Morehouse Valedictorian Stands Out -- He's White

Associated Press ^ | May 12, 2008 | Errin Haines

[Cecily]

From his first day at Morehouse College — the country's only institution of higher learning dedicated to the education of black men — Joshua Packwood has been a standout.

His popularity got him elected dorm president as a freshman. His looks and physique made him a fashion-show favorite. His intellect made him a Rhodes Scholar finalist. His work ethic landed him a job at the prestigious investment banking firm Goldman Sachs in New York City.

But it's his skin that has made all of this an anomaly. This month, Packwood is set to take the stage and address his classmates as the first white valedictorian in Morehouse's 141-year history.

The 22-year-old from Kansas City, Mo., will graduate Sunday with a perfect 4.0 GPA and a degree in economics.

He could have gone elsewhere, to a school like Columbia, Stanford or Yale, but his four-year journey through Morehouse has taught him a few things that they could not, and he makes it clear that he has no regrets.

"I've been forced to see the world in a different perspective, that I don't think I could've gotten anywhere else," he said. "None of the Ivies, no matter how large their enrollment is, no matter how many Nobel laureates they have on their faculty ... none of them could've provided me with the perspective I have now."

[Cecily]

Now Barack and Michelle are really confused.

[ClearCase_guy]

With grades like his, I bet the other kids criticized him for “acting white”.

[2banana]

Did he get a minority scholarship? Did he protest for a white studies department and a white club at the student union?

[Resolute Conservative]

He was a curve buster.

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Must...not...laugh....

[Hacklehead]

One of the rare cases where Afirmative action worked.

[DoughtyOne]

"Josh Packwood is Morehouse," the college's president, Robert Franklin, said in his inauguration speech in February. "He happens to be Euro-American and brings much appreciated diversity to our campus."

It will be nice when we can put race behind us, but minorities and journalists have proven themselves to be incapable of doing so.  All this time and this kid's skin color is the most important issue driving this article.

If this were a black kid, this article would never have been written, and sadly there would have been deemed nothing of import to write about.

That's just sad.

[Redbob]

"Did he get a minority scholarship?"

Probably.

Several of the "traditionally black" schools, Tennessee State, for example, will just about give a full-ride to any whites who would care to go there.

[LibWhacker]

Has he read Cone?

[Redbob]

"If this were a black kid, this article would never have been written,..."

Of course not:

What would be remarkable about a black kid going to a black school???

[DoughtyOne]

How about a 4.0 graduating gradepoint, a working relationship with Goldmen Sachs, the trips to China and other points, the fact that the kid qualified as a ‘preidential scholar’ whatever that is?

There’s plenty in this article to herald other than race.

As a human interest story, it does have appeal. I’m just tired of reading about race race race.

If this kid committed a crime they wouldn’t list his race. If one of the blacks at the school had commited a crime, they wouldn’t have talked about race. None the less here, there, everywhere, it’s all about race.

Enough already.

John Morgan was a black man who was a great runner.

John Morgan was a great runner.

That last sentence tells me everything I need to know.

[Moose4]

I remember several years ago when the starting quarterback at Grambling University was a white kid. Some of the Usual Suspects were freaking out about it. The black football players didn’t care...they said he was the best QB, and they followed him without reservation. I can’t remember if the legendary Eddie Robinson was still the coach or if Doug Williams had taken over at that point, but either way, *they* certainly didn’t care. And the team enjoyed some success.

}:-)4

[Sonny M]

I remember several years ago when the starting quarterback at Grambling University was a white kid. Some of the Usual Suspects were freaking out about it. The black football players didn’t care...they said he was the best QB, and they followed him without reservation. I can’t remember if the legendary Eddie Robinson was still the coach or if Doug Williams had taken over at that point, but either way, *they* certainly didn’t care. And the team enjoyed some success.

As funny as this may sound, at some all black schools, the only white guys you'll find are on sports teams (usually the punter or place kicker on the football team, etc).

[papasmurf]

I can't believe it, in the AJC, and it was a very good story.



After several conversations, Packwood began to suspect that Gray had no idea that he was white. His suspicions were confirmed when one of Gray's calls caught Packwood in the middle of track practice. "Don't let the white kids walk you down," Gray quipped. "Wait," Packwood re-sponded. "You know I'm white, right?" Silence. Uneasy laughter. Confirmation.

I'd like to have seen that recruiter's face!

It's about time the racial crap just goes away. We have enough division our Country. Stories, with a point like this one, do help break that wall down a bit more.

[rogue yam]

I’m imagining them handing out the diplomas at graduation:

“Joshua Pecker... uh... PACKwood.”

[GovernmentShrinker]

Given that he got a job at Goldman, I suspect he did indeed have the credentials to get into any of those schools. Getting into Goldman is a LOT harder.

[rogue yam]

I once had occasion to attend the U.S. Supreme Court hearings as an audience member. Because of my relationship with one of the attorneys arguing a case that day I had a reserved seat right up front. Next to me sat two college-age guys who happened to be white. I asked them if they knew someone who had a case that day. They said no, they were members of the Italian-American Students Association at the Howard University School of Law. They had written Justice Scalia about their organization and he had arranged for them to get a couple of tickets to the proceedings that day.

“How many members of the Italian-American Students Association at the Howard University School of Law are there?” I asked.

“Two,” they said.

I laughed and figured these young men were going to go far.

[SeafoodGumbo]

The most recent valedictorian of SUNO - Southern University, New Orleans - was a white woman.

IIRC, almost half of the people are white at Southern University's (Baton Rouge) Law School. It's where people go if they can't get into LSU.

[SeafoodGumbo]

Just looked it up: The percentage of Southern University’s students that are white was actually 33% as 2002.