Cultureless or Hopeless

Recently I have had an epiphany, that this wonderful campus of Southern University is missing something: Culture.
After looking at old yearbooks I have had a glance at what this campus used to be. A mixture of diverse backgrounds coming together to share a common theme, to make the world a better place for their children, for us.
They, the former students of Southern University, had the goal of developing and spreading cultural awareness to the masses.
In the 1970s, protests, sit-ins, and afro-centricity was in. Even the pictures, frozen in time, seem to give the viewer a sense of pride in heritage, in themselves.
A sense that those people knew where they were going and would stop at nothing to get there.
But in the political correct new millennium we have adopted a much different view. The campus is now strongly separated into sects, the athletes, the Cali Crew, the Honor’s College, the Greeks, the media, the band, etc… so many sects that unity now seems impossible.
We have no cause, we have nothing to fight for, and we have lost sight of our goals and our culture. It seems that we the children of those Afro sporting, protesting, unified proud black youths have taken for granted all the things that they did for us, the hard work and the foundation they laid for us.
Most people on this campus don’t even know why the Smith-Brown Memorial Union is named Smith and Brown. Even those illustrious members of Unionological Sciences (study of the arts of spades, dominoes, pool and cutthroat) don’t know the history of their own department.
So now you ask where does culture have anything to do with this?
As I walk down the strip on my daily routine of going to class, stopping by the game room, and bumming around the Digest office I see that our campus has become a breeding ground for followers. Please take no offense, I mean I like Iceberg, Ecko, Phat Farm, Sean Jean and Lil’ Mo as much as the next person, but there is only so much a girl can handle.
And even as I look into the cafeteria on Sunday I see less and less dresses and ties and more and more pajamas and flip flops. Even Sundays on this campus are becoming Cultureless.
People are becoming Super-Super-Super Seniors with graduation far out of sight and it doesn’t bother them that the graduation rate has gone down dramatically. Only one out of three will graduate with their class.
Have we, the students of Southern University lost hold of our focus or are we searching for a new cause? Maybe it’s just that our generation is a little more selfish and forgotten about us as a people.
It is for you, the student, to decide if we are just Cultureless and need to find ourselves, or forever hopeless.</</p>