Mohammed Khalid is a graduating senior at the University of Maryland Baltimore County (UMBC) majoring in Information Systems. He is also a UMBC McNair Scholar. His story revolves around what mentoring means to him, and how his journey from being the youngest convicted of terrorism in the United States, to now researching “how to help others see through the lure of extremism.”
During his time in high school, Khalid did not do too well socially. He found himself feeling like an outcast because of his name, and who he was. He had a hard time interacting with his peers and instead found himself being entangled with a YouTube community who shared in his faith, which put him on the path to be arrested in 2011 at 17-years-old. While he was in prison, he encountered prison officials who showed him kindness and empathy. Since his release in 2015, Khalid has developed a passion for helping young people not fall into the trap of extremism like he did.
Now a graduating senior, Khalid has not only surrounded himself with mentors and advisors at UMBC, but has also mentored students within the McNair community. He has achieved many accomplishments, such as giving a presentation at TEDxJHU, and receiving a scholarship from the Mid-Eastern Association of Educational Opportunity Program Personnel (MAEOPP), an association that brings together individuals who have an interest in and advocate for underrepresented individuals. Khalid believes in and values community, mentorship, and empathy. Furthermore, being a McNair Scholar at UMBC has played an important role in how he uses these characteristics to help young people value who they are and not fall into extremism.
To learn more about Mohammed Khalid and his powerful story, visit the McNair in the News page on our website.
1. Visit the UMBC Giving Day Website
2. Select McNair Scholars Program
3. Donate any amount! (all are welcome)
As to not assume that you are familiar with me, it is likely a good idea that I take a moment to introduce myself. My name is Corris Davis, (’98 BS Biological Science , ‘19 Masters of Public Policy), and I am the Director of UMBC’s Office of Academic Opportunity Programs (AOP). AOP houses programs at UMBC such as the First-Gen Network, the LSAMP Program and the McNair Scholars Program that support students who are underrepresented in higher education to achieve their goals. But more importantly, I am a first-generation college grad. The goal of this message each month is to offer words of encouragement, food for thought, and resources for your success. In recognition of Black History Month, I’d like to tell you about a local history maker whose life resonates with me.
The late Congressman Elijah E. Cummings, son of South Carolina sharecroppers, who relocated to Baltimore to raise their family, often recounted the experiences of his life that shaped him. Educated in Baltimore City Public Schools, he was initially tracked into a Special Education curriculum. Ultimately, he graduated with honors from Baltimore City College, was initiated into Phi Beta Kappa at Howard University and earned a law degree from the University of Maryland School of Law. In his early years of politics, he was elected as the first Black Speaker Pro Tempore in the Maryland House of Delegates, a position now held by UMBC Alumna and MD State Delegate Adrienne Jones, ‘76.
It was in his early years that he began to transform his pain to his passion, which became his purpose. He saw his purpose as one of public service. He started in a law career, but after 19 years of practicing law, was elected to the Maryland House of Delegates and ultimately, the US House of Representatives. We each will have experiences which shape our path, and trials we’ve already blazed to reach our current place.
Pain
A doctor once told me that pain is one method your body uses to let you know you need a change. For example, for those without nerve challenges, a pebble in your shoe would precipitate a chain of events that culminates in the investigation of the source of the pain and typically, dumping the pebble from your shoe.
While the doctor was speaking of the physical pain that tells you to adjust your physical position, this adage has other applications. Situations that cause physical and/or mental pain call for change. I often hear stories of students choosing a major or a career path because of a life experience that irrevocably changed them, for better or worse. Why do you do what you do? What’s your catalyst?
Passion
What is your passion? For me, the pain of seeing others not have the same educational opportunities I had experienced drove me to a career in higher education. I am passionate about educational access and opportunity for all students. Like me, you may not find your passion in the classroom, but know that the lessons you are learning both in and out of the classroom are shaping and building the toolbox you will use to address your passion. Know that over your life, what you are passionate about may change, but I implore you to examine what pursuits make you happiest and find ways to incorporate them into your life. In an interview with 60 minutes in 2019, Congressman Cummings paraphrased Voltaire in saying “You must cultivate your own garden”. But once your garden is cultivated, what will you do for others?
Purpose
And finally, from that which you are most passionate about, your purpose can arise. Purpose is our why. Some of us have already found our purpose and move toward it everyday. Some of us are still discovering our purpose and that’s ok. What things that make you happy can benefit you and our world? How will you make your mark?
The late Cicely Tyson was recently interviewed and asked a simple question: “When the time comes, what do you want us to remember about you?” Her response: “I done my best...that's all.” How will you do your best? What support do you need?
The First-Gen Network is here to support you in finding resources to help you do your absolute best. A list of UMBC Faculty and Staff who were First-Generation College Students and are eager to assist you in your journey at UMBC can be found on the First-Gen website. There are faculty from various colleges and staff from various divisions and offices.
