Makur Maker Makes His Mark On College Basketball and Beyond

Makur Maker, the 6-foot-11, 5-star recruit, shocked the college basketball world Thursday night, tweeting that he would attend Howard University over traditional powerhouses like Kentucky and UCLA.

This feels historic and truly revolutionary. 

In the fight for racial equality, the cousin of NBA player Thon Maker took significant action rather than settling for taking a knee, tearing down a statue or growing an afro. Maker was born in Kenya, grew up in Australia and moved to California in 2015. He likely has a different set of sensibilities than the typical American-born hoops prodigy. 

He tweeted that he will explain his recruiting decision on ESPN on July 9, which is Independence Day for South Sudan, a country in East-Central Africa. 

Yeah, it appears Maker believes there’s no better way to support his black peers than to use his athletic skills for the betterment of an HBCU. He’s right.

If black social justice warriors want to make a positive impact in their communities, they will have to follow the lead of Makur Maker. They must choose to enhance, uplift and invest in The Culture they claim rather than abandon it or exploit for the benefit of others. 

Black celebrities love to complain via social media about “white flight” and gentrification. They never whine about their decision to export their talents, financial and emotional support to the mainstream. Let’s hope LeBron James stops his love affair with The Ohio State University and throws his spotlight on Howard University.    

Makur Maker is taking a huge risk. Passing on programs like UCLA, Kentucky, and Memphis is hard. He has plenty to lose joining an unproven program at Howard. The Bison haven’t had a winning season in nearly 20 years. Coaches and administrators at the Big Schools will all be rooting for Maker to fail or for Howard’s coaches and administrators to screw this up. Others will argue he should’ve joined the G League, the NBA’s developmental organization. 

Maker is trying to start a movement. He tweeted:

“I was the first to announce my visit to Howard and others started to dream “what if.” I need to make the HBCU movement real so that others will follow. I hope I inspire guys like Mikey Williams to join me on this journey. I am committing to Howard U and coach Kenny Blakeney. #MakerMob”

I applaud Makur. 

We have to take risks to fix our communities. Gestures and lassoing statues to the ground will accomplish nothing for black youth. If we want change, we need to change it ourselves. Change comes from getting uncomfortable and making tough choices.

We can use the internet to shame and blame everyone but ourselves for the condition of our community. Makur Maker utilized the platform to create a challenge for all of us. There’s no better way to raise a community up than to challenge it to do forself.

Count me as #MakerMob4Life.