So I’m here in Baton Rouge this week, working a dance camp/workshop series at Southern University for young ladies aspiring to try out for any of the number of INCREDIBLE teams at SU (the award-winning Gold-N-Bluez, and of course the legendary and iconic Dancing Dolls). I really expected the young ladies to be really… well, for lack of a better term, HOOD and elementary in dance skill. I’ve been pleasantly surprised, as this is probably one of the more talented and classier groups of girls I’ve ever worked with. On the other hand, I expected the city of
I wanted to take a moment and comment on an article that crossed my inbox yesterday. A gentleman by the name of Colbert King, a columnist for the Washington Post, wrote a very good piece entiled “A Message From Morehouse,” which basically outlines some exceptionally remarkable points made by the school’s president during a recent town hall meeting with students.
Of the most notable, Dr. Robert Franklin interpreted the power of infamous Morehouse Mystique as a force which creates “Renaissance men with social conscience and global perspective.” He goes on to note that one of the common elements that links most Morehouse men is an intrinsic sense of intolerance toward both mediocrity and (one of my personal favorite terms) foolishness. He also reinforces what has come to be regarded as his NOTORIOUS Five Wells, calling for all Morehouse men to strive toward being well-read, well-spoken, well-traveled, well-dressed, and well-balanced. Bravo.... Brilliant man. Incredible leader.
Now. This is where the areas begin to grey.
Dr. Franklin then went on to discuss tiptoe around the elephant-in-the-room that is homosexuality at Morehouse. He suggested, quite condescendingly in fact, that straight Morehouse students could take advantage of the increased gay student population as an opportunity to learn from and about the homosexual community… as if we’ve all of a sudden become some twisted science fair project, or huge foreign epidemic whose study could potentially yield answers to many of the ignorant questions or boorish notions the heteros possess in regard to the gays.
President Franklin’s statement provides vague ACKNOWLEDGEMENT of Morehouse’s gay student population… which is shocking within itself, since Morehouse as an institution has diligently worked to blind themselves of the reality of our existence for DECADES on end.
But what it does NOT supply is RECOGNITION of the fact that YES, there is an incredibly immense and potentially dangerous issue surrounding our current heterosexual student body’s almost non-existent capacity for tolerance.
YES, there is a problem with blatant and unjust prejudice and iniquity against those of my brothers who chose to live their lives comfortably and free from the bondage of society’s preset norms. What makes it even worse is that this discrimination comes from faculty, staff, administration, and BOTH the heterosexual and homosexual segments of the student population. There still exists a sort of class system or segregation amongst the gay community, which further facilitates and perpetuates the discrimination we ALLOW ourselves to endure from society at large.
YES, there is an issue that lies beneath the surface, when a same-sex institution of higher learning not only refuses to recognize the truth of diverse sexual orientation, but insists on deliberately ignoring it… thus leaving a sea of impressionable young men—fighting to find themselves, not quite secure in or settled into their personal identities (sexual or otherwise)—to fend for themselves in the center of a silent battle between: 1) the shunned queens who rock purses and skinny jeans to class; 2) the jocks and self-assured machismo types who are no less than 100% secure in their heterosexuality; and 3) the overpopulated middle ground of men who aren’t quite masculine enough or feminine enough, who don’t quite fit into one social category, who have listened their whole lives to what SHOULD be and how you SHOULD act and what you SHOULD do and how you SHOULD go about leading your life (all the while harboring inner conflict or question), who aren’t quite sold on the notion of spending the rest of their lives with another man (or even simply penetrating/being penetrated another man) but can’t understand why they feel this unwanted or unexplainable sense of attraction to the same sex. These un-molded minds and amorphous identities are struggling to stay afloat amidst their surrounding community of gays, straights, and in-betweens; constantly being tugged in two different directions by what is deemed acceptable and expected on one side, against the taboo nature of what is deemed immoral, deplorable, and undesirable.
I know. I was once one of those un-molded minds. And it was a long and hard fight, but I managed to finally free myself.
So the question I pose is, what WILL Morehouse do to bridge these gaps?
The answer I am quite sure of: Nothing soon. And I only pray that it doesn’t take yet another tragic act of hatred to make somebody in Gloster open their eyes and ACTUALLY work toward affecting the way our community is received on
Well written blog. As a student at Morehouse that worked with the gay group on campus "Safe Space" I had a chance to work with this issue of homosexuality at Morehouse by holding forums and discussions around the topic. Honestly I was surprised that President Franklin even brought the topic up in his speech. Nonetheless Morehouse has come a long way and has a long way to go in accepting and fostering a better approach towards its gay student population.
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