Editor’s note: The following article is an op-ed, and the views expressed are the author’s own. Read more opinions on theGrio.
MLK wasn’t the only person with a dream. At least he shouldn’t be the only one.
Black Thought has visions of “Nat Turner holding his master’s head — like Yorick and Horatio in Hamlet – smacking it like a tennis racket, underhanded.” Others among us invent less violent scenarios, maybe just building something to leave as a legacy for our offspring, maybe locking arms with our white cousins and singing Kumbaya.
Marcus Garvey fantasized about a back-to-Africa movement where we’d pack our shit and be out. Segregationists like George Wallace and Strom Thurmond didn’t actually want us ALL the way gone (too many missing service workers); they craved returning to their notion of good ol’ days when more Black folks were forced to “stay in their place.”
Here’s one that a portion of Black granddaddies like to envision:
Imagine if the top Black prep players in football and basketball — the money-making sports — decided to spurn PWIs and chose HBCUs instead. That version of good ol’ days would bring seismic change to the annual list of schools that produce NFL/NBA draft picks.
We can dismiss that dream because it ain’t happening. Nor should it.
American institutions like PWIs were built on our backs, through blood, tears and uncompensated sweat. If desired, we deserve the opportunity to enjoy the fruit of that labor, to bask in the bountiful resources and exquisite facilities. It’s called freedom of choice and folks died for the right.
However, I do enjoy conjuring up the faces of, say, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey if Black athletes ever opt to rebuff scholarships from the Florida Gators and Alabama Crimson Tide. Those players might not choose FAMU or Alabama State as alternatives, but they’d tell the flagship universities to kick…
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