The Thoughts of Young Black Men

Christopher Bates being interviewed by Arielle Wallace

Howard University professor Ivory Toldson set the record straight back in 2013: "There are 1.4 million black men in college right now, and there are about 840,000 black men in prison."




What does this mean? It means that there are more black men in college than in prison, despite unsupported beliefs stating otherwise. 

I took it upon myself to conduct a series of interviews with college freshmen, who are black males. I needed to get their side of the story, the side that seems to be forgotten in the sea of negativity. All of them are driven, focused, and highly intelligent, just like most black men are.

I am friends with all of my interviewees, and to be honest, I rarely discuss topics like this with them. However, these conversations needed to be had. 

Christopher Bates (IG: chris_batess)

William Brown, III (IG: w1llybrown)

Kevin Russell, Jr. (IG: kevy_kev711)

Dallas Thompson, III (IG: thompson_10)

I highly encourage you to watch every interview, as they all offer unique points of view.

NOTE: This was the first set of interviews that I have ever conducted. In the beginning, I was somewhat unsure of what I wanted to do and how to go about getting the interviews done; this experience taught me to take control of my project, and to not let my subjects have too much say-so. With that being said, please be nice and enjoy!