When them struggles hit differently or it’s predetermined that your struggles will hit differently, the response can entail a myriad of problems, unresolved solutions, fake band-aids over festering wounds and righteous protests. For as long as I have been black these issues seem to be akin to an unnecessary crack in our system that is disappointingly inevitable – and it doesn’t stop at just being marginalized.

“You will be told you belong in one and shown you don’t belong in the other.”

Enter the track and video for “Curriculum of the Mind” from the forthcoming project “The Space Program” by The Space Program Collective which builds upon these very issues from the perspective of a young black male college student. Even the opening scene of the video is riveting, which features hip hop artist Day’Quann. The scene capures his struggle to second guess the broken promises of higher learning through the eyes of a black male student with solutions that come from the “hollowest” of eyes. Before dozing off to sleep and being met with The Space Program astronaut and emcee in his dream, he reaches out to his mom via a heartfelt voice mail message to not only announce his “disengagement” from college but also to lovingly acknowledge the persistent “back home” struggles that they “both” face. I love the irony displayed here – Day’Quann’s level of understanding he gives his mom versus the lack of understanding he receives as a student. As a college graduate of a predominately “not so black college” myself, this video has made me mentally revisit my own college experiences and those of my counterparts. “The Space Program” album will drop on April 5th, and is stacked heavy with numerous artists. You can, and you should subscribe to the e-mail updates here. Y’all absorb and enjoy!