Commentary

COMMENTARY: Robert F. Smith’s Morehouse and the call for self-sufficiency

SOUTH FLORIDA TIMES — Dozens of white parents were recently accused of paying millions of dollars in bribes to get their children into Ivy League universities. Such luxury is not available to African Americans, even if they were so inclined. Elijah Dormeus’ father died when he was 7 and he and his eight siblings were raised by a single mother in Harlem, N.Y., USA TODAY reported. His student loan debt to attend Morehouse College totaled $100,000. Brandon Manor also owed $100,000 and John Cooper, $98,000. But their loans will be paid off because another rich person saw a different way to use his wealth.

Published

7 years ago

June 12, 2019

Mohamed Hamaludin

By Mohamed Hamaludin

Dozens of white parents were recently accused of paying millions of dollars in bribes to get their children into Ivy League universities. Such luxury is not available to African Americans, even if they were so inclined. Elijah Dormeus’ father died when he was 7 and he and his eight siblings were raised by a single mother in Harlem, N.Y., USA TODAY reported. His student loan debt to attend Morehouse College totaled $100,000. Brandon Manor also owed $100,000 and John Cooper, $98,000. But their loans will be paid off because another rich person saw a different way to use his wealth.

Robert F. Smith, 56, whose fortune, at $5 billion, makes him the richest African American — and one of only two African American billionaires – the other being retired basketball player Michael Jordan – was delivering Morehouse’s commence address on May 19 when he suddenly announced that he will pay off the debt of the entire class, which could be up to $40 million.

The Detroit Free Press reported that, in 2017, the average student debt at Morehouse, the Atlanta-based men’s college, where tuition, room and board cost about $48,000, is $31,833 and eight in 10 students have loans. The New York Times reported that, overall, African American graduates owe about $7,400 more than whites. Citing a report from the Brookings Institution, the paper said that, four years after graduation, African Americans still owe an average of $53,000 or twice as much as whites.

Forbes magazine put the number of billionaires in the U.S. at 585 with a total net worth of $2.4 trillion. Andres Viglucci reported in The Miami Herald that “30 fulltime resident billionaires — one of the highest concentrations in the world” live in Miami-Dade and “occupy the top of the pyramid atop deep and widespread poverty, a small and shrinking middle class and a large workforce dependent on poorly paid service jobs.” Viglucci was citing a report, “Toward a More Inclusive Region,” co-authored by urbanist Richard Florida and New York University professor Steven Pedigo for the Miami Urban Future Initiative think tank at Florida International University. The researchers found that the rich-poor gap is worse only in New York City and on par with Panama and Colombia.

Those wealthy people do nothing to help the communities that offer them an oppor tunity to shelter their assets due to Florida’s generous property safeguard laws.

But then Smith seems to have been made from a different mold. He grew up in a predominantly African American community in Colorado, his parents high school principals with doctorates. Wikipedia says that as an infant his mother took him to the March on Washington, where Martin Luther King Jr. delivered his “I Have a Dream” speech. The New York Times reported that when he was a child she was sending monthly checks of $25 to the United Negro College Fund.

Smith studied chemical engineering at Cornell University and business administration at Columbia University. After a variety of jobs in finance and technology, he founded Vista Equity Partners in 2000, specializing in buying and selling software companies and managing assets totaling $46 billion. His growing wealth did not pull him from his community but, rather, sharpened his interest in the economic condition and educational opportunities of African Americans.

But his Morehouse gesture is not without critics. “The penny-pinching parents wonder where’s their reward for driving their cars until the vehicles have to be towed off the road,” Michelle Singletary commented in The Washington Post. “What do they get for forgoing expensive vacations so that they could put money in a … college savings plan, thereby eliminating or greatly reducing the need for them or their children to take out student loans?”

Anand Giridharadas, author of “Winners Take All,” told The New York Times that donations such as Smith’s “can make people believe that billionaires are taking care of our problems and distract us from ways in which others in finance are working to cause problems like student debts or the subprime crisis on a epically greater scale than this gift.”

Both may have a point and perhaps Smith should instead have followed the lead of Oprah Winfrey and help those who cannot afford loans or are in danger of dropping out of college. Winfrey donated $1 million to Morehouse 30 years ago to establish a scholarship fund in her name; it has since grown to $12 million.

Still, because of Smith, Elijah Dormeus can now focus on helping his younger brother, Jeremiah, pay for college. Brandon Manor can widen his medical school search and John Cooper can pursue his plan to attend law school.

And Smith had a challenge for the students: “Let’s make sure every class has the same opportunity going forward, because we are enough to take care of our own community. We are enough to ensure we have all of the opportunities of the American dream and we will show it to each other through our actions and through our words and through our deeds.”

Dormeus, for one, plans to do just that. He is hoping to create a foundation to help people pay off their debts and get into college, USA TODAY reported.

