A discouraging black teacher. © bst2012 - Fotolia.com

From Madame Noire: 

There are some things your parents say and do that you will just never forget. I had one of those moments with my [mother] years ago, when I was in middle school. We were riding around one summer, running errands when Biggie’s “Juicy” came on. If you’re familiar with the song, you already know that Biggie starts the song off with a little shout out.

“Yeah, this album is dedicated to all the teachers that told me I’d never amount to nothin’.”  

Now, my mother is far from a hip hop fan; but before Biggie could even get the last sentence out, my mom was doing something like a Holy Ghost shout. It took me out of my groove as I asked her, “What was that for?” My mother, being a teacher herself, went into a passionate tirade about how teachers back in the day would often tell their students that they would never amount to anything. It was not a joke to her.

And not to a whole lot of other people either. I don’t know if you’re a fan of NBC’s show The Voice, but early in the show’s season, we discovered a breakout star in Trevin Hunte. At only 18, Trevin has a talent that is nearly otherworldly. On his first audition Trevin wowed the audiences with a rendition of Beyoncé’s “Listen.”  Then he, and former teammate Amanda Brown, took on Mariah Carey’s “Vision of Love” and kilt it like a Scottish skirt. Despite, his immense, indescribable talent, Trevin struggles with confidence in his abilities of all things. For his last song, he sang “Against All Odds,” as an ode to his discouraging teacher. Despite his talent and even his success thus far, he’s not able to put this teacher behind him.

Read the rest of this story on MadameNoire.com.