EDITOR’S NOTE: The following was written in response to an editorial that appeared in Wednesday’s edition of The Daily Republic. The editorial was headlined, “Surprising phone call about black DWU student was wrong.” On Monday, Joey Garba was pictured on the front page of The Daily Republic in his graduation attire following Dakota Wesleyan University commencement over the weekend. The newspaper on Tuesday morning received a call from a reader who questioned the decision to run a black DWU student on its front page because he didn’t properly represent the student body, among other reasons. The following is Garba’s response to The Daily Republic’s editorial and to the caller’s comments to the newspaper. The editorial can be found here .
I just got back to California at 9 a.m. Wednesday, so I was exhausted.
My mom woke me up out of my nap to show me this Opinion editorial written about me in The Daily Republic, and all I could do was smile.
Take a look at the political times we are in right now. It's not a surprise to me that some people don't want me, or the people in my culture, to be successful.
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But being a student at Dakota Wesleyan University, as well as well as working at the Abbott House, has taught me that I can still have faith in people, even when people don't have faith in me.
When I first came to Dakota Wesleyan University, I didn't trust anybody. I was completely out of my comfort zone and very defensive.
As the years went by I started to realize that people here truly wanted to see me do well, and so I started to have more faith in people. Attending Dakota Wesleyan University, and living in the city of Mitchell, were some of the greatest things to ever happen to me.
As much as I whined and complained about being bored and missing home, I honestly believe that there are things that I have learned here that I couldn't have learned anywhere else, and I wouldn't change that for the world.
There are genuine people in the city of Mitchell, and I'm blessed to call a number of these people my friends. I already know this, but I need everyone to know that the person who called The Daily Republic does not represent the majority of the Mitchell community.
Honestly, this article gave me life after a long day of traveling. On my plane ride home I was thinking of all of the great people I was leaving behind, and how nerve-racking it's going to be to pursue my profession in such a competitive city. This article was exactly what I needed.
In the past I used to focus on the people that did not want to see me succeed. I always want to prove somebody wrong, and it worked for a while.
During my stay in South Dakota, I realized that this was the wrong thing to let fuel me, because I was always looking for someone to oppose me in order to work harder. The past three years Dakota Wesleyan University has made me wiser. I need to work twice as hard for the people that support me and love me, and since I've started doing that I feel a lot more fulfilled. Thank you friends and family that showed your support for me in regards to this article. You guys are amazing.
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