Standing on the campuses of Bowie State University and Howard University recently, I found myself inundated by a sea of ignorance. Historically, HBCU’s had been a bastion of the “best and brightest” of our race. Yet, can we still say that?
HBCU’s have historically been heavily involved in the advancement of equality. Yet, in the advent of desegregation, the stature of HBCU’s has consistently declined. Can it still be said that HBCU's are educating and producing the best and the brightest? The “Black School Experience” is a romanticization of inefficiency and ineffectiveness as things of which to be proud.
Yet, the connection does not stop there. It is as if desegregation has ushered in an era of complacency. Having set a goal of integration, we - Black people - have opted to rest on our laurels; we are satisfied with an integrated inequality, not realizing that integration does not equate to equality.
Keep Your Eyes on the Prize...Press On!
While reading Philippians 3:10-15, I could not help thinking about the PBS documentary, “Eyes on the Prize" and the spiritual that permeated nearly every scene of that film: Keep Your Eyes on the Prize. This song was adopted by the Civil Rights Movement as a “battle cry” of sorts.
HBCU’s have historically been heavily involved in the advancement of equality. Yet, in the advent of desegregation, the stature of HBCU’s has consistently declined. Can it still be said that HBCU's are educating and producing the best and the brightest? The “Black School Experience” is a romanticization of inefficiency and ineffectiveness as things of which to be proud.
Yet, the connection does not stop there. It is as if desegregation has ushered in an era of complacency. Having set a goal of integration, we - Black people - have opted to rest on our laurels; we are satisfied with an integrated inequality, not realizing that integration does not equate to equality.
Keep Your Eyes on the Prize...Press On!
While reading Philippians 3:10-15, I could not help thinking about the PBS documentary, “Eyes on the Prize" and the spiritual that permeated nearly every scene of that film: Keep Your Eyes on the Prize. This song was adopted by the Civil Rights Movement as a “battle cry” of sorts.
“I got my hand on the gospel plow, won’t take nothing for my journey now. Keep your eyes on the prize, Hold on!”
Imagine a plow, tilling hard soil to make fertile ground for the Gospel. Its sentiment charged nonviolent activists to “press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.” (Phil. 3:14)
These activist were a people with a charge to keep. Theirs was a legacy of the forbearers who had to fight for their dignity as human beings. Forcibly removed from their homeland, stripped of their heritage, of their names, of their language, of their history and culture, these men and women were herded like cattle and treated as livestock. They were a people who in the eyes of Chief Justice Roger B. Taney, “had no rights by which the White man was bound to respect.” Yet, their faith told them that they too were God’s children. They knew that humanness and dignity were not “whites only commodities,” so they kept their eyes on the prize and pressed on. By the grace of God, and much blood, sweat and tears, they attained their freedom.
Keep Your Eyes on the Prize...Press On!
And, the concept of freedom is usually juxtaposed with that of equality. So, having attained freedom the new “prize” became equality. At this time, the law of the land was “separate but equal.” And in the face of inequality, mainstream leaders of the Movement thought that the answer was to achieve equality through integration. The thinking was that, “separateness” is what rendered inequality. So, rather than attacking inequality - be it separate or together - the leaders attacked separateness. And, with integration as their goal they “kept their eyes on the prize.” And again, by the grace of God, and much blood, sweat and tears, they attained integration.
Keep Your Eyes on the Prize...Press On!
Yet more than 50 years after Brown v. Board of Education, we are forced to ask: has integration rendered us equal? Has the ultimate prize been attained?
Truly, this is a controversial question. And, folk on both side of the color line will be taken aback. Many will tell you that we live in a post-racial society. Progressives will tell you that the battle is against social and economic inequality. Yet, the numbers say that even after you parse inequality among social and economic lines, there still exist the reality of race that makes still renders our society unequal. And, like Young Goti said: “women lie, men lie, numbers don’t lie!”
I cannot believe that our ancestors hoped to achieve integration and forsake equality. I would rather like to believe that their ultimate quest was for equality and their thinking was that integration was the path to that attainment. And, I would like to believe that we will not allow ourselves to be bamboozled by those who say there exists no more racial bias in America. So, although controversial this is the question. And, I suggest that the prize has not yet been attained.
So let us take a quick look at the numbers.
