Kadeem Parker: The Man with a
Message
by Connor Spaulding
These words by Mark Twain seem to perfectly
describe the attitude of most forward thinking students nowadays, and because
of that, it's no surprise that Kadeem Parker, a Mass Communications major at
Frostburg State University with a tendency toward the progressive side of
things, considers those words to be his favorite. He was born in North
Carolina, but moved to and was raised in Baltimore County. While he remains
undecided on where he wants to take his life, he remains fixated on making a
difference is his community, or as he calls it, “getting his message across,”
and believes that the current state of education is severely lacking in both its
connection to the world at large, and how little it does to engender social
connectivity. During his interview with a different classmate, Mr. Parker was
quick to run through the generic “conversation starters” that often open a
non-professional interview, but in this most recent one, he was very quick to
share his personal beliefs, not just on the fate and purpose of the education
system, but also his perspective on topics as touch as political bias and race
relations.
After a question regarding the recent tension as a
result of singer Beyoncé’s inclusion of Black Panther imagery, and the
subsequent boycott by police of her security detail, the conversation drifted
to the progress, if any, that had been made in the world of racial equality,
and the role of semi-militant movements like the Black Panthers. While Mr.
Parker did think that the Panther’s message of solidarity was a good one, as it
gave strength to an otherwise severely and unjustly weakened demographic, as he
puts it, “The tension between the police and the Black Panthers…twisted their
message.” He sees the recent back and forth, perhaps not as truly racial
tension, as it would have been thirty years ago, but as a needless display of
militancy where none was needed. He strongly believes that there is simply no
need for continued violent aggression to secure fair treatment, as, “in terms of
race in America, we’ve made great progress,” and returning to violent means of
expression, we all take two steps back for every one forward. But in spite of
all this, Kadeem Parker seems well aware that issues this obtuse might be well
out of the purview of someone who just wants to educate and entertain. But in
his final words to me, in regards to how we can all make the country, if not
the world, a better place, “everything’s already here.” All we need to do is
learn how to do is use it.
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