Chayil Champion's Blog

Ok, so I'm an author with the best of both worlds. I grew up in a poor urban setting in Chicago, Illinois where most black kids my age don't take a liking to reading. That seems to be a larger consensus across the globe. If you dont believe me, check the state assessment scores or the No Child Left Behind statistics. As a former vice principal, I remember asking a group of boys in my mentoring program what they aspired to be when they become of age. The top four answers I received were "a rapper", "a football player", "a basketball player" and "i dont know". I worked in schools that were located low socioeconomic communities, so I'm sure you can guess the demographics were. Regardless, their answers were influenced by things they see on television, as were their attitudes and ambitions. A MTV/BET generation indeed! When asked about what they honestly thought about school and the importance behind it, they could not draw the connection that reading and writing were pertinent in all those ambitions. Nevertheless, they still wanted a drive-thru order to success and to them that was the quickest way they could get to it. Nevermind, that you have to pass an SAT or ACT exam to even get into college to have a shot as a professional athlete. As a person who grew up in the same environment and still loves hip-hop, I knew the importance of education and acted on it...without losing street credibility. With that said, let's begin the discussion- how can we get our youth, particularly our minorities, to view literature with the same interest they have in pop culture and hip-hop?