There is a 42.9% gap in social justice equality. As a for instance, Black people are six times more likely to go to jail than Whites. There is a 23% gap in overall health and wellness. The education gap is at 22.4%. White people are 1.5 times as likely to have a Bachelor’s degree than Blacks. Yet, despite what seems to be a small difference in the attainment of higher education, there is a 42.6% gap in economics. The White unemployment rate is over nine percent. The Black unemployment rate is over 15%. Blacks earn sixty cents for every White earned dollar. And, Black people are three times more likely to live below poverty than Whites. Forty-seven Black families own a home for every hundred White families. And, on the whole, Blacks enjoy 38.2% less “equality” than White people. This cannot be the prize for which our ancestors gave their lives!
Keep Your Eyes on the Prize...Press On!
Flash back to the scene at our Nation’s HBCU’s. All are a FAR cry from their heydays. Gone are the days when students came attired as professionals. No more do we hear stories of student led protests, reminiscent of those student led movements during the 50s, 60s and 70s. Now, our HBCU’s are in danger of becoming irrelevant. Scrambling to bolster their endowments, fighting declining enrollment, and unable to afford their scholarships, HBCU's face a myriad of problems. Without vision the people perish, and without an ideal for which to strive we have taken our eyes off the prize.
And, in taking our eyes off the prize we have rendered the very real sacrifices of those who fought for human dignity to mere nostalgia. The legacy of slavery and the fight for abolition. The strivings of Reconstruction and the backsliding of the Black Codes. The inhumanity of Segregation and the courage of the Civil Rights Movement. All have been relegated to the swift remembrance of our year’s shortest month, with no efficacy to the fight that lies ahead.
Keep Your Eyes on the Prize...Press On!
And, that prize is the call of God in Christ Jesus to which we press onward and upward. That call, that human dignity, that equality is that for which Christ Jesus has also laid hold of us. No, brother and sisters, we have not yet apprehended it...we have not already attained it. So, we must keep our eyes on the prize and press on!
This ought be the charge issued to our HBCU’s. For in the face of the lie that is post-racial America, where else but at an HBCU can one focus on battling the racial inequality that is rampant in our land? Where else, but in the safety of the Black School can we focus on developing the solutions that will secure the blessings of Liberty for ourselves and our posterity? The largely liberal Traditionally White Institutions, program us to believe that inequalities are simply founded upon social and economic lines. They train us to believe that "A rising tide lifts all boats," and we see that in President Obama's stance. The few conservative Traditionally White Institutions train us to believe that we simply need to "pull ourselves up by our bootstraps," refusing to acknowledge that the bootstraps given to the Black Community were rotting.
These activist were a people with a charge to keep. Theirs was a legacy of the forbearers who had to fight for their dignity as human beings. Forcibly removed from their homeland, stripped of their heritage, of their names, of their language, of their history and culture, these men and women were herded like cattle and treated as livestock. They were a people who in the eyes of Chief Justice Roger B. Taney, “had no rights by which the White man was bound to respect.” Yet, their faith told them that they too were God’s children. They knew that humanness and dignity were not “whites only commodities,” so they kept their eyes on the prize and pressed on. By the grace of God, and much blood, sweat and tears, they attained their freedom.
Keep Your Eyes on the Prize...Press On!
And, the concept of freedom is usually juxtaposed with that of equality. So, having attained freedom the new “prize” became equality. At this time, the law of the land was “separate but equal.” And in the face of inequality, mainstream leaders of the Movement thought that the answer was to achieve equality through integration. The thinking was that, “separateness” is what rendered inequality. So, rather than attacking inequality - be it separate or together - the leaders attacked separateness. And, with integration as their goal they “kept their eyes on the prize.” And again, by the grace of God, and much blood, sweat and tears, they attained integration.
Keep Your Eyes on the Prize...Press On!
Yet more than 50 years after Brown v. Board of Education, we are forced to ask: has integration rendered us equal? Has the ultimate prize been attained?
Truly, this is a controversial question. And, folk on both side of the color line will be taken aback. Many will tell you that we live in a post-racial society. Progressives will tell you that the battle is against social and economic inequality. Yet, the numbers say that even after you parse inequality among social and economic lines, there still exist the reality of race that makes still renders our society unequal. And, like Young Goti said: “women lie, men lie, numbers don’t lie!”
