Bowie State Founders Day Key Note Address, This is Your Dream
I have to say that.. It’s an honor and privilege to stand here today, in Maryland, back on campus, addressing the next generation of change makers. I would also be remiss, not to give honor and glory to my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, for the grace and mercy he has provided me on this 33 year old journey, that led me right here.
I want to Thank Dr. Aminta Breaux, our 10th and 1st female president, Board of Trustees and also Johnetta Hardy for her continued support and having me here today. A lot has changed since the last time I was here. For starters, I noticed that there was a new entrepreneurship building. Entrepreneurship building….entrepreneur… . Luke Lawal Jr. School of Entrepreneurship has a nice ring to it right...
This past week I made a series of phone calls to people in my life to help find some inspirational words to share with you all. I asked a former professor of mine and she said;
“Talk about mentorship and all the people in your life today that helped you get to this point.”
Then I asked my account and he said;
“Talk about how much money you’ve made and how they can get there.
All jokes aside, the last phone call to my best friend was a little different; Instead of making a suggestion, he asked a question; All the days you walked through the campus of Bowie State University; who left the most impact?
And after sitting with his question for a while, my answer was simple; It was all the people I met here that helped me learn how to dream.
DREAM ONE
A dream is a succession of images, ideas and emotions that usually occur involuntarily in the mind during certain stages of sleep. Some experts say dreams have no connection to our real emotions or thoughts.
They are just strange stories that don’t relate to normal life. Some experts say our dreams may reflect our own underlying thoughts and feelings — our deepest desires, fears, and concerns
Nevertheless, experts still cannot not describe or instruct HOW to dream. See, dreaming is no easy feat. To dream is to do more than just closing one’s eyes and falling asleep. It’s hard to dream.
Dreaming requires hope. Dreaming requires faith. Dreaming requires that one must be able to visualize another reality, beyond what is tangible. And that is no easy task……especially in a world like this. Where racism, sexism, and classicism seem to be ever present and all powerful.
It’s hard to dream!
It’s hard to dream in a country like this, where black life does not seem to matter and black suffering is as accessible as opening our phones to Twitter and Facebook
It’s hard to dream where it seems like our neighborhoods lie in ruins, where resources are few but drugs and guns are plenty.
It’s hard to dream.
Yet, I can proudly say that I stand here today in a room full of dreamers. I would argue every single student and member of the class of 2022 is a dream come true. You are the result of someone else’s dream.
You are the dream of enslaved people on auction blocks and plantations not too far from here — And despite the chains that held their body, they dreamed of freedom and liberation for their children.
You are the dream of fathers and mothers who worked for hours on fields they would never own,
Picked and harvested crops they would never eat,
Cleaned houses they would never sleep in,
raised children that were never theirs but still had faith for a future that would be better for their family
You are the dream of those mighty men and women who marched in the civil rights era. Who despite the threat of nooses and water hoses they dreamed of a time where black men and women would be able to sit in classrooms and learn without fear.
You are the dream of every person’s life that was stripped away by the evil claws of white supremacy. Freddie Gray, Trayvon Martin, Eric Gardner, Sandra Bland, Shantel Davis. Shelly Frey. Kayla Moore. Miriam Carey, Richard Collins and even Jesus Christ himself. ……Dreams!
You are the dream of the founders of our beloved institution, who gathered together in the basement of a church in Baltimore and dreamed of a school where minds would be transformed and hearts would be inspired.
MY JOURNEY
When I first came to Bowie, it was hard to dream. But then I met dreamers, like my track coach Michelle Latimer, who made my cross country race worth the distance.
Then I met dreamers, like my microbiology professor, Dr. Tatum Broughton, who demanded more from me and taught me how to raise the bar. I met dreamers, like all the custodial staff who never let a day go by without calling me Hollywood and saying “that boy is going places”.
Professors, administrators, and staff that dreamed so big for me I didn’t have a choice but to believe in myself. And dream.
And it wasn’t just the adults. Bowie State surrounded me with Dreamers like Dior Ginyard, who transferred to Bowie after fracturing his skull playing football, BUT turned that same passion into a million dollar career in sports off the field.
Dreamers like Jonathan Macer and the entire dirty dozen, who helped me see it through, as we pledged the greatest fraternity on the planet. Omega Psi Phi Fraternity Incorporated and the greatest chapter in the world right here at Bowie State, Epsilon Sigma.
