Highly decorated Southern University alumnus retired Army Lt. Gen. Russel L. Honoré spoke to students during his book signing, sponsored by the John B. Cade Library, in the Smith-Brown Memorial Union’s Royal Cotillion Ballroom Monday afternoon.
Sometimes known as the “Ragin Cajun”, the Louisiana native served as commander of Joint Task Force Katrina and was responsible for coordinating military relief efforts for Hurricane Katrina-affected areas across the Gulf Coast.
“It was obvious that Honoré would be something special,” said Margaret Ambrose, special assistant to the chancellor in her introduction. “Only a leader can impose order onto chaos,” she added. Ambrose also stressed to the students that everyone has the potential to excel and that determination along with great focus will lead to success in life.
Honoré opened up his speech by saying that he was happy to be returning home to Southern University and reflected on his time here as a student.
“When I was in my first year here Dr. (Felton G.) Clark told us to look to our right and then to our left and he said one of us won’t be here to smell the Azaleas blooming in the spring and I took that as a challenge,” said Honoré.
He also gave students the three goals to success given to him by his 8th grade teacher; the first is learning how to do routine things well, secondly, do not be afraid to take on the impossible, and lastly, do not be afraid to act even when you are being criticized.
Throughout his speech he emphasized the importance of having a simple skill and how important it could be in life. Honoré retold a story of a boy who learned how to swim and how that simple skill saved his and his families lives during Katrina.
“Whenever I go and speak at different schools I always tell the students there that when I was in school we had a mandatory elective to take,” he said. “Dr. Clark told us we had to take and pass swimming before we graduated or we would not be allowed to. Clark saw something as simple as learning how to swim vital for us living in this area where a hurricane could come at any moment.”
Education and a level of preparedness was a big concern to Honoré, but poverty and social injustice was perhaps his largest, most passionate subject. He spoke of the economic decline and how “Wall St. and Main St.” are getting a majority of taxpayer money while those who live on what he called “Railroad St.” are too often left to fend for themselves.
“Every city has a Railroad Street and on this street are those living in poverty,” Honoré said before yelling “NO MORE POVERTY IN YOUR TIME!” to the students.
During the open discussion period where members of the audience would ask questions the challenge of how to motivate people to get out of poverty was raised.
“I feel that the people in this generation are better suited to help the next generation stay connected to education. There is no reason that a child should ever be disconnected from having a good education,” he said. “I feel as though this is your generation’s Vietnam; use your skills and opportunities to motivate the youth and get more active in regards to social injustices.”
According to Honoré the only way to put an end to these “Railroad streets” is to never become disengaged from education and learn to help ourselves. He also added that we need to learn to point out each others strengths instead of weaknesses.
“Let’s put our kids in these organizations such as the Boys and Girls Club to help find out what that child’s strength is and then build on it,” he said.
Lt. General Honoré authored two books; Survival: How Being Prepared Can Keep You and Your Family Safe and Survival: How a Culture of Preparedness Can Save You and Your Family from Disasters. He donated a few copies of each to the university which can be found in the John B. Cade Library.
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Honore: “No more poverty in your time”
August 23, 2010
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