Thread by @michaelharriot

Amid all the talk about HBCU football, here's a story about @IAmKRSOne, an HBCU football team and the time I almost got fired for ghosting a legend.

A thread.

In 1994, Benedict College hires Dr. David Swinton, a trailblazer in looking at economics through the lens of race. Swinton was at Harvard when they hired some guy named Derrick Bell, who pioneered this idea you probably haven't heard of called "Critical Race Theory."

Needless to say, Swinton was a legend, especially for this dude named Michael Harriot who was in grad school studying macroeconomics & teaching a class called "race as an economic construct.

Swinton left Jackson State for Benedict, an HBCU founded on an actual plantation.

They were underfunded, enrollment was down and they had a problem attracting Black males.

But Swinton had a plan.

If there is ANYTHING I know by heart, it's Swinton's 8-point strategic plan to increase enrollment, expand the campus, and transform the school by the year 2000

One of his ideas was to increase enrollment was to hire the best & brightest and enroll in Black men.

How?

He was gonna start a football program.

Benedict HAD a football program in the 1800s but it had literally been gone for 100 years

To do all this, he needed A LOT of money

He needed someone who could explain the economics, the history and tell the story of Benedict that would get Black ppl to give millions of dollars for this Capital Campaign?

Who?

Black women, of course.

He created an all-star team

At point guard was Barbara Moore, was the legendary Barbara C. Moore. She was a civil rights activist, president of Zeta Phi Beta, and one of the smartest and best cussers I've ever met.

Damn, I love that woman.
biography.jrank.org/pages/2470/Moo…

As VP of institutional advancement, Moore was in charge of alumni giving, UNCF, corporate giving and Public relations–all headed by HBCU grads.

Then he hired someone to communicate with all of these offices, stakeholders & the public while telling the history of the school...

AND explaining the economic challenges to board members. Swinton's genius was that he didn't want a charismatic fundraiser or a good-looking rep, he just needed a storyteller and a writer.

So he hired this guy named Michael Harriot.

At the time, I was interviewing elementary school principals and going to school board meetings covering a local school board.
I wrote entire alumni newsletters, corporate prospectuses, press releases... My time at Benedict was the training job for every writing job I ever had.

I interviewed with Moore & the PR dept. first. They call me for a second interview with Swinton and I'm nervous AF.
I'm awestruck, of course. Swinton is stern but pretty nice. He tells me that aside from other duties, I'd have one more responsibility:

sports information director

Now, the football program had already started but they had played as a club football team. This year, they would be playing as an NAIA team with the goal of going to the NCAA

The team didn't even have a home stadium yet; they played at a HS football stadium

But he had a plan.

As I tried to dazzle him with my knowledge of economics, the one thing he said was that he was reluctant to hire me because I was so young and he was worried about me fraternizing with students.

"You're about the same age as my son."

How could he compare me to his teenage son?

His son is now the Dean of Economics at Howard University.

Anyway...

I was handling most aspects of the job. I loved football but I had NO IDEA what being an SID involved. Luckily, I had a mentor– Mr. Robert–an octogenarian ex-negro league player who became a sportswriter.

Mr. Robert taught me how to take stats, sports photography. How to act in the press box. He gave me books to read & taught me the history of HBCU sports. He wasn't just my mentor, he was my friend.

I know I wasn't Mr. Robert's BEST friend. That was someone else...

Swinton partnered with a local church to create this annual event called the Black Male Institute. My first year, they honored LeRoy Walker.

LeRoy Walker is an HBCU LEGEND. As a NC Central's track coach, he coached multiple NCAA champions & MULTIPLE COUNTRIES to Olympic gold.

Then he became the president of a little organization called the US Olympic Committee. And bc we were both Ques, we hit it off! Hanging out with Mr. Walker & Mr. Robert was like getting a lesson on the history of HBCU sports.

Here's a pic of that night.

Of course, Swinton loved this. Walker was being groomed to be one of Benedict's biggest donors. Walker was a big health & fitness advocate. If ANYONE could raise millions for this football program, it was Walker, who knew the challenges of HBCU sports.

Plus, Swinton had a plan

They were gonna invite Walker back for homecoming to announce that the proposed stadium that would put BC's program on the map

Moore told me, in no uncertain terms, that I was gonna schmooze TF out of Walker.

There was just one problem:

KRS-One

As a dedicated hip-hop head, I was ELATED when I heard he was performing at the homecoming concert! I figured my gf at the time might like the co-headliner, an R&B group who released their 1st album.

I'd never heard of the group; I just wanted to see KRS-One. But my gf knew them

The problem was, the concert was at the same time as a big fundraising dinner for corporate types, alumni and donors. And BC is a Baptist school, so we were NOT supposed to mention that we'd hired a rapper for HC. The religious supporters weren't having it.

But I had a plan

I was gonna take my gf to the concert, leave early & make the banquet

Swinton had warned me about decorum & fraternizing with students but I was wearing a suit. There was no way he'd ever find out I was at the concert anyway! It was a taboo subject!

There was one problem

Remember that R&B group? Well, between the time we booked them for homecoming and the actual concert, they had blown up and my GF BEGGED me to arrange some pics. I had no idea why she was so enamored with this unknown boy band, but we got her pics

Y'all ever heard of 112?

I'm glad we did, because KRS ended his set with an epic freestyle and he even mentioned me!

Anyway, we made it to the dinner just in time! I schmoozed Dr. Walker for the entire weekend. No one even seemed to know that I was at the heathen concert with the students.

If you don't know, the Monday after an HBCU campus is like the day after Super Bowl. Basically, if anyone shows up to work, they don't do anything. I come in tired AF and get a message that Dr. Swinton wants to see me

I figured he wanted to discuss media coverage for homecoming.

One of my jobs was to give him a compilation of the media coverage for the week. Usually, our interns did this. Now, I am one of the few ppl on staff who went to a PWI, so he's explaining the unique challenges of HBCUs, public perception ... a lecture I'd heard a million times

He spins his chair around and starts a videotape of a segment from the morning news. Dr. Moore was there and I could hear her cussing under her breath. I had no idea where this was headed until the tape plays.

They talk about the BC homecoming and the emergence of the school.

ANd they mention the concert with "noted rapper KRS-One." Thankfully, he wasn't too explicit. But as he freestyled, the camera pans to the subject of his improvised lyrics...

"Y'all know what KRS is about
Look at the nigga in the suit at the show...wilding out"

I didn't lose my job and I still go to BC's homecomings every time I can
Since then, BC has been transformed.
They aren't in the NAIA & they don't play at a HS stadium anymore. They play in one of the top 10 stadiums in NCAA Division 2

Oh, in case you were wondering about those "modern facilities on both sides of the stadium?"

The Leroy Walker Health & Wellness Center was part of the strategic plan.

That's partly why BC is one of the few HBCUs in the country where the male-female ratio is ~equal.

But building a successful program at an HBCU is different. It takes time & resources. PWIs don't have to find SIDs who also write newsletters and student brochures and help raise money for the facilities.

We all we got

Ask the 2022 undefeated SIAC champions

The Benedict Tigers

benedict.edu/the-transforma…