Black In Business

I came across an excellent article by Dawn Turner Trice in the Chicago Tribune. Yesterday I touched on Mike Vick and Barry Bonds. Today I will share the story of ordinary people doing extraordinary things. Ms Trice‘s article is an update from 2002, when she met 6 African American high school students that were very active in politics. They were all campaigning for several gubernatorial candidates during that year’s primary.
Ms Trice came across one of the young men and decided to update with the others. As the media make a point to highlight, many young black men are involved in the criminal system. In fact we have more young men in prison than in college. She caught up with 4 of the 6. the 4 are now college graduates. We should applaud their success. I have copied the article for your enjoyment. Keep Hope alive!

In March 2002, I told you about six Hales Franciscan High School students who were campaigning for several gubernatorial candidates during that year’s primary. The young men, all African-American, were juniors involved in the Mikva Challenge, a non-profit group that matches youth with community and political work. It also exposes them to people they might not ordinarily meet.

The teens were a diverse bunch. Jeffery Stephens lived full time with his grandmother in the Brainerd neighborhood because his parents had personal problems. Haamid Johnson, who lived in Roseland with his mother, was a staunch Republican-in-the-molding with photos of himself and Republican politicians, including Jesse Helms and Colin Powell, on his bedroom wall.

Robert Ford-Reynolds was known around his South Chicago community as the brainy kid who excelled in basketball, but dragged his golf clubs on CTA buses to play at faraway courses. Erice Smith was growing up on an Englewood block where drug dealers and caring older residents carved out their own turfs.
While at lunch a couple of weeks ago, I ran into Stephens and decided to get in touch with the others. (I wound up reaching four of the six.) Stephens told me he had recently graduated from Notre Dame; Johnson from Georgetown University; Ford-Reynolds from Stanford; and Smith from the University of Minnesota.

On the surface, what these recent graduates have in common is that they’re young and African-American and male in an America where many people look at them and immediately believe they know who they are; or worse, who they will become.

Beyond the surface, what they have in common is that they are smart, hard-working and have incredible safety nets. Because of this, they feel compelled to provide something similar to others.

Stephens said that when his parents could no longer rear him, his grandparents stepped in. “People think just because I went to Notre Dame I came from this intact nuclear family,” he said. “My grandmother took us in; she’s my jewel.”

Since Mikva, Stephens said he has continued to volunteer, often mentoring younger students with rap music. “My thing is this: Let’s show these kids a different archetype of the African-American male.” At Notre Dame, Stephens majored in sociology and computer applications. He will begin law school later this month.

Ford-Reynolds said that his family and close-knit community formed his safety net. He said that whenever he returns to Chicago his neighbors proudly refer to him as the “one who goes to college.”

Ford-Reynolds, who majored in political science, said he’s facing major surgery that will sideline him for about a year, but afterward he’ll go to graduate school, then return to Chicago to work in his community.

“I compare the wealth at Stanford to [that of] my neighborhood and I say to myself: ‘This is what you can make better.’ It provides me with a purpose.”

Johnson said he found his purpose, at least for now, while volunteering two years ago in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina.

He’s leaving Georgetown with a degree in government relations and moving to New Orleans, where he’ll be employed by a church, tutoring, mentoring and working to rebuild homes. He also has started a hurricane relief organization, called Blanket New Orleans, and is preparing to bike the path of Katrina later this month to raise money for the relief effort.

Smith said that when you go away to school and come back to a community such as Englewood, it’s easy to see the need that exists there as well.

“You almost expect things to change because you changed, but they don’t,” he said. “You may be depressed about it, but you have to change it. It’s grounding and humbling.” Smith will begin law school in Kentucky.

One last thing: When I interviewed Johnson five years ago, he was quite enamored with the GOP. I asked him if he still felt that way.

“I think more than anything I’m an independent now,” he said laughing. “When you’re helping people, they don’t care about party affiliations, they’re just grateful you showed up.”

Having people “show up,” well, that’s a sentiment these young men say they understand and appreciate deeply.
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