Dyson tells students to work harder even in Obama era
Gordon Jackson/Special to the NNPA from the Dallas Weekly
Issue date: 5/24/09 Section: Politics
DALLAS (NNPA) - One of Black America's most prolific speakers and intellectuals told Paul Quinn College graduates that they may have to work harder - not less - to represent their community, even with a Black man as president.
"You be responsible for your life. Don't be asking nobody else what they'll do for you, you do it for yourself," the Georgetown professor Dr. Michael Eric Dyson said during his keynote speech at the college's graduation exercises. "Structural barriers will arise from which you should prevail." In his famous, unique style, Dyson cited Black songs ranging from the blues of the 1940s to rap lyrics of today to continuously make his points. Describing late singer James Brown as a "great philosopher" he belted out to the audience: "I don't need nobody to give me nothing; open up the door I'll get it myself," from one of Brown's hit songs.
"That's what folk before you did," Dyson told the graduates. "They were door openers, door tear-downers." Focusing much on Barack Obama's historic rise to the presidency, Dyson, from his viewpoint, worked to set some matters straight, criticizing those who downplayed the seriousness of Obama's candidacy.
"Folk think like he came out of nowhere," Dyson said, who added: "He wasn't the first brother that could have been president; he's the first brother who got a shot to prove that he can be president. They wanted to make like [former presidential candidates] Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton and Martin Luther King, Jr. were holding the footstools for his rising. No, they opened up the door, they made the ideal of a Black man in the highest spot possible, they fought bitter battles with bigotry, they opened the way against racism and oppression, so that Barack Obama was graced and poised to step through that door."
Referring to Obama being the 44th president, Dyson said: "Usually, when you associate Black masculinity with 44, it's a high caliber pistol ... Obama didn't come out of a vacuum and you don't come out of a vacuum either," Dyson lectured to the 80 graduates. "Don't you forget to contribute to a struggle, that you think is over - it ain't over."
"You be responsible for your life. Don't be asking nobody else what they'll do for you, you do it for yourself," the Georgetown professor Dr. Michael Eric Dyson said during his keynote speech at the college's graduation exercises. "Structural barriers will arise from which you should prevail." In his famous, unique style, Dyson cited Black songs ranging from the blues of the 1940s to rap lyrics of today to continuously make his points. Describing late singer James Brown as a "great philosopher" he belted out to the audience: "I don't need nobody to give me nothing; open up the door I'll get it myself," from one of Brown's hit songs.
"That's what folk before you did," Dyson told the graduates. "They were door openers, door tear-downers." Focusing much on Barack Obama's historic rise to the presidency, Dyson, from his viewpoint, worked to set some matters straight, criticizing those who downplayed the seriousness of Obama's candidacy.
"Folk think like he came out of nowhere," Dyson said, who added: "He wasn't the first brother that could have been president; he's the first brother who got a shot to prove that he can be president. They wanted to make like [former presidential candidates] Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton and Martin Luther King, Jr. were holding the footstools for his rising. No, they opened up the door, they made the ideal of a Black man in the highest spot possible, they fought bitter battles with bigotry, they opened the way against racism and oppression, so that Barack Obama was graced and poised to step through that door."
Referring to Obama being the 44th president, Dyson said: "Usually, when you associate Black masculinity with 44, it's a high caliber pistol ... Obama didn't come out of a vacuum and you don't come out of a vacuum either," Dyson lectured to the 80 graduates. "Don't you forget to contribute to a struggle, that you think is over - it ain't over."
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Bobbie Taylor
posted 6/01/09 @ 12:55 PM EST
Once again Mr. Dyson proves why he is one of the best I'm only 24 and I'am on my way the next the next who will it be.
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