This article originally appeared in the South Florida Times

Mohamed Hamaludin

Posts by Mohamed Hamaludin

Up Next

Toyota TILT Lab Augmented Reality

Don't Miss

A Storm Preparation Checklist

Mohamed Hamaludin

Click to comment

Commentary

COMMENTARY: Oakland’s Black Students Have Gained Ground: We Shouldn’t Stop Now

New state data reveals that Black students in the Oakland Unified School District are making academic gains in reading and math at rates significantly faster than their peers statewide. These improvements follow a 2023 decision by board leadership to cancel school closures and instead invest in the Black Thriving Community Schools program. While the district continues to address budget challenges, proponents argue that maintaining these targeted resources is essential to narrowing long-standing achievement gaps. Read more about the specific policies driving these results.

Published

1 week ago

November 3, 2026

Post News Group

By Walter Riley

Oakland’s Black students are making faster gains in reading and math than Black students statewide, according to state data released Oct. 15.

Those gains followed decisions by school board President Jennifer Brouhard and Vice President Valarie Bachelor to keep schools open, invest in Black students and support teachers.

Since 2023, Black students in Oakland Unified School District have gained about 31 points in English and math on the California School Dashboard — roughly three times the statewide English gain and more than twice the math gain. Our students still trail their statewide peers, but they have narrowed that gap by about a third.

In 2022, the previous board voted to close or reduce grades at 11 schools, mostly serving Black and Brown families. A state civil rights investigation later found the plan would have unlawfully discriminated against Black, low-income and disabled students. Brouhard and Bachelor opposed those closures and, after winning election, voted to cancel remaining plans in January 2023.

The board then expanded support through Black Thriving Community Schools, providing additional resources where Black enrollment exceeds 40%, and funded teachers dedicated to Black students and families. Its reparations policy requires schools to develop plans for Black student achievement.

Meanwhile, the district reduced a $100 million budget shortfall to about $30 million without closing schools, cut central office positions and approved its first balanced budget in 22 years. More than 99% of teaching positions were filled when this school year began.

These investments must grow. Black Thriving Community Schools still reach only some students who need them. Every Oakland child deserves a safe, racially just neighborhood school staffed by qualified teachers who can afford to stay.

The opposing slate argues closures should remain an option to address budget pressures. But a Stanford study found closures do not improve district finances because departing families take student funding with them. Other research links closures to lower college attendance and adult earnings. Majority-Black schools nationally are more than three times as likely to close.

Oakland knows the consequences. There is another path. Brouhard and Bachelor have begun moving Oakland in that direction, protecting classroom investments while confronting financial pressures.

Progress deserves continued public support. We cannot afford to reverse course.

About the Author

Walter Riley is a civil rights attorney and longtime community organizer in Oakland.

Post News Group

Posts by Post News Group

Black History

From Backyard Grilling to Jack London Square: Jamale Carlyle’s Chicken Wing Success Story

Jamale Carlyle turned a backyard hobby into a flourishing business after using grilling to cope with the loss of his mother and sister. The former corporate executive and CPA transitioned from a twenty-year career in the power industry to selling chicken wings at farmers’ markets in Tracy and Oakland. Following immediate success and viral social media attention, Carlyle opened two permanent storefronts and established a charitable partnership to support local youth. His journey highlights a unique path from internal auditing to community entrepreneurship. Read more.

Published

1 week ago

November 3, 2026

Post News Group

Jamale Carlyle had a long career working for power companies before embarking making his grilling hobby into a business. Courtesy photo.

By Tanya Dennis

For Jamale Carlyle, what began as a way to cope with personal loss has grown into a thriving chicken wing business with locations in Tracy and Oakland’s Jack London Square.

Raised in Los Angeles, Carlyle remains a southern kid at heart, guided by the values and principles instilled in him growing up. In 2020, he lost his sister, and two months later, his mother passed away. The losses left him grieving half of his immediate family and searching for a way forward.

He turned to God, and to two favorite pastimes: grilling chicken wings and deep sea fishing. Friends who gathered in his backyard encouraged him to turn his chicken wings into a business.

Carlyle had built a successful corporate career before becoming an entrepreneur. An economics graduate of the University of California, Irvine, he earned a master’s degree in accounting from the University of Southern California and became a certified public accountant (CPA).

He spent more than 20 years in the power industry, including working for Edison International in Los Angeles and Boston. He later joined JP Energy Partners in Dallas, helping its team take the company public.

After moving to San Francisco in 2016, Carlyle spent 10 years with Pattern Energy, a wind energy company, where he served as vice president of Internal Audit and took on numerous corporate responsibilities.

But in 2025, grilling became more than a hobby. Carlyle began selling his wings at farmers’ markets, initially dedicating four hours every Saturday. Nervous about his first outing in Tracy, he wondered whether his friends had simply been encouraging. Instead, he sold out on opening day.

He later brought his business to Jack London Square’s Farmers Market, where he again sold out on his first day. As demand grew, he expanded into catering before opening his Tracy storefront in May 2026 and his Jack London Square location in July.

