HOWARD UNIVERSITY TO MY RESCUE

YOU NEVER KNOW WHO CAN REDIRECT THE ENTIRE COURSE OF YOUR LIFE FROM JUST ONE BRIEF MEETING. AROUND THIS TIME IN 1968, I WAS VISITING MY THEN-GIRLFRIEND IN ST. LOUIS, MISSOURI. I WAS 17, A SENIOR IN HIGH SCHOOL, AND WAS COMPARATIVELY WELL READ. HER UNCLE, HER MOTHER'S BROTHER, WAS THERE WHEN I ARRIVED. WE BEGAN TO TALK. HE ASKED IF I WAS PLANNING TO GO TO COLLEGE? I SAID YES. WHEN HE ASKED ME WHERE I WAS PLANNING TO GO, I NAMED BOSTON UNIVERSITY., UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO, OR CORNELL UNIVERSITY. HE THEN ASKED, "WHY THEM?" "BECAUSE THEY HAVE STRONG BLACK STUDENT UNIONS," I ANSWERED. "OH?" HE SAID. "DO YOU LIKE BLACK PEOPLE?" "OF COURSE," I SAID. "I'M BLACK!" "WELL, I DID NOT HEAR YOU NAME ANY BLACK COLLEGES," HE SAID. UNEASILY FEELING MYSELF ABOUT TO BE ENSNARED BY MY OWN UTTERANCES, I ATTEMPTED TO RATIONALIZE MY CHOICES BY SAYING THAT "BLACK COLLEGES WERE NOT READY FOR THE LIKES OF MILITANTS ME. AND THAT EBONY MAGAZINE HAD RUN MAJOR ARTICLES ABOUT THOSE BLACK-UNIONED COLLEGES THAT I HAD NAMED." HE SMILED. "BUT YOU DO LIKE BLACK PEOPLE? RIGHT?" HE ASKED. GULP! "YES," I SAID, TRYING TO AVERT HIS GAZE DUE TO MY OWN SENSE OF PALPABLE SHAME. "THEN APPLY TO HOWARD UNIVERSITY IN WASHINGTON, D.C. IT'S ONE OF THE BEST COLLEGES IN THE COUNTRY, IT'S GOT THOUSANDS OF BLACK PEOPLE, NOT JUST A FEW DOZEN LIKE THOSE THAT YOU NAMED." I WAS TRAPPED. DEFEATED. HUMBLED. I APPLIED TO HOWARD. WAS ACCEPTED. LOVED IT. GRADUATED FROM UNDERGRAD IN 1973. APPLIED TO HOWARD LAW SCHOOL. WAS ACCEPTED. MARRIED HIS NIECE. LOVED IT. GRADUATED IN 1976. MOVED HOME TO MISSOURI. PASSED THE BAR. PRACTICED LAW. HAD A GREAT SON. BY THE WAY, "UNCLE" WILEY HARRIS WAS NOT EVEN A COLLEGE GRADUATE WHEN WE SPOKE IN LATE 1968.