“During this 3 year period (my time as a Masters student at The University of Kentucky), my political consciousness was forced to awaken itself. I eventually understood what scholars mean when they refer to “The society that created Malcolm X.” It was the racism of Kentucky and the Republican Revolution that created Dr. Boyce Watkins.
I began to write in the campus newspaper, simply telling the truth from the bottom of my heart. I wasn’t sure if anyone would pay attention, but everyone did. My articles, which came out every Monday, were a hit with the students. The majority of the White students hated my guts, and most of the Black students thought I was a hero. But I was just being me, as I began to use writing as a form of therapy to help me deal with the confusing world of racial inequality.
It was also during this time that I learned the benefits and short-comings of being “famous.” When you are in the public eye (even if the eye is tiny), your allies are as much a liability as your enemies, as people start to love you because you present a message that is consistent with their agenda. Your enemies learn to hate you based on false perceptions they have of you as a human being. We see everything in Black and White, but as a professor, I learned that most of our world is full of shades of gray if you are intelligent enough to see the various colors. That’s life, and I learned to deal with it. I learned to deal with the lies, the rumors, the haters, the friends, the girls, the hype and everything else.
I eventually learned that the best way to stay true to myself and to keep an honest voice is to spend as much time alone as possible. So, to this day, while there is certainly far more action in major cities than there is in my house, I spend a lot of time with Boyce. It is only by spending time alone that you can truly determine your purpose in this world and why God put you here. After episodes of continued reflection, I eventually realized that the reason I went through my experience as a campus writer is because I was being prepared for a bigger platform. There was even a part of me that knew the platform was coming: I bragged in my last column that in exactly seven years I would still be discussing important issues of the day, except I would be doing it on the national scene. It was precisely seven years later that I did my first national television interview on “Hannity & Colmes”, a show on Fox News and one I refuse to be part of again.
After my life-transforming experience as a graduate student, I learned a lot about money. However, the experience taught me a great deal more about life. In addition to learning about money, I learned far more about being a Black man in America. I knew, for the first time, that my PhD was not my own. It was a weapon and tool meant to be used for the advancement of those who put me here. I was not going to allow myself to be swept away by the selfishness bred in a capitalist society. Of course I wanted to make money, but even money is nothing more than a tool that should be used to achieve a more significant purpose. I learned from Martin Luther King that a man must be willing to give to something greater than himself and that a Black man must be willing to continue the struggle began by his ancestors. Sitting in my office mentoring 2 or 3 students each year, in my opinion, wasn’t a sufficient contribution. I wanted to reach as many people as possible. “
This was an excerpt from the forthcoming book, “Black American Money”, to be released July 15, 2009.