Social media helped fuel the momentum. In Tracy, enthusiastic reviews on the community’s Rants and Raves Facebook page brought customers through the door. His Jack London Square debut also gained traction online, generating approximately 100,000 views on social media on his on opening day.

Still processing the rapid growth, Carlyle describes the business as something that began in his backyard as a stress reliever and became an unexpected calling, and a way of giving back.

“Giving back” has led to a partnership with Mike Jenkins, owner of Oakland Strong, a nonprofit gym known for Olympic style weight lifting and developing national and international champions. After Jenkins visited Carlyle’s store with members of his team, Carlyle returned the visit, and the two began discussing ways to partner to support the community.

“I’m really big on charity. I believe in giving back to the community,” Carlyle said. “I knew before I opened my store, I’d be doing something like this, this is what God wants me to do.”

Their collaboration will introduce the “Oakland Strong Bowl,” featuring 10 dry-rub Cajun wings and a vegetable-rice bowl for $17.99, with $2 from each purchase donated to the Oakland Strong Foundation. The initiative is expected to launch in early November.

“This builds community in Oakland and Jack London Square,” Carlyle said.

Looking ahead, Carlyle plans to expand the menu with chicken thighs, chicken tacos and additional sides. He is also pursuing a liquor license to create a destination where customers can enjoy wings while watching sports.

For now, he is focused on growing his two locations. But with customers embracing his food and his commitment to giving back, Carlyle sees the possibility of bringing his chicken wings to more communities throughout the Bay Area.

Post News Group

Posts by Post News Group

Commentary

OPINION: We Can Restore Checks and Balances on Trump

With the presidential administration facing criticism over its handling of healthcare, inflation, and government spending, political observers are shifting their focus toward the upcoming congressional elections to restore institutional checks and balances. Recent data suggests Democrats are within reach of the 218 seats needed for a House majority, while specific Senate races in states like Texas and Michigan remain pivotal. The outcome of these contests will determine the legislative branch’s ability to challenge executive policies on tariffs, taxes, and military engagement. Click to read more.

Published

1 week ago

November 3, 2026

Post News Group

By Emil Amok Guillermo

Rapper Nikki Minaj is the latest high profile political tool of Donald Trump. The president recently remarked on the Afro-Trinidadian singer’s backside, praising her “beautiful ass.”

Is this what passes as an appeal for the Black vote? But Trump is an equal opportunity offender.

At recent rallies, Trump made homo-erotic comments about Republican men and their butts, like when he referred to Ohio Senator John Husted’s as a “pile of muscle.” But shouldn’t Trump be talking about the real issues?

Gas prices are now higher than they were under former President Joe Biden. Inflation is higher than when Trump took office, while he has redecorated the White House and already spent over $200 million on gold filigree. At least 3 million people have been kicked off of Medicaid or Obamacare because of Trump-backed legislation in Congress.

The country needs a change in how Trump does business. We need a strong independent Congress in both the House and Senate that will be our voice to stand up to ideas like a ‘forever war.’ Or tariffs against friend and foe.

This is the important math of the day: Democrats need 218 seats for a majority. Four more needed than their current 214. The latest Cook Report shows Democrats could gain 12-22 House seats.

But you still need the Senate, where Republicans have 53 members and the Dems have 47.

To have control, Dems would need to beat the tie breaker vote cast by VP J.D. Vance. Democrats need to get to 51 and that means four Senate victories on Nov. 3.

Of the key states politicos are watching, North Carolina and Georgia look blue. Can they get two more from toss-up states like Alaska (Mary Peltola?), Maine (Troy Jackson?), or Ohio (Sherrod Brown)? Observers are talking about two races in particular: Texas and Michigan.

In Texas the Talarico/Paxton race is fascinating. State legislator James Talarico is a choir boy compared to Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton—whose rhetoric and record suggest he would be more amoral than Trump.

Then there’s Michigan, where Abdul El-Sayed is running against Mike Rogers.

The Black vote has wavered there, with some high-level Black pols coming out against El-Sayed on Fox News. Trump has also called El-Sayed a “jihadist and a terrorist.”

Born in the U.S., El-Sayed is a highly educated Rhodes Scholar, and a physician. The “model minority” is a terrorist? But like all people of color, he gets othered. Assumptions get made. His skin color and his religion make him a terrorist.

What about local issues like the billionaire tax in California. Prop. 40? I hate direct legislation by propositions because the proposals are usually flawed and can’t be worked out easily—like if legislators actually did their job in the state house.

But taxing billionaires more has to happen on the state and federal level. Prop 40 is a start. Even if it’s one time and goes mostly to health care. It’s a start toward fairness.

Whatever you say. Just vote. Now. Early. Don’t wait.

About the Author

Emil Amok Guillermo is a journalist, commentator and comic monologist. See him on his micro talk show: YouTube.com/@emilamok1