“Do you realize that a university is one of the most radical institutions for a young mind to be in?” my friend challenged some colleagues of ours as we sat in the school cafeteria one bright sunny ‘Chicken Wednesday’. It was a christened ‘Chicken Wednesday’ by the managers of the cafeteria, and was the day of the week when the main course was, of course, fried chicken.

“Do you realize that this university challenges individuals to think for themselves! Do you now how significant and radical that statement is?” I pondered his words, my mind immediately throbbing due to the effect one has when a new perspective produces a sudden intellectual expansion. For the rest of our colleagues however, the phrase could not have been more efficiently reflected than an incident ray upon the silvered-surface of a bathroom mirror.

A similar occurence took place as I sat one day in Chemistry class. The lecturer, who happened to be white was of course, as usual, not talking about the subject matter of Chemistry. Instead he rambled on about moral and ethical issues affecting the black community, how we as black people should heed the advice of Bill Cosby, and an entire cornucopia of relevant, meaningful and contraversial issues. The issues he presented were as graciously accepted by his audience of students as an invitation to attend a Klu Klux Klan cookout, thrown by the same to raise awareness of white supremacy.

 It was like seeing a white Baptist pastor preach to the deceased parishoners of a southern Baptist graveyard. I made a mental note to not only bring my Chemistry book to class, but the King James version of the Bible, so as not to feel out of place during his spontaneous moments of zealousness.

“A lot of people sacrificed so that you could come to this institution and learn something. Don’t any of you care about possessing any of this knowledge?”

The students, save for one who said yes along with me, replied with a prison vault-like silence.

“My God,” he lamented, arms outstretched and drooping. He looked up imploringly towards the ceiling and seemed momentarily transfigured, as if he were a Christ looking up to His Lord, “My God, I think I just talked myself out of a lecture!”