“A people without the knowledge of their past history, origin and culture is like a tree without roots.”
It’s February so you know what that means… It is time to celebrate Black History Month! 28 days of Blackness everywhere, in schools, on tv, online, on social media, on streaming platforms, this is the one month of all Black everything. I am 45 and I am still not sure how I feel about that. Let me pause right here and say that it is ok if you love it, it’s ok if you hate it, it’s ok if you don’t know how to feel about it. I get what Carter G. Woodson and Jesse E. Moorland were going for back in 1926 when they created “Negro History Week” during the second week of February to coincide with the birthdays of Frederick Douglass and Abraham Lincoln (Black History Month became a month long-celebration in 1976). But still, it has never quite sat right in my spirit. Black history is American history so we should learn it all year round in any history class not just as a special elective in Africana Studies. But then there’s the argument that there is no White history month so there should not be a Black one. In America, all history has been white American history since the country’s founding. We are supposed to know better now so we must continue to intentionally highlight the contributions and experiences of the multitude of cultures that make up this nation. Contrary to what gets said a lot, America has never been just Black & white, it has always been in living color.
When I was in school in the 1980’s, the only time we talked about Black people specifically was in February and it went something like this…
They were in Africa, and then they were slaves and then Harriet Tubman and Fredrick Douglass and Abraham Lincoln and the civil war (we always spent a good amount of time on Lincoln and the civil war) then BOOM, no more slaves.
There was something called reconstruction and the Great Migration and then Jim Crow (but only in the deepest of the deep south) then Martin Luther the King and Rosa Parks and Civil Rights and then BOOM, no more racism.
Finally, we would talk about how the Blacks be winning in sports, music, Hollywood, and politics.
There was always a project which was either a book report or a report on a famous Black person. As we got older, the lessons got deeper, the reports got longer, and the boards and dioramas got more elaborate, but the formula was pretty much the same. I did a straw poll and for most of my friends, these were the three legs of the Black History Month stool.
Outside of school, there was always a play at church with little Black kids dressed as their heroes and sheroes. PBS kept our “Eyes on the Prize” and one of the networks (there were only a few) showed us our “Roots” all eight episodes from Kunta Kinte in Africa to Chicken George sitting on his own land telling his grandchildren their family history. And my mama and grandma made us watch all of it, every year, every time it came on. It was a family affair and literal must see TV.
“Whatever we believe about ourselves and our ability comes true for us.”
- Susan L. Taylor
Now though, see now, things are different. Now third eyes are opening and the people are waking up. In that wokeness, there is a rejuvenation in the celebration of our history as we delve into the mystery of the Blackness. There is a whole entire museum on the National Mall about Black Folx. Whether you’ve spent hours in the National Museum of African American History & Culture, or learned about Tulsa from Watchmen or Lovecraft Country or learned about Juneteenth from black-ish, hopefully you’re learning. Learning about who we are and what we have been through. Not just what America has done to and for us, but also what we have done for America. Our relationship status with America is… it’s complicated.
“I love America more than any other country in this world, and, exactly for this reason, I insist on the right to criticize her perpetually.”
The Black experience is woven into the very fabric of America, it is stitched with the strength of our sacrifice and dyed with our blood, sweat, and tears. Maybe, if Black history is no longer a mystery, maybe if the obviousness of our value becomes evident, maybe if the world can see us, as us, in all of our glory, maybe then our humanity can precede our ethnicity, maybe our minds can carry more value than our bodies, maybe it will finally be clear that we are not, in fact, all the same, our experiences and identities are as varied as the stars in the night sky that some of our ancestors followed to freedom. Maybe, just maybe we can be seen, once and for all, as whole individuals and full citizens in this great nation that we call home better yet, on this planet we call Earth.
“Defining myself, as opposed to being defined by others, is one of the most difficult challenges I face.”
- The Honorable Carol Moseley-Braun
I’ve spent a lot of time focused on how others see Blackness. That matters, but what is most important is how you see it. So, what am I asking you to do?
1. Learn YOUR history. Families vary wildly. Whether your ancestry is the proverbial melting pot, or generations of your family all still live in the same town, or you are the only ones from your family in this country, we are all within the diaspora. Make some time to interview a relative about your family’s history. Grandparents are a great place to start.
2. Be anchored in YOUR identity. No one gets to tell you what kind of ____ person you are. Do not conflate the convenience of labels for your categorization for the ascribing of stereotypes to your character.
3. Document YOUR experiences. Write it down, make a voice memo on your phone, do something to capture what you think, how you feel, and what you’ve done. Trust me, you will wish you had twenty years from now, I sure do.
4. Share YOUR story. You are a living, breathing, epic example of history in the making. Your story is still being written, but know that your excellence is inspirational, so inspire someone with it.
“History, despite its wrenching pain, cannot be unlived, however, if faced with courage, need not be lived again.”
]]>