By: Braque Talley, Ph.D.
Changing Our Narrative
Friday, December 13, 2019, will serve as the final day of the “Tom Joyner Show” as the show’s founder and host Tom “The Fly Jock” Joyner is retiring from being in the media industry for more than 30 years. However, as Mr. Joyner retires, I cannot help but to think about the impact that he has had on my life.
My mother was an educator and for many years, I attended the schools where she taught. Therefore, we would ride to school together. These rides allowed us to talk about things that were taking place in my life, we even used some of that time to get in a last-minute study session before tests, but the thing that remained constant throughout our morning rides was that the “Tom Joyner Morning Show” was playing on the car’s radio. Through this show, listeners were updated on current news events, historical elements, and celebrity gossip, but Mr. Joyner always found a way to highlight Historically Black Colleges and Universities. He would have a school of the month, where listeners were informed on the institution, its graduates and students from that institution received scholarship dollars to help offset the cost of pursuing a college degree. Not only did Mr. Joyner bring relevance of these institutions to his millions of listeners, but he made attending college a priority.
It was because of the years of listening to his show that when it came to make a decision on where to attend college, I knew that I wanted to attend an HBCU. I knew that I wanted what Mr. Joyner talked about – a supportive family of scholars, one that nurtured and prepared students to combat the social ills of the world. Therefore, I attended Rust College, a Historically Black College in Holly Springs, Mississippi. And, while there, Mr. Joyner continued to have an impact on my life, as I was a recipient of one of his scholarships.
It is because of Mr. Joyner’s information and investment that I was not only able to attend one Historically Black College, but I have degrees from three HBCUs (Rust College-Bachelors, Alabama A&M University- Masters, and Jackson State University- Ph.D.). It is a direct result of Mr. Joyner’s impact that I serve as one of the youngest University executive administrators in the country-Vice-Chancellor for Enrollment Management and Student Success at the University of Arkansas-Pine Bluff. I am committed to following in Mr. Joyner’s footsteps to ensure that the next generation has the support that they need to accomplish their goals.
