During my twenty-year tenure as a Professor at an HBCU, I learned that there are principally two types of people serving students in educational institutions whose origins grew from the impossible dreams for education amongst the descendants of formerly enslaved Africans. The two types of people I refer to are as follows.

• Those who consider the HBCU a stepping-stone until something “better” comes along.
• Those educators and mentors consider the HBCU the ultimate destination.

Of course, the catalyst to my thoughts is the recent verification that the University of Colorado Boulder has offered their head football coach position to NFL Hall of Famer and current Jackson State University head coach Deion Sanders.

When one considers Jackson State’s meteoric success during the past two years, 22-2 win/loss mark during that period, most would say that it is reasonable and deserved that “Neon” Deion “Prime Time” Sanders would ascend to a Power 5 school. Such people fail to understand the importance of healthy, thriving HBCUs to uplift Black America and the nation. For those that understand the above, the opportunity to serve at an HBCU for any length of time, let alone the honor of serving for one’s entire career, is an educator’s highest honor. HBCUs provide Black educators an opportunity to extend the grand tradition of Black education by impacting the minds of the next generation of American thinkers, scholars, and leaders who happen to be Black. Trust me when I say that such individuals serve at HBCUs by choice, not an inability to jettison to more lucrative and notable places.

Examination of Deion Sanders’ presence and voluminous multi-faceted contributions must occur within the proper context. The impact that I allude to extends further than the gridiron. In his relatively brief time at Jackson State, Coach Prime has served as an advocate and influencer for the Jackson State University (JSU)community and the city by calling attention to long-neglected issues ranging from inequitable distribution of funds to HBCUs such as JSU and egregious problems such as the absence of clean drinking water within the overwhelmingly Black city.

America’s history of racism, discrimination, and prejudice serves as the backdrop of every issue impacting Black America. How could it not? Belief in white superiority is so ingrained within this nation that many Blacks behave as if their affiliation with a predominantly white institution/business/university trumps anything Black America offers. Unbeknownst to such Blacks possessing such a dour view of their origins, their worldview serves as a major portion to the answer to why “Black folks can’t seem to get it together.”

So, as many await Deion Sanders’s decision, many affiliated with HBCUs will view this moment seeking to garner insight into an age-old question of “do Black people still think that the white man’s ice is colder.” A significant segment of Black America still prefers predominantly white institutions to HBCUs. If Deion Sanders chooses to exit JSU for the lily-white University of Colorado, it will be another psychological blow to politically astute Blacks for many reasons.

Even Omar Little, a character on The Wire, told us that a man must have a code. Hopefully, Deion Sanders will prove that some things are more important than “ascending to a Power 5 conference” and pursuing athletic accomplishments that ultimately mean nothing in this battle to liberate Black America.

The choice is his.

James Thomas Jones III, Ph.D.

©Manhood, Race, and Culture, 2022

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