Young Black Athletes...the Lost Ones

    Straight up scholar or straight up sports?  Given the choice which would you choose or would have chosen?  I stand by thoughts that I'd send my child to school on an academic scholarship or on academic merit before I let or allow him/her to believe sports is the way to go for college.
    Families who allow their kids to attend college for sports aren't necessarily wrong but it is particularly dangerous in the black community.  I remember having the conversation before with a person who was a young, black male who was attending school on a basketball scholarship and strongly felt that for many black young men coming from where he came from, it was the only way out.  But was it, is it? 

He wasn't the only one who felt that way, as I've talked to many others who felt the same way, many of whom shared the same NBA hoop dream, had been heavily pampered and classroom rules had been bent or broken; leaving academics as the least of their worries. In fact, so much time was spent focusing on their NCAA careers,(a huge money making scheme for universities) that when basketball or football was removed from the equation, they were pretty much left with nothing...well, just their books like the average student. Need I point out that in 2008 NCAA reported the graduation rates for blacks in football and basketball were less than 50 percent in each sport.

Professor Billy Hawkins of the University of Georgia discusses in his new book how black athletes are being exploited in the intercollegiate athletic world. Hawkins even describes the experiences of black athletes to that of slaves on a plantation...that's deep. Here's a little more on that: http://www.bvonmoney.com/2010/06/19/black-scholars-black-athletes/

Could it be that sports scholarships for young black men is the equivalence of welfare to the black community? And why is it that we allow young men to believe that this is "their way out"? Just as much emphasis that is placed on a kid with exceptional basketball skills to be a great athlete, should be placed on them to be the next president or geneticist.  They should be taught to be great at one thing outside of being great at another. 

Take a look at the young men at the Urban Prep Academy in Chicago, who participated in a Signing Day on May 25th, and instead of donning sports jerseys and hats of their new teams, they proudly put on baseball caps from the universities they'll be attending this fall.  On June 12, 2010, the entire senior class of 107 graduated, all of whom have been accepted into colleges and universities. See video below:




We have to help each other dream bigger than the court or field, and tackle what's really important in life. To educate is to empower, there's promise in power, there's only potential in playing. #YEAHISAID!T