Tag: college

The Miseducation of J.Q. Church

These young black men are mostly basketball players and their friends. Needless to say, they spend their time sitting in the lobby bring loud. Some go to class and others don’t. If they aren’t being loud, they are hitting on the most basic of white girls. Their time in the gym off-season is biking in the weight room while texting. They are here eight hours a day.

As they began to pass me, they began to laugh hysterically and hushing each other. Click! I hear the shutter of a cellphone and from the corner off my eye I can see them looking over the shoulder of the tall one with Cheetos for hair take a picture of me

This morning on the first of September, I was working in front if campus landscaping. Drenched in sweat, the muscles in my shoulders and Back ached from working a big project alone beforehand. I was busy bent over and trimming the hedges when I noticed a group of young black men walking my way toward main campus from the gym of course.

These young black men are mostly basketball players and their friends. Needless to say, they spend their time sitting in the lobby bring loud. Some go to class and others don’t. If they aren’t being loud, they are hitting on the most basic of white girls. Their time in the gym off-season is biking in the weight room while texting. They are here eight hours a day.

As they began to pass me, they began to laugh hysterically and hushing each other. Click! I hear the shutter of a cellphone and from the corner off my eye I can see them looking over the shoulder of the tall one with Cheetos for hair take a picture of me.

“Did you just take a picture of dis nigga?” The short one asked.

“Yeah” the Cheetos one chuckled.

“He’s overhere working like a field nigger! Ahh.” Notice this time he says it with -er instead of -a.

They walk away, in their assortment of basketball shorts and nikes sweats sagging, some unkempt hair or cheetos, tanks and sweatshirts.

Its the young black men like them who are still living at home, don’t work or work mediocre at McDonald’s, and have a god under 2.0 by midterm that they have to sit out the rest of the season as white players struggle to hold it down.

Its their lack of understanding to see that a busy hardworking black man is a good thing and something to aspire to. Not the opposite: a inconvenience that’s beneath them.

Take this lesson right here; as a POC this is the struggle we have. We work hard to be equal and have the same opportunities of our white brothers, however there are black people like this who we are compared to.

Know the kinds of black persons there are. Because when I’m at the peak of life, best seller, father, happy family and good work, those young men will unfortunately never amount to anything and will end up as dealers or stuck at McDonald’s with several kids they can’t or won’t provide for.

This is the Miseducation of J.Q. Church. You’re welcome.