June Scholar Profile
This month BAS is profiling Antonio Igbokidi. Please read Antonio’s bio and his beautiful poem. Please read to the END!!!
- Name- Antonio Igbokidi
- Hometown: Little Rock, Arkansas
- Year in school- Senior
- Major/Minor/Concentration- Biology and African American Studies. Concentration: Pre-Medicine
- Significant Involvement in 2015-16 (clubs, sports, etc.)-
- President of NAACP.
- Member of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity Incorporated.
- Ambassador and Tutor of Multicultural Center for Diversity Affairs.
- ROCK Camp Mentor
- Intern at Washington Regional Medical Center.
- Patient Care Assistant at MANA.
- Favorite class and why?
My favorite class is African American Studies because it is refr0eshing to be immersed in my history and never forget how it the past affects the future.
- Most memorable moment.
Being accepted into the UAMS/ACH Pediatric Summer Science Research Program
- Noteworthy honors/achievements:
Receiving the Gilman Study Abroad Scholarship.
Summer Science Program Intern - Study abroad and details (if applicable)I was accepted into the South Africa OTS Global Health Study Abroad Program, as well as the African American Studies Ghana Study Abroad Program.
- Summer plans
I will be interning at Children’s Hospital in Little Rock, Arkansas. I will be shadowing Pediatricians, preparing for medical school admissions, as well as conducting pediatric research on Cystic Fibrosis.
- What does the Black Alumni Society’s Scholarship means to you?
The Black Alumni Society Scholarship means everything to me because being awarded the BAS scholarship means that someone believes in my education, believes in me, and is giving me a chance of success that people where I am from do not usually get. I’m humbled and thankful for the enormous opportunity and blessing to serve as a BAS scholar.
- Favorite Quote
“Strength does not come from physical capacity. It comes from an indomitable will.” -Ghandi
Miracle
I love. Black women.
Black women are the essence of beauty.
Black women are the epitome of boldness
Black women are so fly, which is why
sometimes,
I don’t even need to say a rhyme.
I love black women.
Black women are magnificent
ambivalent
my stimulant.
my equivalent.
if I was to walk outside right now and get hit by a bus and wake up in the ER with an amputated leg,
Black women would be my new ligament.
I’m here to implement
a mandate sent by God,
to admire and appreciate
the finer things so heavenly.
you see for me, I can’t get enough of the 50 shapes of endlessly and 50 shades of ebony whose melanin gleams brightest than the bluest Tiffany diamonds.
their melanin;
is made out of a mosaic of miracles.
And black women let me just clarify, it’s not your booty, it’s your beauty.
the beauty that you hold outside and in. through the highs and the low
I love black women from head to toe.
From the crowns of hair that is deeply rooted like luscious mangroves with tradition and culture.
From their eyes, their real eyes, that recognize real lies and decipher truth. Even when it’s in disguise.
From their nose, their nose that can instinctively smell trouble cooking further than the eye can see.
From her mouth, her mouth that exudes frequencies of songs and praise that paint Picassos of Pride Pleasure and pain.
it’s through a black woman I finally understand and know why the caged bird sings.
From their tongue; their tongue that cannot be held by the cat of immorality and transgressions. For she is the judge, jury, and testimony to her own fate. Poetic Justice.
From their neck, their neck that refuses to break regardless of how tight the noose of inequality is.
which is to say, black women stand upon pedestals higher than destiny itself.
From her shoulders, her shoulders that have bore more than just the weight of the world.
From their backs, their scarred backs that have played the role of a defender for a black man, shielded him physically, socially, emotionally, mentally, politically, religiously and spiritually.
from her arms, their arms to hold me close like faith in a temple. she,
has faith in me
and she is my temple.
from their fingers, their fingers that deserve a matrimonial rock approximately located on their left proximal phalanges
because black girls don’t just rock, they rock for you and Rock with you.
from their breasts, their breast that have nurtured and fed generations upon generation without discrimination. It’s funny how both shades of the fence are only using them now for condemnation.
hallelujah to a black women’s heart, decorated with the mane of a lion and who’s splintered crack is mended with gold threads from the brokenness we’ve given them.
Frim their stomach and hyperbolic time chambers. Because,
The road may end 6 feet under in a tomb.
But it began 6 inches deep in your mother’s womb
as she sang lullaby’s to you at rest and molded you into success.
From the Sass and Style that they carry around their thighs and hips
Enough jump in their bass to make even the newest record players skip.
And while I’m at it, hallelujah to a black women’s attitude, because like the red markers on schoolwork, I promise she keeps the brothers in check.
For her knees, her knees that have kneeled down on the concretes of oppression before God to pray for a born sinner
like us who barely think of doing the same.
Hallehujah for their feet and toes for they have been an inspiration Because they’ll march on regardless of the situation.
Hallelujah to the conquering of a black woman’s struggles
For she is Kind.
She Is Smart.
She is Important.
Black women; I honor you.
I value you.
I respect you.
I appreciate you.
You see you are the descendants of Cleopatras, Hatenshputs, Nerfitti
Young West African Queens, Young East African Empresses.
Made from the finest wool of Gods pallet.
It’s time that You hold yourself to a higher standard and above all, through all, you shine.
And side note; As I come to my remainder here’s the disclaimer.
I know all women are important and
Hashtag- All Women Matter
BUT RIGHT NOW, this isn’t about y’all.
THIS IS ABOUT THE RACE OF WOMEN SINCE THE BEGINNING OF TIME HAVE NOT GOTTEN THE CREDIT APPRECIATION AND LOVE THAT THEY DESERVE.
We live in a generation of movements, retweets, and hashtags but refuse to follow them.
Well Follow this movement;
Hashtag Black Women Matter.
Because we need to let our black women know that they are loved.
Maybe this poem can be the Gun,
My words can be the bullets.
And a Black women can be the trigger
And we can initiate change on society
Four bullets at a time!
I love black women.
I love black women.
I love black women.
Do you?
