The opportunity in America is incredible. If you work hard in America you can achieve anything and that is the American Dream. To achieve the Dream you need to first learn how to figure things out for yourself. Don’t be afraid to doubt the experts. Don’t be afraid to question conventional wisdom and most of all don’t be afraid to question authority. It will prove to be very useful to you in life. 

In so many African American homes young people are not allowed to question their parents. “Shut up boy, before I slap you with this greasy dish rag!!” “You children go out of the room, don’t you see that grown folks are talking!” To my parent’s credit my brothers and I were not ordered to leave the room when grown folks were talking. I can remember vividly the night that Rev. Ralph Abernathy and Activist Angela Davis and many other civil rights workers spent the evening in my home in Tarboro, North Carolina. My mother prepared a wonderful meal for the celebrity guest after which we all engaged in a great debate. Rev. Abernathy and the other civil rights workers had come to Tarboro in 1974 to protest the conviction and death sentences of the Tarboro Three who were later freed. 

For many years during my youth I had an opportunity to meet and engage in conversation with wonderful and fascinating people such as Rev. Martin Luther King Sr., Dr. Benjamin Mays, Maynard H. Jackson, Rev. Benjamin Chavis, Rev. Howard Thurman, Mrs. Rosa Parks, Judge Earl B. Gilliam, Jimmy Carter, Mrs. Corretta Scott King, Spike Lee and Dr. Jonas Salk etc. etc. From this lot I learned to figure things out for myself. These folks thought things out for themselves; they came to their own judgments and did not simply conform to conventional ways of thinking, to conventional ways of acting and conventional ways of dressing. 

My advice to young people and old people is to put a little more thought into what is happening around you everyday. I have a saying that I use very frequently: “There is a lot of nod nod wink wink that goes on in the world.” Go figure it out!

In the words of my dad: “Stay away from the pig ears and fried pork chops.  Eat more fruits and vegetables.”