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FM
Former Member

Tech billionaire pledges to pay off Morehouse College grad students' debt — up to $40M

'We're gonna put a little fuel in your bus,' Robert F. Smith tells grads at Atlanta school's commencement

https://i.cbc.ca/1.5142480.1558353094!/fileImage/httpImage/image.jpg_gen/derivatives/16x9_780/student-debt-pledge.jpgBillionaire technology investor and philanthropist Robert F. Smith announced that he will provide grants to wipe out the student debt of the entire 2019 graduating class at Morehouse College in Atlanta. (Steve Schaefer/Atlanta Journal-Constitution via Associated Press)

A billionaire technology investor stunned the graduating class at Morehouse College in Atlanta by announcing at their commencement Sunday that he would pay off their student loans — estimated at up to $40 million US.

Robert F. Smith, this year's commencement speaker, addressed nearly 400 graduating seniors of the all-male historically black college in Atlanta. Smith, who is black, is founder and CEO of Vista Equity Partners, a private equity firm that invests in software, data, and technology-driven companies.

"On behalf of the eight generations of my family that have been in this country, we're gonna put a little fuel in your bus," the investor and philanthropist told graduates in his morning address. "This is my class, 2019. And my family is making a grant to eliminate their student loans."

The announcement immediately drew stunned looks from faculty and students alike. Then the graduates broke into the biggest cheers of the morning and stood up, applauding. Morehouse said it is the single largest gift to the college.

Though college officials could not provide an estimate of the exact amount owed by the current graduating class, students graduate with an average debt of $30,000 to $40,000, said Terrance L. Dixon, vice-president of enrolment management.

Smith, who received an honorary doctorate from Morehouse during the ceremony, had already announced a $1.5-million gift to the school.

Smith said he expected the recipients to "pay it forward" and he hoped "every class has the same opportunity going forward.

"Because we are enough to take care of our own community," Smith said. "We are enough to ensure that we have all the opportunities of the American dream. And we will show it to each other through our actions, and through our words and through our deeds."

'We all cried'

In the weeks before graduating from Morehouse on Sunday, finance major Aaron Mitchom, 22, drew up a spreadsheet to calculate how long it would take him to pay back his $200,000 in student loans — 25 years at half his monthly salary, per his calculations.

In an instant, that number vanished. Mitchom, sitting in the crowd, wept.

"I can delete that spreadsheet," he said in an interview after the commencement. "I don't have to live off of peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. I was shocked. My heart dropped. We all cried. In the moment it was like a burden had been taken off."

https://i.cbc.ca/1.5142481.1558353217!/fileImage/httpImage/image.jpg_gen/derivatives/original_780/student-debt-pledge.jpgMorehouse graduates broke into the biggest cheers of the ceremony and stood up to applaud Smith's announcement. (Steve Schaefer/Atlanta Journal-Constitution via Associated Press)

His mother, Tina Mitchom, was also shocked. Eight family members, including Mitchom's 76-year-old grandmother, took turns over four years co-signing on the loans that got him across the finish line.

"It takes a village," she said. "It now means he can start paying it forward and start closing this gap a lot sooner, giving back to the college and thinking about a succession plan" for his younger siblings.

Morehouse College president David A. Thomas said the gift would have a profound effect on the students' futures.

"Many of my students are interested in going into teaching, for example, but leave with an amount of student debt that makes that untenable," Thomas said in an interview. "In some ways, it was a liberation gift for these young men that just opened up their choices."

Replies sorted oldest to newest

This black billionaire man left his black wife who gave him three black kids and is now married to a former playboy white model who has given him recently two mulatto kids.  He certainly is a role model for caribj

Prashad
Prashad posted:

The Black billionaire partner in business is a white Indian whose parents are from India. He also is a billionaire.

So what are you saying? Behind every successful blackman is a white indian?

FM
Django posted:
Prashad posted:

The Black billionaire partner in business is a white Indian whose parents are from India. He also is a billionaire.

What's a white Indian ?

Prash, can you break it up fuh we ?

