A few random thoughts . . . .

I went to a historically black college, Johnson C. Smith University. And while a lot of people my age credit A Different World for the reason why they chose an HBCU, for me it was only one of the reasons.
The main reason I wanted to go to a historically black college was because of my aunt and uncle. Two of the smartest people I had ever known, she was a graduate of Benedict and he was a graduate of South Carolina State. They both made history in education, he at the University of South Carolina and she in Richland County's school district.
I wanted to be like them.
And it started with going to a black college. My uncle passed away earlier this month. And the tributes to this wonderful man have been pouring in like a soothing rain.

White was USC’s first African-American coach in any sport, but his greatest impact on the school and on hundreds of its athletes came after he left that role to become an academic advisor for the team and then build from scratch the athletic department’s academic support department.

Henceforth is the word the pastor left us with as his funeral service came to an end. Now and forever my uncle will be remembered as a great man who touched the lives of everyone who knew him. A man who valued education, honored God, loved his family and football. Oh, he loved football. Word on the street is that when I was born, he said I would've been a great football player. I was a big baby. Uncle Harold was a man who could admire. He wanted all of us to be better. He taught a lesson in every conversation. You might not have gotten it at first, but in a quiet moment when you thought you couldn't do something, his words would push you forward.
I remember summers at my aunt and uncle's house. Him trying to teach me to swim. I was a horrible student. The cookouts. The lessons. But most of all the love.
You always think there will be more time. You never think that your heroes will die.
Thank God that I had this legend in my life. And I can selfishly wish for more time, but I'm going to be thankful for the time I had. Rest in paradise, Unc!