As the new Miss Florida A&M University, Kindall Johnson will revel in the pomp and circumstance involved with being a campus queen.Wearing a tiara and sash, she will appear at Rattler football games dressed in stylish suits. Johnson will offer a wave typically used only by dignitaries, and beam a smile that makes it easy to understand why friends and family call her Sunshine.
But her one-year reign will involve so much more than traditional pageantry. With the position, the Hillsborough High graduate embarks on a new mission of recruiting more African-American men from International Baccalaureate and advanced placement programs to FAMU, the state's only historically black public university.
You might expect Johnson, 20, to spend her time promoting women like herself. But with wisdom that goes beyond her years, Johnson said not enough is being done to help black men.
"If we want to change the black family, the black woman and the black child, we have to start with making the black man academically, spiritually and mentally sound," Johnson said. "The black family needs black men who can be positive contributors to the community.
"A lot has been done to empower the black woman, but not enough has been done to empower the black man, and sometimes I think empowering black women has come at the expense of emasculating the black man."
Johnson said she believes advisers and counselors don't encourage a lot of high-achieving black students — male or female — to consider FAMU and other historically black colleges.
An IB graduate herself, Johnson said she heard this remark more than once: "You're too smart for FAMU."
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This young lady is onto something.
ReplyDeleteMs. Johnson, kudos to you! Let's hope the black male on this campus including the President will support you wholeheartedly!
ReplyDeleteThe last enrollment numbers I saw showed that SBI had a student enrollment split of @ 50% male and 50% female. This is a GREAT thing because back a few years the male students way out numbered the female students. Let's hope we do not go in to wronmg direction, there is still a GREAT need for more women in the professional feilds of business.
ReplyDeleteDr. Ammons has always supported FAMU's students wholeheartedly. My child was a past member of the FAMU's Royal Court and he had nothing but absolutely praise & respect for Dr. Ammons. In Ms. Johnson's role as Miss FAMU, she will be the female student face of the university. She will be the top female student ambassador and will travel with the President to games & recruiting functions. I'm very impressed with this young lady and feel very confident that there will be some very positive things happening for FAMU as a result of her efforts.
ReplyDeleteCongratulations Miss FAMU and we wish you all the luck & success.
10am, you missed the point of this article. Actually while there are all sorts or commercials and programs for " young women", we've forgotten that our problems don't exactly look like the rest of the perceived public. Find any image of a male let alone black male on tv and examine what our boys have to look at. Not one Theo Huxtable. Boys, Dads and uncles are the butt of all jokes and edification is at their expense. The news reporters and commentators have joined chorus with the view that males are idiots, clueless, and insignificant or unnecessary. I applaud Girls in science etc, but look at our boys in anything. The numbers don't tell everything, but since we are in a female era, boys don't have to like being a boy and won't get a break because some men were and are jerks. We can change this, if we care. When we decided to change the world for women, we didn't think of what to do with the boys. No sense in teaching one side and not the other, unless you want these types of conflict.
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