[Bgs-list] Special Request

[Curtis D White Sr.]

Bryant, you wrote what I was thinking. Thank you. I would love to have lunch & just conversate on just this issue. Trust me, I have heard all thoughts since 1989 & have never lost a friend & don't plan to on this. I can't wait!

C. D. White, Sr.
Faculty Development & Diversity Coordinator
Chief Diversity Office
218 Long Hall
864-656-2182😀

> On Apr 22, 2016, at 10:10 AM, Bryant K. Smith <smithcan at mac.com> wrote:
> 
> Good Morning BG’s,
> 
> I know you were not expecting to hear from me on a Friday, however, after what was a very trying week for me I feel compelled to reach out to you all today. Over the past several days I have been engaged in some very deep conversations with many of you individually and even electronically. Those conversations have been everything from instructive, and humorous to aggravating and sad. I spent yesterday afternoon talking with an older BG that I respect to seek counsel on how we could repair the damage that I think has been done to some of our relationships. Even that conversation was a mixed bag of emotions for me as I had to take a good look at myself. I know those of you that come to lunch know the history of how the BG’s began, but I don’t think you fully understand what the group has meant and does mean to me. 
> 
> As an undergraduate I saw Black men in faculty and administrative positions as being detached from the Black male students and even as a young professional working on a campus there always seemed to be a disconnect. Finally one day a Black man began mentoring me and befriended me. He put his title and position aside invited me into his home and spoke to me about things i needed to know as a Black man. It was with his help that those other Black male faculty members and administrators became human to me. Fast forward to my first days working at Clemson and the BG’s gave me that same sense of mentoring, and belonging outside of the titles and the institution we were Black men and that meant something to me. Through the BG’s I have met men that I otherwise would probably never have met. I have made friends, shared my best and worst days and have always looked forward to the first and third Wednesdays. I learn something new almost every time we meet. Even in our jokes and disagreements I am uplifted. 
> 
> The BG’s for me represents the hope that we as Black men can get together and carve out space to support, challenge, mentor, nurture, uplift and encourage one another for no other reason than the simple fact that we care about Black men. Not sure about the rest of you but that is important to me. Over the years I have seen the BG’s serve as mediator, sounding board, and a space where complex issues and concerns are strategized over argued about and plans created. It is my hope that this will continue to be the case. However, I must say that many of the dialogues that I have been engaged in this past week leave me very worried that some of us will not be able to rebound and separate the love we have for one another as BG’s from the professional and/or personal stances we have taken on the issues brought about from the Sikes sit-in. 
> 
> So why am I writing this to you today? I am writing because I am hoping we can find some time between now and the next week to have a special BG dinner (dinner so we don’t have to rush back to work) at a location where we can dine and in true BG fashion have a serious dialogue about our disagreements without being disagreeable of course. If you share my concerns about the group and would be open to our dining I am opening the floor for suggested dates and locations. Please only reply to me so that our inboxes are not filled with multiple comments from each of us. Once I get some input I will send something out that says when and where. Thanks in advance for your time. 
> 
> The Concerned List Keeper.
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