Look at the man. Someone post his photo. He is the partner in VISTA. There is no difference between him and a white person.

 

Prashad
Prashad posted:

This black billionaire man left his black wife who gave him three black kids and is now married to a former playboy white model who has given him recently two mulatto kids.  He certainly is a role model for caribj

So what if his second wife is white? Do you think he call his children mulatto? That only has meaning to us in the Caribbean and Latin America who were so downtrodden we recasted our society to co-opt status and have never abandoned that nasty social structure completely.

Most Americans have white blood. Some also have native peoples blood line but not so much. I never heard an American calling himself a mulatto or other than black.  Indeed,  there were times when light skinned meant advantages but these days that don't count.

FM
Last edited by Former Member
kp posted:

Image result for robert f smith wife

He made it to the mountain top and saw the promised land (between the legs of a white woman). This is quite normal for successful Afros, a white woman being a status symbol.  Even MLK had he share of white women. 

FM
kp posted:

Image result for robert f smith wife

This woman was the Playmate of the Year 2010.  This man said that as a teenager he would read James Bond novels and think about all the exotic places that exist. This man three kids with a black woman, he was working 100 hours a week so probably she may have been both father and mother  to the kids then he left her when he became supper rich. I hope she got half of the wealth.

Prashad
Last edited by Prashad
Prashad posted:

This black billionaire man left his black wife who gave him three black kids and is now married to a former playboy white model who has given him recently two mulatto kids.  He certainly is a role model for caribj

Trust you in your intense jealousy of this man to mention this. I bet that his former black wife is living a life of glory in their divorce settlement.

Scores of black men will graduate from college with no debt and your only take is that you wish you could get the white woman that he has, but you feel too emasculated to do so.

FM
Prashad posted:
 

Look at the man. Someone post his photo. He is the partner in VISTA. There is no difference between him and a white person.

 

So druggie lusts after black vegetables and you hate black men who get white wives.

The man is black and he showed that he cares for other black males. Get over yourself.  It isnt his fault that you didn't get a white wife!

FM
caribny posted:
Prashad posted:
 

Look at the man. Someone post his photo. He is the partner in VISTA. There is no difference between him and a white person.

 

So druggie lusts after black vegetables and you hate black men who get white wives.

The man is black and he showed that he cares for other black males. Get over yourself.  It isnt his fault that you didn't get a white wife!

Every single Black Negro who cry crocodiles tears and blame others for their failure, should let Mr Robert Smith be a inspiration to them. 

They need to get off their arss and work, save and invest. 

FM
caribny posted:

The man is black and he showed that he cares for other black males.

 

Using some of his wealth to eliminate those kids’ college debt is quite commendable. Nothing can mess that up. Those kids were ecstatic on his announcement. That is all that matters regarding his very generous gift.

FM
Dave posted:

Every single Black Negro who cry crocodiles tears and blame others for their failure, should let Mr Robert Smith be a inspiration to them. 

listen  to this barely-literate, no-achievement punk refugeeing he ignorant self in America try to lecture Black people on “failure”

lol

FM
Last edited by Former Member
ronan posted:
Dave posted:

Every single Black Negro who cry crocodiles tears and blame others for their failure, should let Mr Robert Smith be a inspiration to them. 

listen  to this barely-literate, no-achievement punk refugeeing he ignorant self in America try to lecture Black people on “failure”

lol

It’s a fact Scrooge.

Look around the world and asked yourself, why most Black Negro life are a failure. 

If only ayo can change ayo nasty attitude and take responsibility the world will be a better place and ayo life will be better Uncle Thomas.

FM
Prashad posted:

Caribj is your typical Caribbean black racist cracker Uncle Thomas in top hat. The faster we East Indians and Douglas of Guyana get away from these racists the better.

Prashad seriously its not my fault that you cannot get a white woman. 

Calling me an Uncle Thomas when you sing praises to PPP blacks is a joke.

FM
Dave posted:
!

Every single Black Negro who cry crocodiles tears and blame others for their failure, should let Mr Robert Smith be a inspiration to them. 

