Bow Down To Black Man Power

The world is a messy place, folks. And sometimes I honestly don't know what can be done to fix it. I don't think humanity is meant to do such things. I think it's God's work. That doesn't exclude us from all responsibility. Far from it. I'm just starting to realize that some things may truly be out of our hands. And I'm not liking it one bit.

My name is Jason Dreary. Six feet six inches tall, a little bit chubby ( I weigh 260 pounds ) but still ruggedly handsome, with dark brown skin, short black hair and light brown eyes. I'm part Haitian and part African-American. My father, Edward Dreary is African-American and my mother, Jezula Gina Charles is Haitian. I speak both English and Haitian Creole at home. I'm of the Seventh-Day Adventist Faith. Which complicates my life because I'm also bisexual, and I recently told my secret to my parents.

They were both really surprised, but strangely enough, they were supportive. Having my folks accept me meant a lot to me. But I choose to be celibate. Relationships with men and women are much too stressful. I don't like the quality of woman or man I've been meeting lately. It seems all the good men and good women have left town and only the trashy bed-hoppers remain. I don't like that type and I don't need the drama. Besides, I have seen the mess that sex can turn people's lives into. I'm flying solo, and I'm okay with that.

I'm in my senior year and I currently play varsity football for Sojourner College, a historically black school located in the city of Boston, Massachusetts. The school is named after Sojourner Truth, a legendary black female activist who needs no introduction if you've ever picked up a damn history book. This year, the student body of this institution is forty two percent white. And I don't know how I feel about that. I find the sight of white men and white women parading around a historically black institution ( without knowing or caring about its history ) to be downright infuriating at times and an eyesore. Does that make me a racist? I honestly don't know.

There have been a lot of changes on campus lately. Especially in the department of athletics. When I came along, the school offered Men's varsity baseball, basketball, cross country, volleyball, wrestling, football, soccer and lacrosse along with Women's varsity softball, basketball, cross country, bowling, cycling, field hockey, soccer, lacrosse and volleyball. Now they're adding new varsity sports teams like men's Ice Hockey, women's Rugby, men's Rifle, men's and women's Gymnastics, men's and women's Rowing and men's and women's Swimming. The men's Ice Hockey team was the one team I hated the most. It signaled the transformation of Sojourner College from a majority black school to a partly white one. I'm glad I'm graduating this year. This place has sold out. It's not worth it anymore.

I wonder if that's how rich white men and rich white women felt in the 1960s and 1970s when black men and black women started attending traditionally white colleges and universities. My world is changing and I'm not sure that I like it. The president of Sojourner College is a tall, dark-skinned, forty-something black woman named Dr. Joanna Brown. She used to be president of a community college in the state of Alabama before joining the Sojourner College faculty. She's also the person most directly responsible for "diversifying" Sojourner College. And I absolutely hate her guts.

I mean, don't get me wrong. Diversity is important to me. I like having men and women of different races and backgrounds around. It's just that a lot of the white people coming to Sojourner College don't know Jack about black history and act like they own the damn place. I would hate to see Sojourner College end up like Bluefield State College, a historically black school that diversified to the point of becoming a majority white institution. When black schools decide to diversify, they take it really seriously. White schools usually don't. Or at least not to the same extent. You'd never see Harvard University, Northeastern University or Boston College end up with a mainly black student body. Not in a million years. These wealthy traditionally white schools know that their core support stems from the sons and daughters of wealthy white families. They would never turn away from that. That's why many white schools are trying to kill Affirmative Action. I feel that Sojourner College has betrayed its own. And I can't stand that.

A lot of you might think I'm worrying about nothing. Black people have been under a lot of pressure to lighten up about racial issues lately. Oprah is one of America's wealthiest people and she's black and proud. Barack Obama is President of the United States of America. Deval Patrick is Governor of Massachusetts. Mr. Steele tries to lead the Republican National Committee, when that tub of lard Rush Limbaugh isn't harassing him. And there's a black man governing the State of New York. Yes, maybe we black folks should all lighten up, smile, and get with the program. That's what the country seems to be telling us. Well, since I know a thing or two about hypocrisy and racial prejudice hidden behind smiling faces. So forgive me for not buying into the notion that all racial problems have been magically solved.

I hate what Sojourner College has become. And I am not a bigot. I just don't think a school should turn away from its core mission. Women's colleges support women. Military schools take care of their men. White schools celebrate their own. Black schools should do the same. Sojourner College has abandoned its mission, and I am glad to be leaving it this year. I will leave armed with a bachelor's degree in business administration. I'm going into the National Football League. Unlike most of my classmates, I won't have to worry about money. And I'm a smart brother too. Not the type to blow his money on chasing women or acting dumb. Sojourner College has a reputation as an athletic powerhouse. We've won many NCAA Division Two Championships in football, basketball, baseball and wrestling. The NFL and the NBA often come sniffing around our star athletes. As does the Olympic Committee.

