I usually try to write my post in the 3rd person so that my work is looked at as journalistic and riveting. Today I come to you speaking as not only a journalist but as a scholar. My name is Devin Terrell Jones. Currently a Junior at the illustrious Howard University majoring in Journalism and minoring in African- American Studies.  A 20 year-old black boy from New Orleans, La raised in a single parent household.

My mother works 4 jobs in an effort to put me through school and still be able to pay all her bills and live comfortably.

In a time that mirrors the inequalities of the racially charged 20th century, I fight every day to be a better man, better human, better scholar so that one day I can achieve my dreams. 

Before I was even born my future was determined for me. I was not destined to be here. I was meant to be in jail serving a life sentence at eighteen or dead at the age of twenty-one. As a young black male, I am expected to be a “thug” or “gangster”. This of course is a common misconception that people have. Stereotyped to be “that” person, the person standing outside on the corner selling drugs or causing trouble for the community.I was meant to be another negative statistic. As a young African-American male, I take offense to the stereotype that has been unfortunately bestowed upon me.

How do you think it feels like to be a Black in America ? Designating the darkest color possible, that of soot, coal, the sky on a moonless night, and a small hole in a hollow object, the house after mom’s check can’t cover the electricity. 

As Zora Neale Hurston once said “I am not tragically colored. There is no great sorrow dammed up in my soul, nor lurking behind my eyes. I do not mind at all.”  As a male growing up in the Deep South, I feel that this quote represents me. I have gone through much adversity growing up, I have been called derogatory terms and discriminated against solely on the color of my skin. Though this happens everywhere in this country, it happens more frequently in Louisiana and other states in the south.  Facing that type of adversity makes for better character, and forces you to realize that though we have come far as a community, we still have far to go.

Blacks are often times not viewed as equals by other races strictly because of our history, and the negative stereotypes that have accumulated over time. In the Deep South, I heard various demeaning jokes about the African-American race on a daily basis. I would often hear jokes about slavery, how we are thieves, and how we are all financially dependent on the government. These cruel and inaccurate jokes were the ones people told to my face, so I can only imagine what was said when I was not around. To some people, black means you have to accept that these jokes will likely never stop, and there will always be small-minded people who try and degrade the black community.

I personally take offense in the things that Ms.Dash has said in the past few months on a personal level. I would never tell anyone not to have an opinion or stray away from their beliefs, but I would suggest having sympathy for a cause that is very much real and alive today. Despite popular belief, every one is not afforded the same luxuries and opportunities to better themselves. The mockery of our culture from within is a major factor why non blacks feel that they can so easily disrespect us and devalue our lives.  Day after day I wake up proceed with my morning routine and go to class in an effort to better myself so that one day I could better the future generations behind me.

Stacey Dash is a small minute part of a very big system designed for me to fail. You may ask ” How is that so when Stacey Dash doesn’t know you personally ?” It’s because as a journalism student people like Stacey Dash are given opportunities based on their left field views because they line up with the people running a system  that is designed for me to fail. The more asses she kiss and the more of an idiot she makes herself seem is another opportunity taken away from non-bias, hardworking journalist who deserve that spotlight.

I think the thing that bothers me most is that, Ms. Dash simply doesn’t care. After her awful showing at this years Academy Awards, it was proven that Black Lives Matter less in her eyes. To publicly degrade our culture and our fight, for an attempt at relevance pisses me off beyond measure. Now I could bash Ms. Dash and make her feel low as the black soot I am looked at as, but it would defeat the purpose of my goals and aspirations. I don’t chose to tear down others to make me seem smarter and more important, I simply put my big boy pants on and I work for everything I want. I refuse to sell my soul for diamonds and gold.

I ask myself sometimes “Devin, why do you care about a has-been actress looking for attention ?” The answer is simple, millions of people carried the plight so that I could be able to succeed. My grandmother who didn’t have a choice but to go to certain schools back in the 50’s because of her skin color, for my mother who works 60 and 70 hour work weeks without any complaints, for Samuel Cornish and John B. Russwurm of Freedom’s Journal who said “We wish to plead our own cause. Too long have others spoken for us”, and for the thousands of people who were lynched just for being black. The ideologies of Stacey Dash mean more and are bigger than she thinks and as long as I am black and alive I will continue to care and fight to battle the injustices and stereotypes that people like her continue to carry out.