My dean introduced me to my favorite poem “If’ by Rudyard Kipling. My favorite line from the poem is;
If you can dream — and not make dreams your master;
If you can think — and not make thoughts your aim;
If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster
And treat those two impostors just the same;
See — the people surrounding these walls dreamed so big and so wide, that you didn’t have any choice to dream too. They didn’t try to make their dreams mine but they motivated me to have dreams of my own.
I’m sure all of you know how hard it is to dream and how hard it can be to hold onto dreams. Despite hard circumstances, trials, falls and mistakes, you have dreamed anyway.
Some of you had family issues but you dreamed anyway,
Some of you had money issues but you dreamed anyway.
Some of you had neighborhood issues, some of you have science issues, English issues, math 99 issues but you’re still dreaming. Some of you know what hunger feels like, some of you know how anger feels and frustration, depression and loneliness.
And all of us know what wanting to give up feels like, but you dreamed anyway.
My family taught me how to continue to dream.
My Mother, a foreigner to this country, raising two kids, working three-four jobs but still managing to graduate summa cumme laude at Howard University — dreamed of more opportunities for her children.
I remember being 12 years old; asking my mother to sign a permission slip for me to go on a field trip to New York City.
I was excited because I had heard about NYC, and even learned about it, BUT I had never been.
I couldn’t hide my excitement. I had the pen and paper ready — AND not to mention I was also on my best behavior all week.
So when signing was halted for a quick second, I was immediately sad. My mother said… Wait, why are you so excited? And I responded because I dreamed of New York all week.
Her response to me was; I’ve traveled to plenty of cities and over 10 countries and counting. When I was 17 I left Nigeria to come to this country not just for an education but start a new life. It was my dream to travel to the states and have kids in a country filled with opportunities. BUT Now, It’s my dream that you begin to travel the world, experience it for yourself to find a place to call home.
Today I have been to 45 of the 50 states and nearly 10 different countries.
My mom made room for me to dream.
Right on this campus; in a dorm room filled with four dreamers, — YES It was tight. I sparked a concept that led me to my first million-dollar business; HBCU Buzz.
See I dreamed of a time where HBCUs would be celebrated in mainstream media, for our many achievements and not our few shortcomings. See I dreamed of a period where people would stop asking if historically black colleges are still relevant BUT start asking where we would be without historically black colleges. When I began to conceptualize this dream out loud, in a dorm room full of dreamers. A match took flame in my soul creating the catalyst that fed my desire to transform this dream into reality.
And then I kept dreaming, then came the second company Taper, Inc.
And then I kept dreaming, then came the third company Root Care Health
And I’m not done dreaming yet.
I owe it to my family to keep dreaming.
Although we are all already a dream come true, just by being here, I challenge you to continue dreaming.
T.E. Lawrence once said,
“All people dream but not equally. Those who dream by night in the dusty recesses of their minds awake to the day to find it was all vanity. But the dreamers of the day are dangerous, for they act out their dreams with open eyes.”
So, take this occasion, this Founders day, not just as a dream come true but a license to continue to dream. For there is nothing more dangerous than a black man or woman with a diploma in one hand and a dream in the other.
We challenge you to dream of a better Maryland
We charge you to dream of a better America.
We compel you to dream of a better World.
Dream passionately. Dream ferociously, Dream courageously. Dream fearlessly, Dream lovingly.
In these seats are future doctors, future lawyers, future senators, future teachers, future politicians, future armed forces members, future beauticians, future barbers, future chefs, future musicians, future scientists, future architects, future trade specialists.
I know the world needs your specific talents and crafts, but my hope is that no matter what you do, wherever you go, however you go, no matter what happens you never stop being a dreamer.
I’m reminded of a story by Laury Beth Jones. She tells a story of a young man who has fallen asleep. Upon falling asleep he was having an amazingly vivid, beautiful dream. He was running in a field with fresh cut green grass bordered by daisies, lilies and roses.
He is running joyfully and gleefully through this field and all of a sudden, his dream is interrupted by a bear. This bear is chasing him through the field and the young man is filled with fear and panic. He is running and running out of breath, soon he begins to tire and then begins to fall.
In desperation he looks at the bear and says
“Mr. Bear, are you going to eat me?”
And the bear stops midair and says
“I don’t know. This is your dream.”
To the class of 2022 this is your dream.
You will make the difference, this is your dream
You will change the world, this is your dream
You will be the one, this is your dream
This is your dream.
Thank you.
