One of the most difficult parts of life is knowing one’s role. As an educated black man, I constantly ask: What is my place in the struggle for freedom? I have found that my job is to be proud of who I am and to use whatever power and resources I can to open opportunities to those from my community.
One of my goals is to conceive of a way for black youth to get beyond survival to a place where they can live. I want black youth to move past the circumstances that surround them today to envisioning what they can become tomorrow. They have a right, and I would assert an obligation, to dream if this nation is to prosper.
With that in mind, on Thursday, April 9 at 6 p.m., I am happy to note that the Saint Louis University African American Male Scholars (AAMS) Initiative will host its fourth annual educational symposium. This year the event is aptly titled “Can I Live?: Imagining a Future for Black Males.”
The campus-community event is perfectly timed. After the tragic deaths of Michael Brown Jr. and many others, young black men and their relationship to society has been a pervasive topic of discussion in the media and in our homes. Of course, many of us were concerned about the tenuous lives of young black men well before the headlines.
Those who have been constantly alarmed about life for black men include the highly esteemed panelists and speakers AAMS will feature at the symposium; they have dedicated their lives to the improvement of life chances for black youth. Dillard University president and author Walter Kimbrough and Harris-Stowe State University president Dwaun Warmack will speak to how they envision their institutions enhancing the lives of black men. Professor and author Shaun Harper, the premier scholar of black collegiate men, will share what his research reveals about young black male advancement.
Also, the panel will highlight an achieving member of the AAMS Initiative, who has been active on and off campus to make life better for the community. Additionally, organizations from the community will be there to share information about how to get involved.
Thankfully, there are those who continue to push the issue of freedom and justice for the black community and black men in particular. At the forefront of those campaigns, not surprisingly, have been black women, who have shown courage in the streets, online and at the White House. As part of groups like the OBS, MORE, New Millennials, Urban League Young Professionals and the Missouri Legislature, they have reminded us daily that Black Lives Matter.
On a similar score, I was thrilled to learn that the Urban League of St. Metropolitan Louis, under the outstanding leadership of Michael McMillan, has managed to garner $500,000 to support the Save Our Sons Initiative by building a job-training center on the site of the now infamous QuikTrip that burned on West Florissant Avenue in Ferguson. As AAMS attempts to search for ways to make higher education part of young black men’s future, it applauds the Urban League’s efforts to make young black men active members of the job force.
In the area, we have witnessed what have seemed like hopeless situations in the past months, but we simply cannot afford to lose faith in ourselves. The members of AAMS are living out the dreams of their ancestors and will blaze trails for those who follow them. I charge that as long as we use whatever power we have to advance opportunity for our young people, there is hope, and with hope, we can imagine a bright future for black men.
Please attend the Can I live?: Imagining a Future for Black Males community panel 6 p.m. Thursday, April 9 at the Busch Student Center, Saint Louis University. It is free and open to the public.
Stefan M. Bradley is director of African American Studies and associate professor of History at Saint Louis University.
