My God Daughter Monique: Athlete, Scholar, Amazing Young Black Woman

I swear, if there were ever any group of people who refuse to listen to you the most, it's your own kids. I can get tens of thousands of black kids around the country to listen to me, but my daughter and God daughter never seemed to hear a word I say.

However, I will focus on the positive and say that my God child, Monique Roberts, must have been listening to something I've been telling her all these years. Monique
is an amazing amazing amazing specimen: When she was 12 years old, she was nearly 6 feet tall, wore size 13 men's shoe, and had fingers 2 inches longer than my own. She was not only tall, but amazingly coordinated and could piggy back ride me all the way down the street. I am not a light little man, I weighed over 200 pounds at that time, so I was quite a load.

Monique could have been a superstar athlete in many sports, and I just told her that she should choose one. I felt that her athletic ability could get her letters and offers from any school in America. Well, my dreams came true exactly as I had envisioned. Monique became more involved in track and field during high school and became the #1 high jumper in the United States. She is also set to break a 20 year old New York State record in the Pentathlon, which takes advantage of the fact that she is such a versatile athlete (she is not just tall, but she is stronger, faster and more coordinated than her competitors). Her success culminated with her accepting a full scholarship to Columbia University this fall, which was actually the school I recommended for her! She wanted to come to Syracuse at first (since she is going to study media), but I felt that Columbia would be a better fit since she would be in the New York media market. I apologize to the Syracuse University coaches for recommending that she go to Columbia, but SU was her second choice. Also, my brother is about to attend an Ivy for his MBA, so I think our family might be getting a little snooty in our old age (haha!). The only other place I would have sent her would have been Spelman College, which is the top school in America.



What's best about Monique is that she is as intelligent and beautiful as she is athletic. She could easily be one of those super model professor athlete ladies in a blockbuster film one day. I am incredibly proud of her.

So, I thought I would share a video of her high jumping. This was her best jump, 5'11", which made her the #1 high jumper in the US. I also think that she could actually be Olympic champion in the heptathlon with the right coaching. So you see? I REALLY DO have a personal life, sort of.

Enjoy!