We have heard the need for more positive role models in the black community for decades, and not just men. We need role models of all kinds to push our kids from the foolishness of chasing pipe dreams to the reality of changing our world.

Jawanza Kunjufu breaks down this need for more role models, specifically male, to push our children into math and science in just over one minute. It is an eloquent plea for our community based in logic, reason and history.

Kunjufu refers to the fact that the first doctors were us. The first scientist were us. This is our area of expertise, but it has been lost over the past few milleniums and buried under our athletic prowess and capitalistic desires. He wants to unearth this and so does UI.

What was especially powerful in this clip was how Kunjufu breaks down the NBA desires of our young people.

1 million of them wanting to play NBA basketball.

4,000 getting an opportunity to go pro. 35 playing in the NBA.

7 starters in the NBA, but the average career spanning four years.

The best part of Kunjufu’s talk is he offers solutions as he sees it, not just pointing out what is wrong with our community. A simple effort to redirect this energy seems to be all it takes.

Conversely, there were over 100,000 computer programmer, engineer and doctor, but only 1,000 people qualified. We need to redirect our young people into more productive areas because “what you do most is what you do best”.

We need more black role models to redirect our youth into studying math and science to get us back to our roots, set the community and these young people up for success in the near future.

We need more black male role models to encourage our youth in Math & Science.

SOUND OFF: What do you think about Kunjufu’s call for more black, male role models?