diversifiedminds

Let me begin by saying that I have never seen the impact of racism in modern-day America so blatantly practiced than in the state of coaching in Div-1 college football. I have always believed that racism today is much more institutionalized than in your face. College football has not only proved that. It is my belief that college football has become the equivalent to the old-boy's club. And one of the only ways to join this network is to be a white man. In 2004 Tyrone Willingham was fired from the University of Notre Dame. At the time I thought he was given an unfair deal. In 2002, his first year at Notre Dame Willingham began the season 8-0 and won 10 games becoming the only first-year coach in Notre Dame history to win 10 games. For his efforts he was named the ESPN/Home Depot College Coach of the Year, the Scripps College Coach of the Year, the Black Coaches Association Male Coach of the Year and the George Munger Award College Coach of the Year by the Maxwell Football C...

President-Elect Barack Obama has decided to have the pastor of Saddleback Church in California deliver his invocation at his inauguration. Rick Warren has one of the best selling books in history, The Purpose Driven Life and is regarded as one of the leaders of the Evangelical Christian movement. His role at the inauguration would be fairly minimal. He would be blessing the ceremony and essentially that would be it. While his role is minimal, it is regarded as an important one by many. Gay rights activists and others have become enraged at Obama's selection of this man to deliver the invocation. Many regard his stance against homosexual marriage as the number one issue as to why they are against him. Others decry his stance on abortion as another reason that he should not deliver the invocation. My opinion is that anyone Obama picked to deliver his invocation would be a huge issue. As long as you are picking someone who is a religious figure, more often than not their stance on ...

Now I have resisted putting in my two cents on the current state of legal affairs that athletes have found themselves in during the past two weeks. Well the time for this is over. The gloves are off! O.J. Simpson: What the hell! Now if I got off on two counts of first-degree murder, when all of the evidence in the case either pointed to me doing it or knowing who did it, I would probably join a religious order and keep my ass quiet. Not this guy. He ends up trying to rob people of merchandise that technically he would have to sell anyway to pay off his settlement in the wrongful death lawsuit. Once he got arrested it became increasingly clear that he was going to get the punishment he deserved. Once I saw the make-up of the jury (all-white with the only blacks being selected as alternates) I knew he was done. And I could not be more happier. God doesn't like ugly. And O.J. represented all that was ugly. I think the funniest thing about this case is that O.J. was willing to take a...

Every now and again its important to take stock in the friendships that you have, and more importantly, why those friendships are important. I had the chance to come back to my university this past weekend and reconnect with some old friends. The dynamic is always interesting. Most of the people that I know who still attend my college were freshmen during my senior year and are now seniors themselves. I have kept in touch with them, been there as a resource when they needed and am quite impressed with where they all have reached. But coming back and really chilling with them is always interesting because it is sometimes easy to remember them for the young freshmen that they were and not the adults that they now have become. But after a few minutes the realization is there( lol ). We had the chance to chill, kick back, discuss life, and just live in the moment. What always impresses me about having gone to Boston College is the amount of respect and love that one gets when coming back, ...

This past weekend I decided to head up to my alma mater, Boston College, for the Voices of Imani Winter Concert. The Voices of Imani is a gospel choir that was founded over 30 years ago. Over time the choir has become one of the fundamental pieces for students of color and white students to come together and sing and praise. What struck me most about this year's concert was the true diversity of the choir. In years past there have been people of various races who sang with the choir. This year it was much more pronounced. I have always believed that the Voices of Imani served a much larger purpose than just bringing people together to sing gospel music. The choir was and is the reason that many students of color were able to complete Boston College. It served as a home away from home, the place to build and maintain a new family, as well as the fundamental unit for people who want a non-Catholic experience at Boston College to feel at home. These aspects are transcendent regar...