"The Culture" includes Black faces in majority white spaces

Get the Point!

Question: When a Black professional or student leaves a predominantly Black space to pursue a career or studies in a predominantly white space, does that make said Black professional or student a sellout to the culture?

Nine times out of ten, absolutely not! If you're wondering why I am asking this on this fine Sunday morning, keep reading 😊!

So, last night, I stayed up longer than I have in ages to watch the Colorado Buffaloes, led by Coach Deion "Primetime" Sanders, defeat their in-state rivals, Colorado State University, 43-35 in double overtime. I fell asleep briefly in the 4th quarter when the "Fighting Primes," as I call them, fell behind 28-17—but I awoke just in time to see them tie the game and win in double overtime. The victory improves Colorado to 3-0 only weeks after most of the college football "experts" suggested that the team would be "lucky" to win two or three games all year due to their disdain for the recruiting tactics and personality of Coach Sanders. 

The Buffs, led by juniors Shedeur Sanders on offense and Shilo Sanders on defense, are the talk of the football world!

I arose this morning after enjoying last night's game with my mother via intermittent phone calls, my best friends via group text messages, and many thousands of real life and social media friends via Facebook only to see that right on schedule, those whose opinions of Deion Sanders range from dislike, to strong dislike, to outright hatred are sharing those opinions via their social media platforms—as is their right to do!

Now, while I spoke about the racists who fall into this last group, the “haters,” in my last blog, today, I want to share a few thoughts about Black folks who have cast Coach Prime into the "valley of the sellout lepers" all because he chose to take his talents—and his "Louis luggage”— to predominantly white Boulder, Colorado. 

To begin, let's take a look at the following opinion post from a fellow HBCU alum:

Now, “She Loves Thee” said a whole word right there, and I want to take a few moments to respectfully offer a slightly different take…

Last December, when Coach Sanders ended his 27-6 run as head coach at Jackson State University by agreeing to coach the hapless 1-11 Colorado Buffaloes, there were many HBCU alumni and supporters who were very upset that the three year run of extended coverage in the mainstream media was in jeopardy since Coach Prime, one of the most charismatic players, football analysts, and coaches of the last half century, was choosing to move on. Many were upset because Prime, never shy to express his love for Jesus Christ, was saying that Colorado was his "calling" the same way that he had called the Jackson State job—and the resurrection of HBCU football—his "calling" back in 2020.

Trust, I fully understood this frustration among Jackson State alumni and HBCU advocates because as a double HBCU grad myself, one who literally grew up steeped in the traditions of HBCU football and band pageantry on the campus of Florida A&M University, I even allowed myself to selfishly dream "what if" each and every time the Sanders led Jackson State Tigers found themselves featured in the media. 

But as a man who is also a Christian, I understood (and still understand) that our callings often change—and that it is hard to question the next person who decides to make a move based upon what THEY believe that they’ve been called to do for themselves, their families, and their personal financial bottom line, especially when the potential remains for a great impact for the true source of that calling, which for Sanders has always been a stated desire to mentor young boys into manhood.

Further, as a lover of history, I also understand that many of the Black gains since the Civil Rights Movement occurred due to the fact that a few very courageous Blacks desired to integrate spaces that previously had been off limits to Black folks due to Jim Crow segregation. 

I mean, consider for a moment what America would look like right now if James Meredith, a Jackson State student, hadn't literally placed his life in jeopardy by enrolling at Ole Miss, the University of Mississippi, in 1962?

James Meredith

What if Hamilton Holmes, a Morehouse Man, had not joined Charlayne Hunter-Gault, a young Black woman, in integrating the University of Georgia one year earlier in 1961?

Holmes and Hunter-Gault on graduation day from UGA

On a personal level, where would I be if my former boss and mentor, Attorney Harold Knowles, had not left the comfort of all-Black FAMU High School in Tallahassee to integrate all-white Leon High School in 1964—an experience so horrific that he told me time and again how much he feared eating lunch in the cafeteria or even using the bathroom because he was outnumbered by racists just itching to beat him to a bloody pulp? Or, if my former  mentor, the late U.S. District Judge Stephan Mickle, had not chosen to leave then Bethune Cookman College to help integrate the University of Florida (UF) and UF Law? Or, if another mentor, Attorney Fred Flowers, had taken an athletic scholarship to all-Black Florida A&M University instead of becoming the first Black varsity athlete to compete at Florida State University while his sister, Doby Flowers, became the first Black Homecoming Princess at the same?

Attorney Fred and Doby Flowers standing in front of the statue in their honor at Florida State University.

Were these Black luminaries "sellouts" for leaving "ours" to integrate "theirs?" I would submit that even the mere insinuation is highly offensive, as they and countless other Blacks who integrated white spaces—but remained committed to the progress of Black people writ large—will remain legendary through the ages even if intelligent people can (and do) debate the good, the bad, and the ugly aspects of integration in the decades since formal legal segregation came to an end via the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the Voting Rights Act of 1965, and the Fair Housing Act of 1968.

And yet today, there are still rumblings that Coach Prime, a graduate of Talladega College, Stephen A. Smith, a graduate of Winston Salem State University, and Shannon Sharpe, a graduate of Savannah State University—HBCU's one and all—are sellouts due to their current statuses as Head Coach of the University of Colorado, and as media figures covering the rapid rise of the Buffaloes football team!

Now, I do not mean to suggest that Sanders, Smith, and Sharpe haven't taken positions that I have disagreed with on occasion—they have, indeed! But as one who embodies the old saying "you can tell a Morehouse Man—but you can't tell him much," I still grasp the concept that we, as Black people, are not monolithic and we do not always see things the same way! I also know that just because we don't see eye to eye on all matters doesn't make me feel as if the person that I disagree with is automatically a sellout or something less than a Brotha or Sista!

No, from my vantage point, a sellout is a person who knows what our ancestors experienced during slavery and Jim Crow, but conveniently places that knowledge on the shelf to advocate for positions that serve to the detriment of the masses of Black people as a whole like Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas; that's my personal definition of selling out and I welcome other personal definitions in the comments section below or via a personal e-mail.

As such, I submit that through the years, not only have Stephen A. Smith and Shannon Sharpe proudly repped their HBCU's in majority spaces more than they haven't, but the the duo, and Sanders, have done as much or more than most of their harshest critics to mentor, support, and promote Black culture, Black people, and regarding Sanders, young Black men, via their platforms. 

The same holds true for my closest friends, most of whom are HBCU graduates who attended PWI's for graduate and professional school, each of whom has excelled in fields where comparatively few Blacks have access! These Black friends are not hardly sellouts because they later chose to become professors, directors of sponsored giving, or coaches at PWI's—or, because they have joined predominantly white medical practices, law firms, investment firms, government agencies, or businesses—especially when considering what they and many others like them are doing to mentor the next generation of Black professionals (while providing access to success in every field of human endeavor)!

Which leads to my conclusion: When Black professionals or students enter white spaces with their HBCU degrees, and rep the culture well through their achievements and philanthropic aims, they will always find a fan in Ol' Hobbs and the Hobbservation Point!