Ancestry – A Newsweek Story

How cool is this story!

Beyond Words: Two Heirs to Two Great Americans

Black In America – Part C

Okay, I am still reeling from CNN’s Black In America series.

So, I was thinking, again, they portrayed that light is right and dark is not a walk in the park. They insinuated that we, as blacks, can/could only succeed if we go to white schools, marry white, live in mostly white neighborhoods and be friends with whites. I am all for diversity, but don’t portray some of our lives as one-sided.

I am a product of public schools. My elementary school was mostly black. My junior high school was 100% black (we’ll speak on that one in a second) and my high school was mostly black. My siblings and I were raised in a middle-class, working-class black neighborhood most of our lives (except when our parents were in doctoral programs). I attended a black college for undergrad and another for one of my graduate degrees. My parents are black college graduates (undergrad). My brother is a black college graduate. My sister didn’t attend an HBCU. WHY didn’t CNN portray “success” on any of those fronts? Everything they showed as “successful” was going to majority schools, living in mostly white neighborhoods, and marrying white. To each, his own, but don’t portray black life as one-sided. WE ARE SUCCESSFUL in our own rights. My best friend went to 100% black schools from Pre-K through undergrad. She is successful in her own right. Most of my other friends graduated from HBCUs and are successful, in their own right. We all grew up in black neighborhoods. We didn’t get our houses shot up. We didn’t end up with 3, 4, 5 kids out of wedlock. We didn’t sling drugs. Where were our stories, CNN?

Back to my 100% black junior high school. The school I attended was 100% black. We slaughtered EVERYONE in the city (white, black or other) in academics, sports, arts, etc. Other junior high schools HATED competing against us because they knew they were in for a defeat. Where was that story, CNN?

My five years as an undergrad in engineering where the school I attended, at that time, was #2 in conferring blacks with engineering degrees, with the #1 school edging us by 10 people and their school was three times the size of ours. The school were I earned my master’s degree in engineering graduated more blacks in engineering that any other school in the county and had the LARGEST career fair out of ANY school (white or black) in the southeast. Where was that story, CNN?

I LOVE my alma mater!! TUSKEGEE UNIVERSITY!

Dog gone it! We have done it, yet, AGAIN!

Now, let me give you a little history here, in the five years that was there (back up, now…….engineering was a five year program when I was there..all 144 hours of which NO pre-calculus math courses counted!), our football was off and on (more off). Mind you, we are the hold the title of winning more games than ANY other HBCU(not percentage, number of games……the late Eddie Robinson holds the title of percentatge of wins). This was all before MY CLASS arrived on campus, okay?!

Of course, AFTER we all graduate, Tuskegee decides to start having a WINNING football program, again <>.

This year is no different, we are UNDEFEATED and licking our chops at Alabama State to destroy, yet, another homecoming for them. See, the Turkey Day Classic is the longest running HBCU football classic. No, not the Bayou Classic or any of those other games, but the Turkey Day Classic (which is also ASU’s homecoming). It all began in 1924 when Alabama State College and Tuskegee Institute met in the Turkey Day Classic in Montgomery, Alabama. From that, all other “classics” grew (respect your history!).

Oh, if you’d like to view the personal butt-whooping that will handed to the ASU Hornets, see here:
THE ADDRESS FOR THE WEBCAST OF THE TURKEY DAY FOOTBALL CLASSIC – Tuskegee (10-0) vs. Alabama State (5-5): http://www.wsfa.com. THIS IS CHANNEL 12(TV) OUT OF MONTGOMERY, ALABAMA. The game is slated to kickoff at 1:00 p.m. CT.

Now, to the accolades at hand:

SIAC ANNOUNCES 2007 FOOTBALL ALL CONFERENCE TEAM, ALL ACADEMIC TEAM & SUPERALTIVE AWARDS

….

yadda yadda yadda (go to the link and read it in full)

….

2007 ALL ACADEMIC FOOTBALL TEAM [bow]

QB Eric Palmer Tuskegee JR 3.90 Mechanical Engineering <—— can you say, "You’d betta go, boy?!"
DL Casper Kamau Kentucky State JR 3.86 Political Science
RB Jonathan Cunningham Benedict SO 3.83 Recreation
S Gavin Campbell Kentucky State SR 3.75 English/Political Science
DB Terrance McGhee Albany State SO 3.67 Biology
DB Linden Johnson Albany State JR 3.66 Engineering
WR Debreon Williams Stillman RFR 3.64 Mathematics
RB Wade Edwards Benedict RFR 3.57 Business Administration
QB Nathanial Samas Fort Valley State SO 3.56 Mathematics
WR Jeremy Cody Miles College SO 3.50 Education
DB Mario Fuller Albany State SO 3.50 Accounting

Now, I didn’t play a LICK of sports in college and I didn’t graduate with a GPA anywhere NEAR that! YOU GO, ERIC PALMER!!!

So, before (or during) your turkey chomping, tune your computers into the website above and watch some good football! Nothing like turkey and football…. Gobble gobble!

Tuskegee’s 2007 Football Schedule

ANYONE who knows me, knows that I am a SPORTS JUNKIE!!! WHOO HOO! My alma mater’s schedule is FINALLY out (we’ll talk about that issue, later) and I am not THAT thrilled with the schedule.
I WILL be in Birmingham, Labor Day weekend, God willing and the creek don’t rise….that is the same day that Southern and FAMU play and TUSKEGEE plays Miles that evening! GREAT football at the same stadium the same day! WHOO HOO!!!!

Sept. 2 Miles College + (ESPNU TV) Birmingham, AL 6:00
Sept. 15 Benedict College+ Columbia, SC 6:00 ET
Sept. 22 Fort Valley State University + Tuskegee 1:00
Sept. 29 Concordia College-Selma Tuskegee 1:00
Oct. 6 Morehouse College+ (72nd Tuskegee-Morehouse Classic) Columbus, GA 2:00 ET
Oct. 13 Stillman College + Tuskegee 1:00
Oct. 20 Albany State University + Albany, GA 7:00 ET
Oct. 27 Kentucky State University Frankfort, KY 1:30 ET
Nov. 3 Clark Atlanta University (Homecoming) + Tuskegee 1:00
Nov. 22 Alabama State University (84th Turkey Day Football Classic) Montgomery, AL 1:00