The time is now and the urgency of the moment lies within this very second. It’s no longer the time to relax or take the tranquilizing drug of gradualism.
As we attend our black history month programs, sit in various assemblies and hear prolific speeches, let’s not forget we still have an obligation to uplift the race.
As college students, we have the resources and tools to repair the heart of the race and perform a painstaking operation that will save it from death.
Black history is directly tied with the history of America. It’s this very history that allows us to live out our God-given potential and value the education that was afforded to us by our ancestors. Although we have made significant strides as a people, we still have a long way to go.
The state of the black college student must change in a hurry. We must continually be cognizant of the fact that blood and tears were shed with the future of the race in mind. Blacks risked their lives for a noble cause. They were willing to die a physical death to save their children from a permanent psychological death.
We have escaped water hoses and paddy wagons, but we still haven’t escaped jail cells and forms of mental slavery. We must use our intellectual ability to rise above the perceived level of expectation.
We are very fortunate to be attending college and pursuing the realms of higher education. If our ancestors possessed the will to walk more then 10 miles to get to class, then we should have the desire to walk with a greater determination and gain a quality education.
Keeping in mind that this is black history month, we must have the courage to march forward and not take a single day off.
Tomorrow is promised to no one; therefore, we can’t wait until after graduation to help the race.
“A man who will not die for something is not fit to live,” Martin Luther King Jr. once said. Along with others, he made an investment on behalf of our race, and it’s up to FAMU students to make sure this account is managed properly so that its value increases.
So often, we search for the leader of our generation. We can look to find that leader in the mirror, within ourselves.
Our campus is comprised of thousands of students that occupy many majors. We must use those skills we acquire to be an asset to the race and not a liability.
Some would say we should wait for an opportunity and just hope that we make it through hard times. Instead, we must create an opportunity and pray God sees us through.
Our entire life is dependent upon how we use this very moment.
“Now is the accepted time, not some more convenient season,” W.E.B Dubois once said. “It is today that our best work can be done and not some future day or future year.”
Service is not an option, but it must become a priority. The race is depending on us to make a difference.