A lot of stereotypes about black men who play college football and basketball are absolutely untrue. People have a negative image of us. They don't apply to me. I always make the Dean's List at my school. I've never gotten a C in my entire collegiate academic career. I don't run around campus chasing females. I don't do drugs. I don't smoke. I don't go to clubs. I don't party like there's no tomorrow. I don't get into fights. I don't butcher the English language. And I don't walk around with a sense of entitlement. I wear a dress shirt and pants to class everyday because that's the kind of man my parents raised. The distinguished black gentleman, that's me.

Now, life on campus has been changing and I've struggled to adapt. I decided to live and let live. Until I was thrust in the middle of a mess. My good friend Patterson Samuels is a sophomore who transferred to Sojourner from Roxbury Community College. This tall, dark-skinned and sleepy-eyed young brother is a very friendly person. I've taken him under my wing. He's one of the best tackles we've got. He's like a little brother to me. I helped him with his school work and made sure he stayed out of trouble. I've met his parents, Dale and Mary Samuels. They're very nice people and they know he looks up to me. I promised his mother I'd look out for him. Patterson has a thing for big-booty women. Many young black men do. I just wish he focused more on school and football and less on chasing women. Lots of campus women love football and basketball players. More than a few of them hope to get pregnant by some guy going into the NBA and NFL. That way he'll be their ticket to the good life. I told Patterson to steer clear of these females. Being a cocky young athlete, he didn't listen to me. He hooked up with a particularly vicious chick named Brooke Henderson.

Brooke Henderson was this tall, blonde-haired and green-eyed Irish chick who transferred to Sojourner College from Rhode Island State College. She joined the women's volleyball team. I've seen her hanging around the locker room sometimes and lots of the young black male football and basketball players were checking her out. I didn't blame them too much. She was fine-looking, with a pretty face and a big round butt too. I could also smell gold digger on her from a mile away. I knew the type. Brooke Henderson was like many young black and Hispanic women at the school who wanted to get with black sportsmen about to go professional. Gals like that were a dime a dozen and I urged the young men to avoid them like the plague. Many of the young women on campus didn't like me because I basically told their would-be boyfriends to find something else to do with their time.

Brooke Henderson wanted Patterson for herself and this white chick wasn't about to give up. Patterson had been getting a lot of playing time lately. His prowess on the field got people all over the country talking about him. He even had an interview on ESP N a while ago. His ego had swelled since then. He'd been chasing booty like it was going out of style. I once caught him getting his dick sucked by some big-booty black chick under the bleachers. I told Patterson's friend to get to stepping, then whacked him upside the head for being so stupid. The freaky chick got mad, but took off after I told her not to make me repeat myself. I'm normally a very polite person whether I'm talking to a man or woman. However, I do have a deep voice, and a big body. They come in handy when dealing with fools.

Patterson was mad at me for interrupting his moment of pleasure but I reminded him that Mr. Kayshawn Jones, our new athletic director, was a tall, very large and very strict black man who simply wouldn't tolerate certain things on campus. I respected Mr. Jones. He was firm and unapologetically strict with everybody, male and female, black or white. He didn't cut anyone any slack. The man ran a tight ship and I admired that about him. He used to be an administrator at West Point. We were on good terms. He liked my work ethic, Spartan lifestyle and no-nonsense attitude. I escorted Patterson back to his dorm, and made sure he studied for two hours for a test he had the next day. Then I went back to my place.

The next time I saw my favorite knucklehead, he was walking through the hallways with his hand on the ass of a tall, blonde woman. Yes, it was Brooke. Patterson looked at me defiantly and Brooke smirked as they walked to the cafeteria. I shook my head. The nerves on that guy, and who in hell did this blonde hussy think she was? Sojourner College was a conservative campus. You just didn't walk around the hallways grabbing anyone's ass, even if you were dating. I shrugged, and went to the library. I had some work to do.

I went to the library, sat at a computer and did a report on gender and racially based downsizing during the current Recession. My report was for my Business Ethics class and it was sure to be an eye-opener. Many big corporations were letting go of male workers and minority workers while retaining white female workers. I guess the rich people who run the corporations could withstand pressure from the NAACP and the Hispanic Caucus but didn't want to risk pissing of the Women's Caucuses. Men and racial minorities are the ones suffering in today's workplace, folks. Women are doing just fine. Let no one tell you otherwise.

After finishing my report, I went to check my Facebook. That's when I saw some pictures which alarmed me. The pictures were of Patterson, making out with that trashy blonde chick, Brooke. In one picture, she wore a red bikini and he had his hand on her ass. In another, she was sitting on his lap wearing only a G-string. He held her by the hips and thrust his cock into her. He was fucking her really hard and I could tell she was screaming. This white bitch was freaky! In a third picture, he was licking her belly button while they were in the swimming pool. I couldn't believe this shit! Pardon my French! I don't normally curse, but Patterson's stupid behavior was seriously getting to me.

