As a hoodie-wearing, ultra-liberal young black man with an afro and a faded Obama t-shirt I often get asked to comment on the Trayvon Martin case.  However, rarely am I asked in the context of someone actually trying to learn something, I am asked in the context of someone who wants to start an argument, usually something Gingrich or Hannity-esque, along the lines of a young person was shot by an over zealous community watch type person who thought he was a member of the Watchmen.  If only that were the case.  As it turns out Trayvon Martin’s murder was a hate crime committed by George Zimmerman in conjunction with the Sanford County Police Department.  It is unique only in the carelessness of the murderer and his police department accomplice.  Finally, and here is why it is on the blog, millions of young black men go to college to 1) help create a world where things like this don’t happen and 2) try and avoid this fate themselves.

While I don’t have a conservative screaming in my ear, let’s review what happened.  A regular citizen, with no official authority whatsoever and a criminal record clearly states his intention to follow and aggressively confront another citizen whom he suspects not of being in the midst of criminal activity, but of being a criminal, simply because of his race.  This citizen turns out to be an unarmed child who the regular citizen, a grown man almost twice the weight of said child, then guns down.

Stop right there.  Here are the details that make this particular occurrence unusual.  First, the caller uses racial slurs. Second, AFTER the killing, nothing is planted on the victim.  No gun, no drugs, no knife, no jewelry, not even a spork from the convenience store.  Third, the victim (at least as far as we know) never had any documented run-in with the police and Fourth, the officer presiding over the case was known not to prosecute the assault and murder of undesirables (like the homeless) for sport. From a machiavellian standpoint it is easy to see how this could have happened and none of us would have ever heard about it…like it actually does everyday.

More on what this had to do with college and debt after the jump

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In the beginning, we were not permitted to attend mainstream institutions.  Then we made our own, and for the most part did not desire to attend mainstream institutions though we maintained we had a right to.  Then we won that right with the blood of our dear saints departed.  Some of us exercised that right.  Some of us chose to maintain the communities which we built when “American” only referred to us when we were overseas, usually in uniform – and in harm’s way.

 For those who are familiar with my situation you know that I travel a great deal.  Observationally, and I say that because I do not wish to be inundated with statistics to the contrary (should they exist) I have noticed that those who chose to attend HBCUs were better off financially twenty years down the line.  I believe the answer has to do with Affirmative Action, Student Debt and a new “southern strategy.”

 Why is an entire generation of African-American elite saying/asking themselves: I borrowed 150k For This?!

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