More Than Capable - E Period Speaks

It’s taken a couple of days to write this post, but this weekend wasn’t lost on me. I am a Spirit of Greatness product. HBCUs ride for their schools, as they rightfully should, but let me tell you why Clark Atlanta University is the greatest HBCU of all time! Plus, how God ordered my steps. This post is not about me, but about us.

Anyone can insert their name and circumstances in this story. I’ll try to condense it.

I was a smart young man. I was an Honor student with a 3.9 GPA (before you could get higher than a 4.0) coming out of high school. I received several partial scholarship offers, but only one school offered me a full ride and an invitation to participate in the Honors Program. Clark Atlanta University.

I arrived on the campus a 17-year-old bright-eyed young black man, brimming with unearned confidence. I also was unapologetically Southside Houston, Missouri City, Texas. I violated the rules and got kicked out of Brawley Hall during my first semester. Instead of kicking me out of school, my punishment was service to the university. I had to join no less than 3 campus organizations and make the Dean’s List, or they would pull my scholarship and send me home. Clark Atlanta did not give up on me.

Fast forward, SGA President, Alpha Phi Alpha, IVOF, Founder of the Texas Club, the list goes on. My senior year I did not write my Honor’s paper, and Dr. Isabella T. Jenkins pulled my diploma out of the pile and put it in her desk drawer. I was a Resident Assistant the summer after and got kicked out of Brawley Hall AGAIN for throwing an unauthorized party (statute of limitations?). I received my diploma 6 months later after Barton J. Taylor locked me in my room and threatened to kick my ass Chicago style if I didn’t finish. He even cooked the whole weekend to make sure I didn’t have a reason to leave the house. Tough love. My support system didn’t give up on me.

I used my degree and social skills to start my entertainment company. We produced a full spoken word play, Tyler Perry style and guess who let me use the venue? Clark Atlanta University. They also have contracted me to produce several homecoming events over the years. When I didn’t have the checks to support my business my CAU Family didn’t give up on me.

God looks out for fools and babies. I wasn’t a baby. I have done so many foolish things that could have gone horribly wrong. My university and peers loved me unconditionally because they saw in me what sometimes I couldn’t see in myself. So when Jamal Ihsan Coleman puts full trust in this flawed man to run one of the biggest productions of the year. When Devin White calls and says it’s a no-brainer, let’s rock. When the H Town homie and Alumni Association president, Shaunte' Norris, gives you full confidence because you are frat and the home team. To sit in the room with brilliant, well-accomplished committee members Tanya Mitchell Cobb Sondra Brooks K.m. Johnson LaKesha Robinson Mattis Nikki Marquetta Chrismon-Thompson Otis Threatt Korey Withak Olivia Seymore Michael W Hines, and CAU staff as they listen to your opinions and respect them, means more than you know. The smiles on my long-time friends' faces the night of the Gala were everything to me.

Finally, to sit in Sunday service and watch your line brother Lee May and his wife R Monic May lead worship service in a beautiful building with my wife Icy Chevell and daughter in attendance was full circle. The sermon was fitting, "How do you deal with disappointment?" What are God's plans for your life vs. your own? God, Thank You. Your Grace is sufficient!

In closing, Clark Atlanta University saved and elevated my life. Without CAU, I have no idea where, or who I would be. It’s a whole other level. I love you more than you'll ever know. To thrive in Atlanta and bear the torches that are being passed to us is humbling. Raymond “Tweet” Williams (96 years young) in his acceptance speech said (paraphrasing), blacks were thought of and told that they were less than others. Clark University (at the time) affirmed us and showed us that we were more than capable.

We are more than capable. We are enough. We have everything we need. We are our ancestors’ wildest dreams. We need to continue to provide opportunities for the generations after us. We are their Spirit of Greatness.

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