Asante motivates SU students to make progress within their communities

On Wednesday, Feb. 7, the Men’s Federation presented Morgan State professor Molefi K. Asante Jr., in the Cotillion Ballroom as a part of the Southern motivational speakers series.
Asante, 24, is a college professor and award-winning fashionable author and screenwriter who has been compared to the famous artists of the Harlem Renaissance. He is mainly acknowledged for authoring writings that have a propensity to address civil rights or societal justice issues.
Born in Zimbabwe and raised in Philadelphia, Asante is the son of creative scholar Molefi Kete Asante and choreographer Kariamu Welsh.
His latest book, “Beautiful. And Ugly Too,” received a Best Book Award from Black Reader and was acknowledged by the Los Angels Times as “A thought-provoking journey down the lonely road of wisdom and whiplash.”
Charles Fuller, Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright, noted Asante, as being, “One of the most important writers of his generation.” His writings have been published in USA Today, Tampa Tribune, and the San Francisco Chronicle.
Asante also wrote and produced the movie “500 Years Later”, which was the winner of the Pan African, Bridgetown, Black Berlin Cinema and Harlem International Film Festivals.
Asante, spoke words of encouragement and truth, which highlighted his message of personal change that he was trying to convey with the audience through a quote of his own on Thursday.
Asante said he came up with the quote when he was a little boy and has stuck with it ever since, and it has been his motivation towards trying to change the image of the black community.
“When I was young I just came up with the phrase, ‘If you make an observation…you have an obligation,” Asante said. “It has been with me ever since because it’s a simple phrase but it means so much.
“It means if you see something wrong going in the world you don’t just stand there and observe, you have to take personal responsibility to do something about the situation,” he said.
Asante urged the audience to acknowledge there is a struggle still going on within the black community.
“We can’t numb ourselves to the reality that we are still being attacked,” he said. “There are individuals (black people) who have succeeded, but as a whole we are divided.”
The author also encouraged the audience not only to realize the struggle, but do something about it as well.
“Whatever field you’re in, whether it’s political science, agriculture, and engineering, etc., it is your obligation to try to make progress within your community,” Asante said.
Southern students said they were elated and thankful Asante was able to be a part of the motivational speakers series.
Kristen Miller, a junior political science major from Kingston, Jamaica, said Asante’s accomplishments and thought process is innovative at such a young age.
“I could not believe that I was hearing so many innovative ideas of truth,” Miller said. “I was astonished at how many accomplishments he has received at such a young age. I really enjoyed hearing him speak.”
Sophomore Shree Bostick, from Atlanta, said Asante’s message encouraged her to promote change within the black community, and within herself as well.
“His message made me realize that I can only help change my community if I change myself first,” Bostick said. “I now realize that it starts with me as an individual and than it can spread amongst others.”