“You can remove the shackles that once had me physically bound, but without removal of the barriers placed on my mind, I will always be in bondage; I will always be a free man in search of my next prison.” Kabrina Amey
Statistics show that as of 2009, 84.1 percent of blacks graduated from high school compared to 87.1 percent of whites. For the same year, 19.3 percent of blacks graduated from college, declining from 19.6 in 2008, compared to 29.9 percent of whites. By not instilling the importance of education in our youth, we must suffer the consequences.
Homicide has become the number one cause of death for blacks between the ages of 15-34 and the number two cause of death for blacks between 1-4 and 10-14. In killing our African-American youth, our future is also being killed. After all, the children are the future. For the individuals fortunate enough to not become a victim of a violent crime, 294,700 blacks between the ages of 18-34 were incarcerated in 2009. Unfortunately, the number of individuals incarcerated is vastly increasing.
These statistics emphasize the need for education and shows what happens when we don’t “Think Back, Look Back, Come Back and Give Back.” Because we have depleted our scholarship funds, we had to turn down 25 of our students for financial support. Our youth is our future and a reflection of who we are. We must help them in their struggle for education. With enrollment at its highest, we still have students that are in need.
In an effort to better serve our students, BAS has come up with two goals that can only be achieved through a community effort. Our first goal is to raise $1 million for the BAS Endowed Scholarships. We do not want to have to turn down another student that needs financial assistance. Our second goal is $3 million to build an African-American center on campus. We want our students to have a place that they can call home on “The Hill!!!”
Please support the BAS Challenge Scholarship and, together, we can change these statistics! These students are our future and are a reflection of us. Let’s help them achieve and become all that they can!
Philanthropy (according to Kabrina): the donation of time and dollars to a cause greater than oneself.
For questions, comments, or concerns about anything in this article contact: Angela Monts at ammonts@uark.edu or Kabrina Amey at kamey@uark.edu.
