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`Dr. Jawanza Kunjufu’s lecture “If you’ve never liked history, start liking it now”, was a statement that Dr. Jawanza Kunjufu was not ashamed to say.
The Nationally known bestselling author spoke to Millersville students and the community at his presentation entitled, “To be popular or smart: The Black Peer Group”.
Beginning his career in 1974 after graduating from Illinois State, he went on to publish more than 25 books and even made an appearance on Oprah during his 35-year career.
His opening remarks were a snippet of a history lesson about Fredrick Douglas and W.E.B Dubois and how their actions then are relevant today for the black community.
The lecture in its entirety shed a whole new light on how we view statistics, for he is a firm believer that numbers do speak words.
He gave us an idea of how our society, racism, and the education system work especially in the black community.
In regards to education for example, only twenty percent of African Americans graduate from Millersville, and scored an average of 1291 on the SAT’s, the lowest out of other races, with Asians being first with an average score being 1600.
The reason for the gap as he explained was income vs. academic achievement.
He informed us however, that even though racism is still in existence we can “overcome it by knowing our culture.”
It was surprising to know that 76% of Drug dealers in American were white; that 28,000 dollars was spent on sending individuals to jail when it could be going towards a students tuition; and when it comes to STD’s, one in every four white people are infected while one in every two black people are infected.
Crazy huh? The ratios to these statistics and others became definite eye openers leaving the room silent during one point in the presentation when Dr. Jawanza Kunjufu asked, “Why do black men, kill other black men?”
The room did not respond, allowing him say, “Your silence disappoints me, you’re supposed to be critical thinkers.”
The answer to the question: It’s because they hate themselves. He made the audience begin to question themselves after saying, “what you spend the most time doing is what you do best.”
Towards the end of the lecture Dr. Jawanza Kunjufu told us that Americas divorce rate was fifty percent, while giving us the four stages of a good relationship; 1. The selection process;2. Romance;3. The Problem Stage; and 4. Commitment.
As freshman Biology major Khanita Johns explained, “He definitely gave the audience something to think about, other than assigning us homework.”
His ultimate goal was to make the students and the community become beneficiaries, learning from his statistical approach to make a change in ourselves and our society.