“HAIL THE GRADUATES!” SPEECH

BY MIKE RAMEY 

Once a year, I like dedicating a column to the young brothers who are going to step forward into the adult ranks with their diplomas and degrees…tassel flip included.  Sadly, high schools, colleges and universities no longer honor their graduates with speeches from ‘real’ folk.  As exampled by a recent glaring error from an eastern college, it is considered ‘hip’ to invite–and pay–a television starlet who has used her physical charms to ‘shake and snake’ her way to her fifteen minutes of fame (which clearly goes against the tenets of feminism) to inform graduates about ‘life.’

Nevertheless, there IS hope to be found after graduation…the hope that rests within the graduate.  That is the message that I would like to bring forth this year, as a hush falls over our imaginary auditorium.

A MATTER OF COURAGE:

“I am well aware that there are young women present for graduation today; however, my remarks will be aimed at the young men in the house.  Brothers, from a man who has moved from the player to the coaching ranks (seemingly overnight based upon the amount of gray taking up residence in my hairline) I congratulate you on making it across the starting line by joining the graduate ranks.

Four years ago, many of you young brothers were going through a similar ceremony in your local communities.  Now its ‘degree grabbing’ time, as you head out the door toward the horizon that you have been blessed to progress.  It took courage for you to get here.  It’s going to take courage for you to re-fire the hope to continue your journey.

The COURAGE to stay out of compromising situations with men and women.

The COURAGE not to take ‘short cuts’ to get wealth without work.

The COURAGE to know when to turn the videos off, unplug from your iPod and pick up a good book or worthy newspaper.

The COURAGE to woo and marry a quality woman of a similar faith, beliefs and education structure, and to go public with your decision and stand firm in it!

The COURAGE to be a father to your children in a society that respects neither.

It should come as no shock that the economy is bad, you have student loans due, and your job chances are possibly zero in your chosen profession.  This is the same scenario ALL graduates face.  Either you will rise to the challenge, or the challenge is going to beat you down!

THE VALLEY OF BITTERNESS:

As you sit clad in cap and gown ready to step out into society, beware of those people, issues and institutions who will do all in their power to distract you from your life’s mission.  This is not the first time graduates have had to face tough times and weak morality.  Every generation–even in pools of prosperity–have to define what they stand for, and what they will rise above.  Graduates: It is not what you have in your pocket nor on your back that will determine your ultimate worth.

It is how you ‘get up’ when you have been knocked down by life.

Don’t let a loss, setback, or failure ‘lock’ you in the blame cycle.  Don’t let what someone has done to you, said about you, or spread about you force you to take up residence in the Valley of Bitterness.  Don’t become a charter member of the ‘Whiner’s Club’!  Be courageous!  Handle your victories with humility and your defeats with grace as you never quite know upon which end of the pier you will be upon at the end of any given day.

Take a good look around you.  Our country has become infatuated with ‘Reality TV’ but has become weak in dealing with reality.  Children cuss at teenagers, teenagers cuss at their parents and authority figures, and the list is endless.  Some reality shows are measured by the number of bleeped-out words uttered or shouted by the participants.  Thanks to these low standards, you have people–some of them seated around you today– believing that they can treat anybody in any given way, and the end result will be acceptable.  In case you haven’t been told, dear graduate, what you see on the video screen is not 100 percent real.  Prospective employers don’t think a ‘potty mouth’ and the ‘morals of an alley cat’ are cute.  Neither do prospective spouses.

EDUCATORS OR EDU-TRAITORS:

I have a few more items in my speech to hit before I take my seat.  Of course the graduates are quietly forming the words ‘Amen’ upon their lips!   I hear you!  I don’t like loooong speeches, either!

A diploma or degree is just like any other piece of paper:  It is the ticket to get you into a particular vocation or career.  It is NOT the be-all-or-end-all of competence in a particular vocation or career.  Only YOU can determine your OWN worth by your actions!

