TELL IT ON THE MOUNTAIN: Guest Speaker Rev. Lee Trollinger

On Thursday March 18th, I attended a guest speaker event held by Sigma Gamma Rho Sorority, Inc. and Malik Fraternity, Inc. titled TELL IT ON THE MOUNTAIN. The event featured Rev. Lee Trollinger a member of Malik Fraternity who has over 20 years of experience working with youth. Although many were inspired by the words of Rev. Trollinger, and his involvement working with inner city youth is something that I myself respect, I found myself saying "tell me something I don't already know." I later considered that maybe his entertaining story and humor would have been better for a different audience, maybe those that he seeks to and currently helps.

To open the event the guest speaker had us watch a clip that discussed the paths that many youth of color take, the reality of today's poverty stricken environments. Boys seeing success in the lights of becoming a basketball player, a rapper, or taking on the role of the neighborhood hustler. Including drop-out rate statistics and the opinions of Black success stories (authors, athletes and entertainers), this film aimed to show the importance of an education. Although I enjoyed the clip, again I feel that it would have been better for a younger population, not for a room of college students who know that an education is their key to success. Rev. Trollinger opened his speech with a letter from a child that he is currently caring for and then spent the next half hour telling us why its necessary for us to go back to our community and make a difference, as if most of us being "minority" students don't already know this. Speaking on his personal experiences I wasn't too sure if this event was one that was to be informative or motivational, as I looked back on to the flier which the organizations posted around campus. If he drove 3 hours to tell this room of students that they should go back to their communities and help the youth, I think that he only reiterated something that many of us know and are currently doing.

A Black man, who attends a four-year university, I do not need anyone to tell me about a reality in which I have faced my entire life. I currently mentor and sacrifice my weekends to travel to NYC to mentor two 11th graders who also face the harsh realities of an urban society. I stress to these students the importance of an education but I do discourage them from their aspirations, one being a basketball player. I feel like the clip showed by Rev. Trillinger was one that didn't embrace the harsh reality of why many students want to be a rapper, a professional athlete or the neighborhood hustler, the only images of success that are visible to many youth. How do you uplift a child who doesn't have positive role models? This is a question that I felt needed to be addressed, not telling me what I already know.