Brooke was turning my buddy Patterson into something he wasn't. I sent him a message online, asking him what he thought he was doing. Sojourner College was a Christian school where students were expected to behave themselves. There wasn't really a dress code, but overly trashy and downright indecent students often found themselves axed from campus. The school came under fire for that but stood its ground. What could Patterson be thinking? Next year, he'd get into the NFL. Didn't he know parading around campus with a slutty white chick and flaunting sexy pictures on the web could take all that away? I guess they were right, whoever said that some men just don't think when a hot woman is all over them.

The following day, I confronted Patterson. I told him to remove the pictures from the web. I also asked him to stop seeing Brooke. In my opinion, pretty young white women like her didn't date poor black men without reason. And don't even start with that romantic crap. Brooke was a gold-digger. Pure and simple. A white trash whore trying to get her hooks into a black college sportsman about to go professional. She had black, Hispanic and Asian counterparts all over campus. I knew the breed. I warned Patterson about her, but he wouldn't budge. He accused me of being jealous. Oh, man. The brother was tripping! As if I was going to bed some trashy white whore like Brooke! Give me a break! I know a lot of people think bisexual men, especially bisexual black men, will sleep with anything that moves but I've got my self-respect. I respect my body. I respect myself. I don't go to bed with random guys and random chicks. Especially not trashy ones. Thank you very much.

I grabbed Patterson's shoulders, to try to shake some sense into him. The young brother did something I'd never forget until the day I died. He decked me. Simply decked me. I don't know who was more shocked, him or me. for several seconds we stood there, staring at each other. I sighed, and walked away. What? Are you surprised by my reaction? Don't be. Patterson is like a little brother to me. I loved him. No funny business either. I would never hurt him. But since he was determined to be a fool, that was his business. It's his life. I walked away, and vowed to never speak to him again.

My final semester began, and I entered the National Football League Draft. I aced my classes, and even graduated at the top three percent of my class. The class valedictorian was this nerdy but sweet-natured young black woman named Catherine Tassel. I've known her for years. She's an engineering major who's like a female version of Steve Urkel, and I was genuinely happy for her. Hey, I'm always glad to see black men and black women succeed. We're a strong, talented people. We can accomplish great things.

We can and have endured hell on Earth. I'm not just saying this because I'm black and proud. I say it because it's true. While many black communities have been hit harder by the Recession than their white counterparts, black communities and black families were getting back on their feet much quicker. We weren't committing suicide at the alarming rates white folks were. A testament to our strength. I am happy to say that I got drafted by the Atlanta Falcons, and moved to Atlanta. I was kind of sad, actually. I was hoping to get picked up by the New England Patriots because I wanted to stay in Massachusetts. But I had to move on. That's life.

During my first week in Atlanta, I met a tall, beautiful young black woman named Andrea Haven. This sister was fine-looking, voluptuous and dark-skinned, with a big booty too. Just the way I liked my ladies. Andrea came from a privileged family, too. Her parents were millionaires but she was surprisingly down to earth. She's a graduate of Spelman College and Georgia State University's School of Management who spearheads The Connection, an organization that supports at-risk black gay, lesbian and bisexual youths. Lots of gay and bisexual black men and queer black women were completely without adequate resources to lead productive lives. I can relate, so I decided to covertly support them. Andrea and I have become friends. She was pleasantly surprised to meet an NFL player who wasn't homophobic. At a dinner at her house, Andrea shared a secret with me. She was bisexual herself, and had only told her immediate family and no one else. I am thankful that she shared this secret with me. I'm not ready to divulge mine, but I think she's mad cool. Definitely easy on the eyes, too. Folks, I think my celibacy might be coming to an end!

I've been training really hard with the Atlanta Falcons and I feel blessed to be a black sportsman living in a city where a lot of black men and black women are doing exceptionally well. The city of Atlanta is like Hollywood for black folks, man. I'm loving it. Andrea has taken me to visit schools like her alma mater Spelman College and nearby Morehouse College, a legendary institution I fell in love with and decided to support. Life is good. I told my parents about Andrea, and our growing friendship. They were quite happy for me. My folks also told me some bittersweet news. Patterson had broken up with Brooke. He caught her with some hockey player. As much as I hate to think of my old buddy getting hurt, I had to smile. Some things never change. I hope Patterson learned his lesson. All that glitters isn't gold. I tried to protect him but he had to learn some things on his own. I guess some things in life can't be avoided. You can't protect the people you love from themselves. But that shouldn't stop you from doing the best you can.