Who the kids gon listen to? I guess it's me if it isn't you...

To my LEAD class of 2008:

I'd like to first start out by saying congratulations, you all have made it. Five years ago, I too arrived at LEAD Northwestern and was pleasantly greeted by a long list of rules and punishments which made me question my decision to leave home for a month. I'm sure that many of you felt the same way after our first meeting. However, I hope that you can now understand the method to our madness: punctuality, proper attire, and etiquette are no strangers to success. While I admit that the counselors did receive some pleasure in making lights out at 9 pm, it was solely done for your benefit. As you enter the next phase in your life, it will be up to you to apply everything you have learned during this intensive four-week program. Every individual that you have encountered is more than willing to contribute to the success story that you all are constantly crafting. Reach out to professors, counselors, mentors, corporations, and each other following your departure tomorrow: We are all anxious to hear about what path you choose to take upon graduation from high school.
I'll be the first to tell you that college is an amazing experience, perhaps only second to the time you spend at LEAD. I encourage you all to aim high and choose wisely. The world is filled with opportunity and disappointment and it is up to you to decide which you will have more of in your life. Please do not limit yourself when submitting college applications: though you may not think you qualify for a certain institution, you might be just what they are looking for at the time. Once on campus, make your presence known. You've worked hard during your pre-college years and you deserve to shine. However, you must not rest on your laurels: college is a challenging as it is rewarding.
This challenge comes not only in the academic arena, but in being sure to uplift others as you rise. To do so, you must also make your presence known in your neighborhoods: you all did not get to this point on your own and neither will the youth at home. Though you all are still relatively young, there is already another generation in need of positive role models who look like them. I'm sure you all have heard this many times before, but to whom much is given, much is expected. You all have been afforded many opportunities and you now carry the noble burden of ensuring that the next generation is given the same. I strongly believe that it is the duty of older generations to pave a smoother path for the oncoming generation. When the newer generation has reached the end of this paved road, it is their responsibility to pick up the tools and continue paving until they can no longer march onward and upward. This is progress.
Dr. King understood the importance of progress and the necessity of accountability. As a true visionary would, King left us with a solution to ensure that his dreams would be made into realities long after he was gone. In one of his many powerful speeches King stated,
"In a real sense all life is interrelated. All men are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly affects all indirectly. I can never be what I ought to be until you are what you ought to be, and you can never be what you ought to be until I am what I ought to be. This is the interrelated structure of reality."
In closing, I challenge you all to ensure that every affect you have on another person is a positive one. I would like to thank you for allowing me to spend these four weeks with you. I have enjoyed watching you all learn and grow into businessmen and women. I am extremely proud of each of you and I wish you the best of luck.

A Rising Tide Lifts All Boats

So, this isn't how I wanted to start my commentary on education, but an issue arose today that I need to sort through...This past year there was the highest volume of male applicants for a summer business program designed for minority students. Not only was the number higher than ever, but the qualifications of these gentlemen were more impressive than any applicant pool in the last ten years. After hearing this news I was extremely pleased to find out that black men were finally reaching their full potential and beginning to close the widening gap between themselves and black women. However, my feelings quickly changed after discovering that the recruitment of these students had been done at events where only a selected portion of the black population were chosen to attend. While I am still pleased with the performance of my fellow black men, I worry for those young gentlemen who are not being exposed to the opportunity because of the selective recruitment efforts. Though I cannot say for certain, I do believe that the admitted gentlemen would receive exposure to college and business irregardless of their participation in the program. These young men should not be denied the opportunity to partake in the experience, but more of a focus must be placed on the underprivileged black male youths who have little to no hope of exposure to collegiate and business opportunities. As in slavery, education is the key to the door of freedom and we must equip as many of your black male youth as possible with this key. If not, the number of black male success stories will remain stagnant in each generation: showing none of the progress Du Bois spoke of. So, while some are prospering, doors are still being slammed and locked in the faces of others who may never possess a key....Does a rising tide truly lift all boats?

Of The Meaning of Progress

George Orwell once stated, “An autobiography is only to be trusted when it reveals something disgraceful. A man who gives a good account of himself is probably lying, since any life when viewed from the inside is simply a series of defeats.” (The Complete Works of George Orwell) Traditionally, autobiographies are written about individuals to tell the story of their existence; an existence heavily influenced by their surroundings, families, and friends. These first-hand experiences are often taken for granted because no one knows the author’s life better than the author. What is to be thought of the life accounts of non-humans, such as a country like the United States. Textbooks offer a view of American history that comments on, but does not place proper emphasis on the disgraceful section of American history known as slavery. Though the institution took millions of Africans from their home and reduced them to mere chattel, it is only given a small blurb in most American History books. The disproportionate representation of slavery in texts must make readers question the trustworthiness of the American autobiography, a story written by its people. However, those in the majority are not the only children of America. Those enslaved men and women were as responsible if not more so than the white men and women for the success of America. Their voices, however, were silenced by violence, abuse, and illiteracy. This silencing was meant to paint a perfect picture of equality and democracy for those in the majority. Most whites did not want to acknowledge the fact that it was the labor of “chattel” that created the wealth of a nation. The voices of this disenfranchised group would not be kept quiet forever, their story was necessary to deliver a truthful version of America’s story. The personal anecdotes of black men, only made possible by the ability to read and write, started during slavery and have continued over the course of some two hundred years. Inherent in every autobiography written by a member of this strong group is a commentary on education. This is my commentary...

No Erasers

During my junior year of college I came up with a story about my time in elementary school to set the stage for what people should expect of me. Whenever someone would question whether or not I was right about a certain issue or if I had done something correctly, I would tell them that in in elementary school I would tear the erasers off all my pencils and sharpen both ends. Not only did this stop me from making mistakes, but it allowed me to write quicker because of the newly formed aerodynamic shape of the pencil. As far as they were concerned I hadn't made a mistake in 20 years. Though this started out as a joke, it quickly grew into an interesting tid bit that I share with people shortly after meeting them.......So I've chosen to share it here. I obviously have not lived a flawless life, but I believe that people should constantly push themselves towards perfection and shrink the margin for error. Life doesn't have erasers. How will you use your pencil?

-KC