All I Wanted Was A Reference Letter....
So let me tell ya'll what just happened.......
As most of you know, I've developed my #PowerOfWords presentation over the last couple of years and have recently taken that presentation/performance to college campuses... I've recently had the opportunity to speak at UK, Berea, Transy, EKU, & will be speaking at Asbury in the coming weeks... I think it's pretty unifying & dynamic to have a hip hop artist come into college classroom or lectures settings to share his experiences about community involvement, the power of words, inequality, etc.. In order to ensure more opportunities in the future I ask professors to write me reference letters. Those letters are important because they legitimize my message to professors that might be skeptical of a rapper coming to speak to their class.. This has never been a problem. Well, until a visited one of the aforementioned colleges recently.. I requested a reference letter a few days after my performance/lecture and was given the run around for a about a month. Finally after following up yesterday he responds " I will not be able to provide you a reference letter. Best of luck.." With ZERO explanation or context for his reasoning as to why he wouldn't write me a reference letter.. This is after this particular professor talked to me about how much he loved the performance as well as getting involved in some of the other things I had going on. Funny thing is, I've had several of his students contact me already about different things from helping with our #FreshWaterForFlint innitiative, coming out to one of our poetry events, and a couple just sent emails to thank me for coming and speaking. So the connection was made with whom my presentation was intended for... What hurt worse was he was a BROTHER! smh. It's hard enough trying to advance as an African American male and move & around in regular precincts let alone a hip hop artist trying to make his inroads in the college circuit to try and enligthen this younger generation.. In a lot of situations we are held back unfairly so why in the world would we hold our own back?! I wasn't asking for an honorary degree bro, I was asking for a reference letter...lol I usually don't share things like this but I was truly taken aback.... As much as I want to bring up Willie Lynch mentality, I'll digress and try to think the best.... Maybe he just lied to my face in fear of hurting my feelings and my presentation/performance wasn't that good as he said it was..... Yeah I'm sure that's it....... ;) Anyway... Just a little more motivation to keep pushing forward!! #BelievingInForever