You see, unbeknownst to you, a battle has been raging in our society.  It has been going on when you first entered the classroom in Kindergarten, and it will be going on until our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ returns to claim his own.

The battle rages between the effective–and the status quo.

Take the field of education for example.  There are those licensed and certified teachers who have been in the field ‘for years’, yet have little to show for their efforts… other than a great benefits package.  I call these individuals Edu-traitors.  Their ability to inspire, motivate, and encourage students vanished long ago. YET the Edu-traitor refuse to retire or even read the handwriting of their own lack of talent on the wall .  Sadly, these individuals vehemently oppose those who may be in the education profession on a limited basis, who are having more impact upon young people than they think possible.

In short?  They hate on REAL Educators.

You’ve all heard the lie over the years that men won’t enter the education field.  The truth?  The Edu-traitors–mainly females–have kept men OUT of the profession, while at the same time belittling those men who have impacted youth.  Educators DO NOT all have to be licensed, certified, or in the classroom for years.  Think back over your own school careers.  Who really encouraged you to stick with the books or seek out a tutor or stay out of trouble?  In most cases, it was NOT a ‘professional teacher’, but someone else in the school setting.  You see, ‘Educators’ can be a beloved bus driver, teachers assistant, custodian, cafeteria worker or substitute teacher.  When a student needs help in those real life areas such as suicide, a teacher’s license doesn’t matter much…but the heart of the helper DOES!  Always remember:  The title of Educator is an ‘earned’ title and the title of Edu-traitor is best applied to the keepers of the  academic status quo of our times.  Marva Collins is an EDUCATOR because she put her skin in the game and helped ANY student who wanted to be readied for real life.  If YOU can make that kind of investment, my brothers, you deserve to be counted as a man–regardless of what field that you may chose to enter.  Steer clear of those who are content to hoodwink you into settling for less than your best.

As we wrap up our time together I hasten to add the following: make sure your spiritual life is on a firm foundation.  We live in an open society.  Investigate all…but make sound choices.  As for me and MY house; we shall serve the Lord.

God bless you, and go forth and make those dreams come true!”

RAMEY, a syndicated columnist and book reviewer, lives in Indianapolis, Indiana. THE RAMEY COMMENTARIES appears on fine websites and gracious blogs around the world.  To correspond, email  manhoodline@yahoo.com.  © 2011 Mike Ramey/Barnstorm Communications.

MEMO: FROM BOYS INTO–GIRLS?

BY MIKE RAMEY

One of the things that I have come to notice over the last few years is the uplifting of the effeminate and the downgrading of the masculine among our young men by their mothers–and others.

Case in point: the remake of ‘The Karate Kid.’

Why is the Black male lead in cornrows–which makes him look like a girl?

Now, there will be some who think that I am making much to do about nothing, but hear me out.  In our media-driven age, image IS everything.  From You Tube to Facebook, to the Blackberry, we are consciously driven by what we see.  Furthermore, since many of our Black actors and actresses are not in charge of their own production houses or distribution networks, image matters even more.

From time to time, I’ve had the discussion about ‘…how Black folk look in the media…’ with various individuals.  I find it quite tragic that Denzel Washington and Halle Berry won Oscars for roles that degrade our people.  For some, the check may be more important than the image–but how Black folk are viewed in the mainstream is how other races WILL see us.  Until those Black folk IN the entertainment and political ranks get some guts and STOP becoming ‘working props’ for institutional idiocy, the stigma of degrading our people will continue.

The clean up must start among ourselves.

BLACK USED TO BE BEAUTIFUL AND PROUD:

While in the classroom, once upon a time, I had a male student ‘yell out’ that he was ‘Black and proud’.  Of course, his GPA was somewhere below a D level, and he had disciplinary record as long as my leg.  I just HAD to smile at his sheer ignorance.

Long ago, a local doctor in my town commented on the youth of the eighties.  To paraphrase:  “It’s not enough to be ‘Black and proud’.  You have to live an upright life and have your individual actions ‘back up’ your words.”

