BMORENEWS.com

BMORENEWS publisher Doni Glover and Morehouse College President Robert M. Franklin

(BALTIMORE - November 20, 2008) - I had the distinct pleasure of meeting and hearing Morehouse College President Robert M. Franklin at the Reginald F. Lewis Museum of African American Culture yesterday. To say the least, the entire experience was a reminder as to why I began my collegiate career at that historical black college in Atlanta. As beautiful as our Spelman sisters were and are, it was this hunger for knowledge that most pleased my soul.

Not attempting to imitate any great speaker, Dr. Franklin’s eloquence, citations and mastery of his subject matter were simply so evident – a child could have seen it.

He spoke about the night that President-elect Barack Obama won the presidency and of the atmospheric hype and excitement that filled the Atlanta University complex.

He spoke about the need for education and how the young people – more detached from the vestiges of painful historical memories – are indeed the hope of the future.

He spoke about the need for academic achievement, moral character and values in our most challenging of moments, as well as the need for healing in both the black community and America overall.

In all of this, what was most memorable was his ability to give intelligent, thoughtful responses at the drop of a dime on everything from the economy to the need to support Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCU’s) to class to race to character to male-female relationships.

He, in fact, is a reminder – with all due respect to all of the black schools out there – why I first chose – at the urging of my high school counselors - to attend Morehouse. It was a vivid reminder of the three semesters I was blessed to be at – in my mind – the greatest institution on the planet with some of the greatest minds I have ever known. Morehouse students like Adam Scott, Leo Hyman and Robbie Scott  from Baltimore and Steven Tolbert, the son of a Liberian president, come to mind.

For the uninitiated, Morehouse is where Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. did his undergraduate work and was quite possibly best nurtured to be one of the world’s greatest heroes. Dr. King’s mentor was also once there, President Benjamin Elijah Mays. That is how I knew, for instance, when I walked those hallowed halls and that small but sacred campus, I was walking where the legends had once before traversed. A certain greatness filled my spirit where I knew I could be whatever I chose to be. Names like Edwin Moses, the Olympic track and field star, instantly come to mind.

Considering that I came from the rough streets of Baltimore, through schools like William Hugo Lemmel Jr. High School where violence was ever-present, through Lafayette Projects and Murphy Homes and Gilmor Homes and even Park Heights – Morehouse was a refreshing reminder of the other side of life – the side that represented the true potential of the human spirit, the side that symbolized hope, the side that reflected our greatness, even, as a people.

And so, just a minute after we, as a nation, have elected our first black president – a time when the underrepresented “crashed the party” on Election Day ‘08, I dig down deep in my soul and am searching for that rejuvenation that only comes with time and from within, that healing that only comes by facing our fears and working through them, that peace that only comes from being exactly who I was born to be.

One of the amazing things for me these days, besides the incredible interest demonstrated by so many black people voting on November 4th, is the great number of op/ed’s www.BMORENEWS.com has received from all over the country.

President Franklin, I must say, was and is so on point. This is a new day. And young people are indeed our hope and our future. And they do get it.

For the first time in the history of this nation, a genuine healing is underway. The cosmic forces of the universe have come full circle, and Marcus Garvey’s calling for black men to be great again is a reality.

Bless the Lord for these days – days we never thought we would see. Greater than the end to American slavery, black people – as President Franklin reminds – must now revisit our conversations. Even more, white people must revisit their conversations. And some way, some how – the clarion call made by Morehouse alumni Martin Luther King, Jr. now resounds with a cacophony of musical sounds – reminding us all – black, white, Latino, Asian and otherwise – of our potential as a human race. I am, in fact, encouraged. 

Tags: college, education, Morehouse