higher learning on the backs of our youth

I know this is supposed to be an inspirational column, but sometimes you just need to vent. Today, I am venting, hopefully you'll get something inspirational from it. Hopefully, you won't make the same mistake.

I recently attended a gala where a local representatives were supposed to award some college students scholarships for school. About halfway through the program it appeared to me that this function was more about the WHO'S WHO in Chicago, and had little to do with awarding funding for school.

How so? After I thought about all the money that was frivously spent for hosts and emcees, bringing in top name entertainment, $500 a plate dinners, and not to mention the $5,000 tables that sponsors bought (Where NO ONE from that organization showed up!)

I was really ticked off! How could we in good conscious support such an event in a community that doesn't provide economic security for the people who this organization is supposed to represent? How can we spend thousand of dollars in a downtown hotel that cares less about us as a people, but will take our dollars. We could have taken those same dollars and invested them in our own community with people who live in our community, and look like us.


I guess the fact that we can afford to rent these fabulous rooms, drive our luxury cars and wear our designer gowns and tuxes, is a sign that we've arrived. But have we really?

The only thing I could see from this event that we arrived at is the fact that we still don't know how to invest in ourselves. Now I wonder which corporate sponsor they can get who can provide a scholarship to do that?