0 From Malcolm Little to Lil' Wayne

Note: This editorial was originally sent to the hip-hop website "AllHipHop.com" following the backlash of an editorial by social commentator and author, Dr. Boyce Watkins which was published on their site. In the editorial, Watkins examines the parallels of the lives of a young Malcolm X and Lil' Wayne, from a sociological perspective, discussing how they were both products of a similar social structure (Click here to read Dr. Watkins' editorial) Yet, Watkins editorial was met with an overwhelmingly negative response from readers who found the thought of even comparing Lil' Wayne's life to Malcolm X's to be an insult. Me, feeling...

0 I AM Philadelphia's Youth: Why the inner-city youth's problems are the city's problems

Note: In January of 2012, I was at home in Philadelphia for winter break. As refreshing as it was to be around family and friends, I also had my memory refreshed as to the harsh realities of the city. By this time, I had already spent nearly five years in the quiet college town of Edinboro, PA, and I almost forgot about the deep rooted social ills which existed in "The City of Brotherly Love".  Violent crime, unemployment and inadequate education were still major problems within the city. I thought to myself, "There are major institutional and structural problems with the city of Philadelphia." Yet, to my surprise, a great deal of the...

0 Is The History Channel making us stupid?

I used to give the History Channel the benefit of the doubt. Nowadays, I just doubt its benefit. As a teen, my began to become increasingly interested in history. I loved to watch documentaries on various historical events and time periods on The History Channel. I was even willing to overlook some of The History Channel's faults because of my love of history. Its Eurocentric bias in the interpretation of history?  I was able to look past that. It's extensive, almost obsessive focus on WWII and the rise of Hitler? I could deal with that. Its tendency to show historical events from a romanticized, myopic, "America's...

3 Do we really value our education?

Published in The Edinboro Spectator: March 7, 2013 Dedicated to memory of LaQula Walker (1989-2013) A few days ago I was on Facebook when I saw a status post from an old friend that caught my eye. This friend was a former Edinboro University student who came here around the same time that I did, lived in my residence hall, except he didn’t graduate. He spent most of his time here partying, hanging out and doing other “extracurricular activities.” He was intelligent but he wasn’t focused. On his Facebook status, he spoke about how much he should have valued his time here in Edinboro instead of a viewing it as a place for partying and...