They need to get off their arss and work, save and invest. 

What might interest you is that I know many people who know this man.  He and they talk about racism.  This is why he helps out these black men because he knows full well the battles that they will encounter against black hating racists like you, so he wants to ensure that student loan debt isn't an additional challenge.

Your hatred of blacks prevents you from knowing blacks enough for them to trust you.  You exude the stench of hatred and even people who know you (who are Indian) have told you this.

FM
ronan posted:
Dave posted:

Every single Black Negro who cry crocodiles tears and blame others for their failure, should let Mr Robert Smith be a inspiration to them. 

listen  to this barely-literate, no-achievement punk refugeeing he ignorant self in America try to lecture Black people on “failure”

lol

If he were to move in the circles of highly accomplished blacks in NYC his head would be down in shame, too intimidated to talk.  A small town idiot.

FM
Dave posted:
 

Look around the world and asked yourself, why most Black Negro life are a failure. 

 

Really!  I suggest that you look at data which suggests that Indo Guyanese really aren't that much better off than black people are.

Now what is your excuses because the legacy of slavery isn't it.  Why do Chinese and Portuguese look down their noses at you all?

Any socio economic analysis of Guyanese will show that Indos have more in common with Africans and mixed identified people than they do with Guyanese of Chinese or Portuguese extraction.

FM
Dave posted:
ronan posted:
Dave posted:

Every single Black Negro who cry crocodiles tears and blame others for their failure, should let Mr Robert Smith be a inspiration to them. 

listen  to this barely-literate, no-achievement punk refugeeing he ignorant self in America try to lecture Black people on “failure”

lol

It’s a fact 

the tenacious ‘inability’ to reflect-on/contextualize your nutten, non-achieving life with your bilious mangy dawg utterances hissed thru the couple teeth you have left in your head makes me smile

high ignorance must be some kinda mental shield!

do everybody a favor mr “Dave” . . . haul yuh bruk up mediocre self from the outhouse where you digging n smellin, put your bruk up plate back in yuh sour-smelling mouth and HOLLER so that your neighbors can be amazed and know your disease

arite?

FM
Last edited by Former Member
ronan posted:
Dave posted:
ronan posted:
Dave posted:

Every single Black Negro who cry crocodiles tears and blame others for their failure, should let Mr Robert Smith be a inspiration to them. 

listen  to this barely-literate, no-achievement punk refugeeing he ignorant self in America try to lecture Black people on “failure”

lol

It’s a fact 

the tenacious ‘inability’ to reflect-on/contextualize your nutten, non-achieving life with your bilious mangy dawg utterances hissed thru the couple teeth you have left in your head makes me smile

high ignorance must be some kinda mental shield!

do everybody a favor mr “Dave” . . . haul yuh bruk up mediocre self from the outhouse where you digging n smellin, put your bruk up plate back in yuh sour-smelling mouth and HOLLER so that your neighbors can be amazed and know your disease

arite?

The truth hurts uncle Thomas, I am happy I was able to get under your skin and expose your narcissist disorders, you mangee crab dawg. 

I found  your weakness and would continue pouring salt at your wound.  Now gawn so bitch. 

FM
Dave posted:
ronan posted:
Dave posted:
ronan posted:
Dave posted:

Every single Black Negro who cry crocodiles tears and blame others for their failure, should let Mr Robert Smith be a inspiration to them. 

listen  to this barely-literate, no-achievement punk refugeeing he ignorant self in America try to lecture Black people on “failure”

lol

It’s a fact 

the tenacious ‘inability’ to reflect-on/contextualize your nutten, non-achieving life with your bilious mangy dawg utterances hissed thru the couple teeth you have left in your head makes me smile

high ignorance must be some kinda mental shield!

do everybody a favor mr “Dave” . . . haul yuh bruk up mediocre self from the outhouse where you digging n smellin, put your bruk up plate back in yuh sour-smelling mouth and HOLLER so that your neighbors can be amazed and know your disease

arite?

