the title of sluts and behave accordingly. If only they could be convinced that they are geniuses and perhaps from the same slave history and racist obstacles as Condoleezza Rice, Gwen Ifill, and Oprah Winfrey. While Ms Rice studied Law, Ms Winfrey and Ms Ifill studied Journalism (Ifill is a TV moderator for Washington Week in Review). Neither woman was overpowered by the calls of the popular culture of their time. And there are hundreds of thousands more African American males and females who did not allow society to asphyxiate the genius inside of them.

During an era when Black people were barely allowed in school, except to sweep the floor, W.E. B. DuBois earned a PhD from Harvard University. Senator Barack Obama and Black Enterprise Magazine founder and publisher Earl Graves are descendants and recipients of the same racist barriers that many African Americans use as an excuse for failure. They too were called by the popular culture of their day. They too could've dropped out of school or sought a rock & roll band as an escape. But the genius in them fought to breathe and refused to be asphyxiated by negativity or mediocre existence.

Over many years, I have discovered that Black people are resilient and can overcome any obstacle; God knows that every conceivable obstacle has been hurled our way. Unfortunately, now that we have overcome a great deal of the negativity from outside forces, we're being attacked from within our minds. Somehow society and history has convinced many that the world of higher learning is not compatible with being Black. It's not cool to earn Masters Degrees, and PhDs.

Believe it or not, in many cases the way a young person dresses and wears their hair is the compass of their mindset and direction. Males wearing sagging pants are not the sign of genius, neither are young females with bright colorful hair extension in middle or high school. More focus is put on temporarily feeling great than permanently being great.

Every responsible professional African American with a college degree, with the best interest of our youth future at heart, should consider developing a program to mentor and encourage several young students. Help awaken the genius.

The Literary Soul Food Café www.literarysoulfoodcafe.com has a free writing program to assist youth interested in developing their poetry and literary skills. Writing is a craft that requires research, and research has been known to open the eyes of reality.

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