I cannot believe that our ancestors hoped to achieve integration and forsake equality. I would rather like to believe that their ultimate quest was for equality and their thinking was that integration was the path to that attainment. And, I would like to believe that we will not allow ourselves to be bamboozled by those who say there exists no more racial bias in America. So, although controversial this is the question. And, I suggest that the prize has not yet been attained.
So let us take a quick look at the numbers.
There is a 42.9% gap in social justice equality. As a for instance, Black people are six times more likely to go to jail than Whites. There is a 23% gap in overall health and wellness. The education gap is at 22.4%. White people are 1.5 times as likely to have a Bachelor’s degree than Blacks. Yet, despite what seems to be a small difference in the attainment of higher education, there is a 42.6% gap in economics. The White unemployment rate is over nine percent. The Black unemployment rate is over 15%. Blacks earn sixty cents for every White earned dollar. And, Black people are three times more likely to live below poverty than Whites. Forty-seven Black families own a home for every hundred White families. And, on the whole, Blacks enjoy 38.2% less “equality” than White people. This cannot be the prize for which our ancestors gave their lives!
Keep Your Eyes on the Prize...Press On!
Flash back to the scene at our Nation’s HBCU’s. All are a FAR cry from their heydays. Gone are the days when students came attired as professionals. No more do we hear stories of student led protests, reminiscent of those student led movements during the 50s, 60s and 70s. Now, our HBCU’s are in danger of becoming irrelevant. Scrambling to bolster their endowments, fighting declining enrollment, and unable to afford their scholarships, HBCU's face a myriad of problems. Without vision the people perish, and without an ideal for which to strive we have taken our eyes off the prize.
And, in taking our eyes off the prize we have rendered the very real sacrifices of those who fought for human dignity to mere nostalgia. The legacy of slavery and the fight for abolition. The strivings of Reconstruction and the backsliding of the Black Codes. The inhumanity of Segregation and the courage of the Civil Rights Movement. All have been relegated to the swift remembrance of our year’s shortest month, with no efficacy to the fight that lies ahead.
Keep Your Eyes on the Prize...Press On!
And, that prize is the call of God in Christ Jesus to which we press onward and upward. That call, that human dignity, that equality is that for which Christ Jesus has also laid hold of us. No, brother and sisters, we have not yet apprehended it...we have not already attained it. So, we must keep our eyes on the prize and press on!
This ought be the charge issued to our HBCU’s. For in the face of the lie that is post-racial America, where else but at an HBCU can one focus on battling the racial inequality that is rampant in our land? Where else, but in the safety of the Black School can we focus on developing the solutions that will secure the blessings of Liberty for ourselves and our posterity? The largely liberal Traditionally White Institutions, program us to believe that inequalities are simply founded upon social and economic lines. They train us to believe that "A rising tide lifts all boats," and we see that in President Obama's stance. The few conservative Traditionally White Institutions train us to believe that we simply need to "pull ourselves up by our bootstraps," refusing to acknowledge that the bootstraps given to the Black Community were rotting.
Do not exchange the truth of God for a lie! Do not give up on equality, for its illusion!
Keep Your Eyes on the Prize...Press On!
Yours is a special task...a vital task. For, only at our HBCU's can we engage in developing the solutions that work not just for us as individuals, but also for us as a collective. This, to me, is the task of HBCU professors, students, and alumnae. Whether you are training to be a doctor, lawyer, teacher, nurse, police officer, soldier, business executive, politician, scientist, or whatever, there is an injustice to be addressed. So, hold on and press on!
Keep Your Eyes on the Prize...Press On!
Yours is a special task...a vital task. For, only at our HBCU's can we engage in developing the solutions that work not just for us as individuals, but also for us as a collective. This, to me, is the task of HBCU professors, students, and alumnae. Whether you are training to be a doctor, lawyer, teacher, nurse, police officer, soldier, business executive, politician, scientist, or whatever, there is an injustice to be addressed. So, hold on and press on!
If we are to uphold our pledge as Americans for form (and continue forging) a more perfect Union, we must have this mind that compels us to reset our eyes on the prize and press toward the goal despite the sufferings we might face. Despite the ridicule, despite the hardships, we keep our eyes on the prize and press on, knowing the power of the resurrection of our Lord and trusting that we will be glorified with Christ and the countless martyrs who fought for our dignity and equality.
Keep your eyes on the prize....press on!
Keep your eyes on the prize....press on!
Come and get your reparations!
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