by Dr. Boyce Watkins, YourBlackWorld.com
You never know what you’ll discover during a casual review of your Facebook inbox on a Saturday morning. Today, I had the pleasure of receiving a message from Dayvon Love, an impressive graduating senior at Towson University who also happens to be an outstanding young man. Dayvon and his partner, Deven Cooper, won the Cross Examination Debate Association (CEDA) National Championship, making them the only African American team in history to win this prestigious event.
Most notably, Dayvon and Deven didn’t win the debate by playing the game, they actually changed the game instead. When the two were asked to debate the given topic (whether U.S. government should engage in constructive debate with countries such as Iran and Lebanon), Dayvon and his partner actually changed the topic to focus on sexism, racism and other problems of exclusion within the debate community. Not only did the judges allow the two young men to remain in the debate, they actually awarded them first place. Dayvon happens to be the second “great debater” we’ve profiled on Your Black World this week, as I just finished speaking with Melinda Hightower, former National Chair of the Black Law Students Association, who also happened to earn over a million dollars in scholarship money. Given that Melinda and Dayvon have roots in Detroit and Baltimore respectively, we are humbly reminded of the amazing potential of inner city youth.
In addition to being an outstanding debater (he was national debater of the year in 2009), Dayvon is seeking to become the youngest person to ever serve on the Baltimore City Council. It is because of his vast commitment to academic excellence, combined with his courage and commitment to his community, that Dayvon Love is today’s Dr. Boyce Watkins Spotlight on Your Black World.
Please click the image below to watch the interview with Dayvon:
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