Oprah at college, Stevie Wonder gets Award - 10.21.2006.1

Here is some nice news from earlier in the week. Mr. Stevie Wonder was honored with a Lifetime Achievement Award from the National Civil Rights Museum. Mr. Wonder is a great example of the human spirit. He has overcome not only racism but also blindness. Mr. Wonder is someone I think of whenever I think that I am overcome with burdens. His career started as a young child playing the harmonica in various movies and grew from there. I can only imagine the hurdles he had to overcome, and the things that he may have been told throughout his life. Yet he has not only survived, he has excelled. Congratulations on this Award Mr. Wonder, you deserve it.

Also I want to send a cheer to Ms. Oprah Winfrey. She spoke at a fundraiser for Bennett College, a private college for Black women. Along with Ms. Winfrey were other notable attendees such as Ms. Maya Angelou and Ms. Shirley Caesar. It’s always a good thing to see entertainers and celebrities contributing to higher education, especially when it directly involves African Americans. Of course I would prefer to hear about Ms. Winfrey founding a leadership academy in the United States as opposed to South Africa, but that is me nit picking.

And I wonder why there aren’t more entertainers and celebrities stepping up and speaking about Black men going to and finishing college. I would love to see several rappers together promoting the need for black African American males staying in school and being responsible for their own actions. The initiatives that are in place to help Black women are needed, but I think we have forgotten about the men. Moreso, entertainers today seem to promote anything but self-responsibility and higher education for Black African American males. That really needs to change. I’m not saying this is the cause of drop-out rates in high school of between 50 and 70%, but it’s not helping to turn the tide.

This is what I think, what do you think?