A member of the Men's Center Los Angeles Wisdom Council (of which I am an active participant) recently told us of his acceptance into the psychology program at Antioch University in Los Angeles. This reminded me of my own process of enrollment there and a piece of wisdom I was gifted along the way.
After a letter of recommendation written by my dearly departed mentor, Dr. Bill Flaxman (a member of the initial graduating class of Antioch LA’s psychology program), I met with the Psychology department Chair, Dr. Terry Roberts for a group interview. It was me and one other prospective student. Dr. Roberts began to tell us about his journey to the program and why its focus on social justice was important. Dr. Roberts was a member of “The Little Rock Nine”. Despite what many of my clients think when I tell them this story, that is not the name of a band. It was the moniker for the first nine black students to desegregate Little Rock Central High School in Arkansas in 1957. In short, the NAACP asked for volunteers to move from the segregated school across town to the white school and Terry was one of the volunteers. He was met with the Arkansas national guard and the governor preventing him and his compatriots from entering the building. When President Eisenhower federalized those troops and sent in the 101st Airborne Division (the “Screaming Eagles”) to escort them in, they were finally allowed the education that the Supreme Court had ruled in 1954 they were entitled to. (Much more information about this can be found online, including this link to the National Park Service including the bio below.)
The thing that impacted me about Dr. Roberts’ story was not the inhumanity that he spoke about dealing with – being spit on, being called the n-word, having crosses burned on his lawn and rocks thrown through his windows. It was how he dealt with it. This would be a better story if I was the one who asked but the truth is it was the other student who questioned how one deals with that level of hatred. Terry simply said “What other people think of me is none of my business.”
That was incredibly powerful. He had the presence of mind to know that those bigots and racists were the ones who should be ashamed and that the image of him in their mind was their problem to deal with, not his. It was one of the most confident things I’ve ever heard in my life and it’s become a mantra to me. I often practice it poorly but it’s always in my mind. If he can think “What other people think of me is none of my business” in that climate, at that time, with that degree of physical threat and violence then we can all think “what other people think of me is none of my business” when our boss is being an asshole, our kids are being brats, our mother-in-law is judging our salary or any of the other things we let blow us off course.
Dr. Terrence Roberts graduated from Los Angeles High School in 1959. He earned a bachelor’s degree in Sociology from California State University and a master’s degree in Social Welfare from the University of California at Los Angeles. In 1976, Roberts was awarded a Ph.D. in psychology from Southern Illinois University and later became Department Chair of the Psychology program at Antioch University, Los Angeles. He is the author of Lessons from Little Rock, a memoir of the 1957-58 school year at Central, and Simple, Not Easy, a reflection on community, social responsibility, and tolerance. Dr. Roberts is CEO of Terrence J. Roberts & Associates, a management consultant firm devoted to fair and equitable practices. He maintains a private psychology practice, conducts lectures, and presents workshops and seminars on a wide variety of topics. Dr. Roberts is the recipient of the Spingarn Medal and the Congressional Gold Medal.