The Morehouse Crown of Conformity

Morehouse has a vision for the "ideal man." The vision is very biased. It was dreamed up in a vacuum. It can only be applied to her students and to other intellectuals in the black community and those few who happen to be sensitive to its needs. Yes, Morehouse places a crown above her students' heads etc... The harsh truth is that Morehouse really places a cookie cutter around some fresh dough (i.e. the incoming freshman) and forces that dough to conform to its cold, rigid shape. This conformity includes, but isn't limited to forcing a blind Africentric ideology on her students. Don't get me wrong, we as descendants of the members of the African Diaspora/MAAFA need to know from whence we came. It is a terrible calamity to try to solve the problems of today and prepare for the issues of tomorrow while being ignorant of the past. But this Africentric thought is blind because it fails to teach students how to utilize this knowledge in a Eurocentric world.

Morehouse also teaches her students complacency. It, in a sense, leaves students blind. Men of Morehouse are taught theories on why we should "go back to our African roots." The plain truth is that we as African Americans are so far removed from the indigenous African cultures that even they would likely reject us and us, them. Furthermore, we as African Americans as so far inbred with Eurocentric ideology that we frown upon the so-called primitiveness that is traditional African culture. In other words, black people in America are too materialistic to even comprehend a life lived in the way our African counterparts live. We are either too ignorant of our past or too arrogant to pay attention to it. With that said, I find it necessary to cease rhetoric on another Garvey "back to Africa" movement. It's pointless. I find it virtually impossible or futile to make attempts at trying to re-connect with our African self-identity. It seems that when we do, we take it too far and create a segregationist perspective on life.

As African American men of Morehouse, we need to be pioneers in the identification, creation, and nourishment of our own identity as blacks in America while still finding ways to honor our African ancestry. That does not mean that we need to be like the African people or our ancestors. That is not progressive behavior. There needs to be a stop to the excuses we use for our behavior and a stop to the teaching of these excuses to our children. We need to stop using slavery as a crutch. We need to stop using pan-Africanism as a crutch. We need to stop using the Diaspora as a crutch. Morehouse needs to teach her students how to develop this dysfunctional entity that is the black community. Morehouse needs to be at the forefront of this development. Being knowledgeable about African history/worldview is very essential, but application to issues going on in the black community is more urgent. This application is missing in the Morehouse mystique. Morehouse needs to stop complaining and making comparisons and actually do something. Be the change you want to see.

What's more, I think that one can earn a lifetime experience here. Morehouse can be a very enriching environment. It is not the same institution that Mays, King and Thurman once knew; however, it can be an institution of the next great leader-who-has-yet-to-be-named. Morehouse has become a school of conformity. No, not conformity to the outside world, but conformity to and within herself. She attempts to make her students conform to this "crown" that not all students are able or willing to conform to. But Morehouse lends only a deaf ear to those fateful students. And what happens to those brilliant black men who have been left behind by choosing not to conform to the rules; to the standards; to the mystique of that 'Old Morehouse Spirit', you ask? Morehouse subsequently leaves those brothers out to dry. Their dough simply could not grow correctly into that cold cookie cutter mold. Now ask yourself, is that the Morehouse your mother told you about?

This behavior is evident in the admissions process comparative to Spelman College. Spelman is much like a sorority. She seeks young women who are, in a sense, already Spelmanites. Once they get to the school, the girls are first given a rigid foundation, but then they are given the opportunity to create innovative ideas on their own that will impact society. (Mind you, Spelman does have her strict rules of conformity as well.) On the other hand, Morehouse seeks out young men who just might have the potential to be the quintessential Morehouse Men. Hence you see some students at Morehouse who look just like the people on Lowery Street versus the students at Spelman who pretty much look like the 'stereotypical' Spelmanite (I mean that in a good way btw). Morehouse then uses this "crown" concept to justify her principles of conformity through a forced curriculum and legacy. In a comparative light, Morehouse doesn't allow for the expansion of the massive creative vehicle that is the African American male psyche. Mother Morehouse feeds the spirit at the tragic expense of the loss of an innovative mind. Upon matriculation, every Man of Morehouse expands into that same old crown, then walks away with a degree four years later. Simple as that.

This Man of Morehouse of today has lost his identity as a true leader and non-conformist. Sadly, the only popular identity of a Morehouse Man known is the Dr. King model. Dr. King has somehow become the standard of a Morehouse Man. Period. The issue is that the world of today may not need another King. The world could just need another real Morehouse Man who will stand up to the clones of communal conformity and offer insight to international injustice. The current Morehouse Man has indeed fulfilled the old adage, "you can tell Morehouse Man, but you cant tell him much." However, we have twisted that saying to become complacent with the misfortunes of black community and have become increasingly arrogant in our dealings. There must be a change in the psyche of these, our men of Morehouse.

In closing, I profess that Morehouse does have the potential to be great. But potential energy is only kinetic energy waiting to happen. I also claim that you can get a filling greatness out of Morehouse only if you put an equal greatness into her. For every action there is an equal and opposing reaction. There is a lot of positivity going on around Morehouse and I am proud of it. The things you can and will learn here will be valuable on your journey as a man long after you have earned your last degree, written your last book, taught your last class, or delivered you final oration. I say this to my young brothers and Men of Morehouse: don't just reach for the stars, be different and discover new ones. I propose an amendment to the "crown" concept: What Morehouse does is implant a seed into her children. Perseverance, commitment and diligence will cause that seed to germinate. You'll discover yourself here and carry that seed of social justice, innovation, and fraternity with you all the days of your life. And that, my brother, is what Morehouse does do right.