Segregation

This Thursday lecture by Dr. Wright covered the topic of racial segregation in the United States. Racial segregation was the separation of humans into racial groups in daily life activities. I found this week’s lecture particularly interesting because Dr. Wright not only provided us with the hard facts about segregation that occurred earlier on but he also gave his own personals stories of his encounter with slavery. He also tied in segregation with Howard University’s history in the 1960’s and our lives here as students at Howard University today.

A point that Dr. Wright made that raised an eyebrow with me was that Washington, D.C is a city with one of the highest rates of uneducated young blacks in the United States. This really concerns me that in a community with the most prestigious HBCU's, students of the younger generations are struggling in school. Dr. Wright brought it to our attention that we are not only students of this university to better our selves but better our community. It is our duty to help our young “brothers” and “sisters” and make sure that they learn and ultimately succeed in which ever field they plan to study.

Another point discussed by Dr. Wright that drew my attention and that of the whole auditorium from the responses that I saw from the other students as I looked around was the idea of the university “purging students”. For weeks now the University has made it clear they will purge students who are not financially validated on Monday, September 26^, 2011. To be honest I didn’t really think much of the word “purge” and I did not know the definition of the word until it was brought to my attention on Thursday by Dr. Wright. He told us that purge means “to get rid of something undesirable or unclean” and after hearing that I was somewhat disgusted by Howard University. At such a prestigious university that students give so much back to it is appalling to know that Howard University would describe their students in such a manner and this is all because a student may not be financially able to receive an education here.

“Nobody can restrict your life without your permission” was one of the many inspirational quotes stated by Dr. Wright. This quote was so inspiring to me that I felt the need to share it with others and I posted it as a status on my facebook page. It is important for people to know, especially African Americans that we are capable of doing anything and that no one can stop us. If we are restricted from doing something it is not at the fault of anyone but ourselves. With hard work and dedication we must move forth in life jumping over the hurdles of the obstacles that we are destined to encounter along the way. Dr. Wright further instilled this reality in my head.

All in all I rated this lecture an 8 on a scale of 1-10. This lecture was interesting and valuable to me and others. The only reason I did not give Dr. Wright’s lecture and 9 or 10 because I feel like he should have had a power point presentation as we listened to him speak. As a person who is more of a visual learner than one that can listen and attain information I feel like a presentation could have been more effective. Overall I believe his thoughts and ideas got through to the students as intended and as usual I look forward to what next week’s lecture has in store.