During a recent visit with Morehouse graduate Leland Shelton at his home in Baltimore, I noticed a trophy on a bookshelf honoring him as the top political science student in his class. What would he ask President Obama about politics if given the chance?
“I would ask him what he thinks about the future of the war on drugs and the war on poverty,” said Leland, 21. “I’d ask how he deals with having to concede a lot of the legislation he’s pushing; how do you negotiate so you can actually get things passed?”
Obama had singled Leland out for special recognition while giving a “no excuse for failure” commencement address at Morehouse last week. The president noted that he was graduating Phi Beta Kappa and headed for Harvard Law. Moreover, Obama added, the young man had succeeded despite the fact that, at age 4, “social services took him away from his mama” and placed him in foster care.
Leland Shelton became an instant sensation.
Just to give some idea about how much the shout-out resonated, Washington-based writer A’Lelia Bundles posted a story about it that same day on her Facebook page, “Helping Ourselves.”
Most of her postings garner about a thousand views. As of Tuesday, the one about Leland had received nearly 750,000.
Who is this young man?
He’s passionate about politics, that’s for sure. Morehouse, a historically black, all-male college in Atlanta, is noted for producing first-rate political theorists and tacticians — the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. among them.
Oddly, Obama did not mention politics at all.
“I was taking civics in elementary school, and I remember being very interested in how laws were passed,” Leland said. “What made people want to obey laws? How could laws be used to make communities better?”
Leland has an open, expressive face, a broad smile and eyes that light up when he talks politics. His build is compact, athletic and recently toned by a marathon of bear hugs he’s been giving to well-wishers.
