Case in point, when I found out I was being reinstated, I knew I couldn’t afford the tuition. So, I prayed and asked God to bless me and he came through in a major way. I am not sure how it all happened. One minute I was meeting with a financial-aid counselor, and the next minute someone sends me to Trevor Frazier’s office, the master of Pastorial Studies at Oakwood, and he gave me a full scholarship. At that time, I had a 1.7 G.P.A. Talk about a miracle! Later, I heard through the grapevine that he was leaving the University at the end of the school year to pursue his PhD. That could only mean one thing: no Frazier, no scholarship. I thought to myself, “…here we go again.” This made me question whether I wasted an entire year sitting in class instead of developing myself as a speaker. What about graduation? What about my career? How am I supposed to take care of my family? I loved the community work I was doing but it didn’t generate income and although the speaking engagements were picking up, it wasn’t steady income either. It was a blessing that De had started her career but we were so swamped with old bills the money was spent before her checks even came in. It felt like someone knocked the wind out of me. Once again I was at a point in my life where I needed to make a decision. Was I going to let the bad news get the best of me and destroy the momentum I built or was I going to take the lemons life was throwing at me and make lemonade? I would be lying if I said it didn’t hurt because it did. So I acknowledged the hurt, went through the whole gamut of emotions, and then moved on.
A Setback is a Setup for a Comeback
After the disappointment of my scholarship not being continued, I got a major break. Kenny Anderson called me and asked if I could present the work I was doing with high school dropouts at the Southeast Center for Human Relations’ National Conference on Race & Ethnicity in American Higher Education (NCORE) in Atlanta. The invitation was huge because NCORE didn’t invite me. In fact, they didn’t even know my program existed. Kenny was the one they invited and he was willing to give me ten minutes of his time. He invited me because he wanted those in attendance to see that there were young black men doing positive things in the community and that the media should spend just as much time highlighting stories like mine as they do the negative stories. I thought the best way to utilize the opportunity was to let two or three of the G.E.D. students speak directly to how the program impacted their lives. One of the girls was a teenage mom who had received her G.E.D., got a job and was in college. Another was a young man who was previously in and out of jail and in gangs and had now turned his life around. After I spoke, the place went bananas and my career as a public speaker took off. At least three high profile engagements came out of that one invitation and created the momentum that I am still riding to this day. The first invitation was from Dr. Eric Abercrombie who invited me to speak at University of Cincinnati’s Black Man Think Tank. The second invitation was from the director of Diversity magazine. He invited me to be a guest on their annual teleconference. The third invitation came from Mrs. Juanita Smith. She invited me to speak at Florida A & M’s Black Student Retention Conference. After that, the calls started pouring in. There were two engagements specifically that meant the world to me. The first was an invitation by Dr. Joseph McMillan, founder of the Black Family Conference at the University of Louisville. Dr. Mac invited me back every year and he and the Black Family Conference staff adopted me as one of their own. The second invitation would change my life forever. It was from Rodney Patterson and Murray Edwards of Michigan State University.
I broke into the speaking circuit and was finally able to make a living doing what I loved but I knew I wouldn’t be satisfied. This wasn’t the entire vision, just part of it.
University of Cincinnati
Dr. Eric Abercrombie founded the Black Man Think Tank. I still get goose bumps just thinking about my first standing ovation before a huge crowd. There were approximately 1,800 professionals in attendance. When I walked on stage, all I could see was the stage light shining in my face. I kept telling myself to relax. Just like we rehearsed, all you have to do is remember how we rehearsed it and it will all be fine. I specifically requested a lapel microphone so I could be free to move around and use my body as a prop. It was the fastest eight minutes of my life. As soon as I finished my last words everyone in the room started clapping and one by one stood to their feet. As I exited the stage, I passed by a mirror, I stopped, looked at myself and thought, “I am proud of you, they gave you a shot and you nailed it.” During the intermission, I went out in the lobby for a meet and greet. I passed out a ton of business cards and received about ten other speaking engagement offers. None was more meaningful than the offer to speak at Michigan State University. The thought of leaving Detroit as a homeless, high school dropout and returning home to lecture at one of Michigan’s finest institutions was overwhelming.
University of Louisville and Michigan State University
I was able to distinguish very early in my speaking career that different institutions had different intentions for inviting me to their campus. Some institutions invited me to their campus to motivate their students, nothing more nothing less. Then there were institutions like U of L and MSU that had a much broader vision. The late Dr. Joseph McMillan of U of L founded the Black Family Conference, which began in 1978. Rodney Patterson and Murray Edwards founded the Black Male Conference at Michigan State. Both conferences drew education personnel, parents, community leaders and researchers from around the country to discuss issues affecting African American families and communities.
I presented every year until both conferences were eventually discontinued because of funding issues. I was disappointed that the conferences had come to an end. However, because of the strong relationship I built at MSU with Rodney and Murray, they offered me the opportunity to finish my 4-year degree at MSU, or to attend graduate school there if I finished my undergraduate elsewhere.
CHAPTER
20
Miracle Territory
Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen – Hebrew 11:1
I was driving through campus one day during my lunch break and I noticed the president of the university, Delbert Baker, standing on the curb by the Physical Plant building. I pulled over and asked him if everything was okay. He said that his car was in the shop and he needed a ride to the mechanic. What were the chances that the President of the university is standing on the corner needing a ride just as I am passing by? I knew God had placed me in Miracle Territory again. He told me his wife had been telling him about the impact I had on their youngest son Jonathan. Jonathan was deep into the Bible but struggled with the content of certain textbooks. I decided to use some of the religious materials he enjoyed to teach him the lessons as opposed to asking him to learn it in the traditional way. Not only was his interest in school rekindled, our relationship grew. As we drove on President Baker asked me why I hadn’t finished my degree and I responded that it was because of financial struggles. A few minutes later, he made a phone call and I had a full, all expense paid scholarship to finish the rest of my degree. He hooked me up with a workstudy position in the office of Recruitment. My job was to travel to high schools throughout the country and recruit students to Oakwood. I was truly in Miracle Territory, and this time I had no plans on leaving.