The Great Debaters

The power of education.

I want you to see The Great Debaters. If you have already seen it, tell somebody who has not. Then tell them to tell somebody else. They all need to see it.

The movie takes us to 1935 and an all-Black debate team at Wiley College, a historically Black college in Marshall, Texas. Under the guidance of Melvin B. Tolson, these students show us something that deserves more attention today: the power of education.

What I take from this film goes beyond being able to stand up and give a speech. It is about developing your mind, understanding what you are saying and being prepared to defend it. There is power in knowing enough that somebody else cannot simply tell you who you are.

How can you settle for less when you are so much more?

That is the question this movie leaves me with.

Knowing what I know today, I find it difficult to see so much ignorance in the world—including from Black people. It is not just Black people. But when I think about the culture we belong to, the history we carry and what people fought to make possible, it hits differently.

We are part of one of the greatest cultures on the planet Earth. I say that with pride. That pride also makes me expect more from us.

To me, The Great Debaters is a reminder that our minds deserve investment. Our history deserves study. Our potential deserves effort. How can we look at what these students were willing to prepare for in 1935 and decide that learning does not matter now?

I am asking that question because I believe we are capable of more. The disappointment comes from seeing people settle beneath what they could become.

Preparation gives conviction a voice.

What I see in this story is the relationship between knowledge and confidence. Wanting to be heard matters. Having something informed to say matters, too.

Education gives us more than information to repeat. It gives us a way to examine an argument, question what we are told and recognize when somebody is trying to make a weak position sound strong. That is useful far beyond a debate stage.

The film places Black intellectual ambition inside a world determined to restrict Black opportunity. That makes its message about preparation and self-respect especially powerful to me. These students have something to contribute, and their minds deserve to be taken seriously.

My verdict: tell somebody.

For me, The Great Debaters is about knowing that you are more—and doing the work to live up to it. Cultural pride should give us a reason to keep learning, not a reason to stop asking questions.

If you have not seen it, go see it. Tell somebody who has not seen it to see it. Tell somebody else to tell somebody else.

They all need to see it.

And when the movie is over, keep the question with you: How can you settle for less when you are so much more?

That's the Ugly Truth.