The truth hurts uncle Thomas, I am happy I was able to get under your skin and expose your narcissist disorders, you mangee crab dawg. 

I found  your weakness and would continue pouring salt at your wound.  Now gawn so bitch. 

ummm . . . the latest coward-in-panties hood n sheet wannabe whine

"i only play wan diseased mental dwarf on GNI . . . is dat baad man RONAN who mekkin me do dat bad ting"

now kerr yuh no-teeth retard self and run join ksazma and his inbred cousins sucking the sh!t off y'all thumbs and massaging y'all sacs of pus in the mini-me DUNCEMAN corner

be quick before i stop laughing and actually lose my temper

arite?

FM
Last edited by Former Member
ronan posted:
Dave posted:
ronan posted:
Dave posted:
ronan posted:
Dave posted:

Every single Black Negro who cry crocodiles tears and blame others for their failure, should let Mr Robert Smith be a inspiration to them. 

listen  to this barely-literate, no-achievement punk refugeeing he ignorant self in America try to lecture Black people on “failure”

lol

It’s a fact 

the tenacious ‘inability’ to reflect-on/contextualize your nutten, non-achieving life with your bilious mangy dawg utterances hissed thru the couple teeth you have left in your head makes me smile

high ignorance must be some kinda mental shield!

do everybody a favor mr “Dave” . . . haul yuh bruk up mediocre self from the outhouse where you digging n smellin, put your bruk up plate back in yuh sour-smelling mouth and HOLLER so that your neighbors can be amazed and know your disease

arite?

The truth hurts uncle Thomas, I am happy I was able to get under your skin and expose your narcissist disorders, you mangee crab dawg. 

I found  your weakness and would continue pouring salt at your wound.  Now gawn so bitch. 

ummm . . . the latest coward-in-panties hood n sheet wannabe whine

"i only play wan diseased mental dwarf on GNI . . . is dat baad man RONAN who mekkin me do dat bad ting"

now kerr yuh no-teeth retard self and run join ksazma and his inbred cousins sucking the sh!t off y'all thumbs and massaging y'all sacs of pus in the mini-me DUNCEMAN corner

be quick before i stop laughing and actually lose my temper

arite?

Gud, you couldn’t sleep last night.. you fkt retard .. selling yo arss and pick pocket .. you scavenger. 

no one needs to know about your about your stinking life “uncle Thomas “... now haul you gutter rat so, you mangee crab dawg..

 yo stinking this place.... gezzz , you are a parasite here. 

FM
ronan posted:
Dave posted:
ronan posted:
Dave posted:
ronan posted:
Dave posted:

Every single Black Negro who cry crocodiles tears and blame others for their failure, should let Mr Robert Smith be a inspiration to them. 

listen  to this barely-literate, no-achievement punk refugeeing he ignorant self in America try to lecture Black people on “failure”

lol

It’s a fact 

the tenacious ‘inability’ to reflect-on/contextualize your nutten, non-achieving life with your bilious mangy dawg utterances hissed thru the couple teeth you have left in your head makes me smile

high ignorance must be some kinda mental shield!

do everybody a favor mr “Dave” . . . haul yuh bruk up mediocre self from the outhouse where you digging n smellin, put your bruk up plate back in yuh sour-smelling mouth and HOLLER so that your neighbors can be amazed and know your disease

arite?

The truth hurts uncle Thomas, I am happy I was able to get under your skin and expose your narcissist disorders, you mangee crab dawg. 

I found  your weakness and would continue pouring salt at your wound.  Now gawn so bitch. 

ummm . . . the latest coward-in-panties hood n sheet wannabe whine

"i only play wan diseased mental dwarf on GNI . . . is dat baad man RONAN who mekkin me do dat bad ting"

now kerr yuh no-teeth retard self and run join ksazma and his inbred cousins sucking the sh!t off y'all thumbs and massaging y'all sacs of pus in the mini-me DUNCEMAN corner

be quick before i stop laughing and actually lose my temper

arite?

Suh you do have a bad temper.

S

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