His wisdom seems to have bypassed some in our current decade.

Now, I have never been a fan of cornrows for boys.  I am less of a fan for the diamond earring (a.k.a. ‘stud’ or ‘studs’) in the earlobe for boys.  I am least of all enamored with a young man who has cornrows AND earrings.  Then, there are the associated ‘sagging’ pants, tats, and color scheme associated with gang life.  There’s just something creepy about stuff like that.  Nuff said.

The sad thing?  Parents who think that it is ‘cool’ to let their sons go about the town looking like throwbacks to preschool–with the emotional stability to match.  Of course, you can’t correct young people today, let alone their parents, because feelings are so ‘easily’ hurt.

Let me clue you to something, parents:  If you won’t correct your own sons (and daughters), don’t expect those of us in positions of authority to do your job.  We’ll just let your son slide on down the tubes and give our wisdom to those young men who not only want it…they’ll do something with it once they receive it.

Is that Black enough for you?

LOCKING IN STEREOTYPES:

I realize that we are only talking about a small universe of knuckleheads that won’t get with the program.  Unfortunately, the mainstream press uses that ‘small’ universe to represent ‘us’ to the larger universe, further locking in a stereotype.  Many parents haven’t learned the lesson about ‘Black pride’ that our elders tried to get through to them:  Lessons which other races have not only learned, but capitalized upon.

Let me give you a ‘for instance.’

Modern Latino music, when it first burst upon the scene in the mid-eighties, could not gain acceptance into the mainstream.  Did the Latinos stage a ‘sit in’?  No.  They understood basic economic thought.  The worked with EACH OTHER.  They pooled their money and talent and did their OWN music awards in their OWN electronic and written media.  The result?  Eventually, the established music hierarchy ‘discovered’ Latino music.  Soon, all Latino music was held to be ‘cool’.  Now you have ALL actors and actresses (who want to make a buck) learning how to speak Spanish, because the Latino culture OWNS its image!

Say what you may about my example; many of us will have to admit–thanks to Latinos being; a) proud of who they are, and; b) stressing an education to their young men–more of them are going to college and know how to carry themselves in public.

They have mastered how to keep their own image in a sea of stereotyping.  More importantly, their young men are STILL represented as being young men.

GETTING THE SKILLS FOR MANHOOD:

To my young brothers:  It’s not who can yell the loudest or waive a gun in the streets who is counted a man; it’s the brother who has the skills AND the wisdom to W-O-R-K!  Your Mama may think that you are ‘cute’ at 3-4 or 5 with those cornrows in your hair.  Maybe you were.  But, at 13-14-15?  Nope…not cute but pathetic!  Among the brotherhood, you won’t get much training or sympathy because you haven’t be emotionally strengthened to deal with the ‘knocks’ that life has in store for young Black men in general, and MEN in particular.  When an employer sees you coming in the door with cornrows, no matter how many brothers who are ‘on’ the job with them–they have stopped their financial progress.

Cornrows spell out ‘Do Not Promote Me’ in big, loud letters, no matter how cute they may look on a screen or a video. You don’t look like the work culture, and you won’t be given the respect that you are due.  Economics and respect go hand-in-glove.

The style of Black hair used to be the fro.  Now, it’s low, lean and clean.  On the campus, the classroom or the job, MEN dress to impress, period.  MEN have the skills to ‘back up’ their work record with their style and pride.  No wannabes need apply for a man’s job in a depression–until they grow up, take a good look in a mirror and determine who they are–and whom they want to represent:  Adulthood–or adolescence.

Young brothers: your economic future hinges upon the answer you choose.

RAMEY is the Pastor of The Forward Church, Indianapolis, Indiana. THE MANHOOD LINE appears on fine websites and gracious blogs around the world.  To correspond, email  manhoodline@yahoo.com.  © 2010 Mike Ramey/Barnstorm Communications.