Waters wraps up Black History series

Mar. 3—To cap off their speaker series celebrating Black History Month, Sampson Community College welcomed Arndrell Waters to the Warren Student Center to share his story and message.

Waters is a native of Clinton who graduated from SCC in 2005 and graduated from the University of North Carolina Wilmington in 2008 with a bachelor's in business administration.

Waters made it clear from the beginning that he wanted the audience to get involved, citing his work as a transformational coach and his approach to that work, explaining, "My emphasis is on the 'Whole Man.'" Explaining the basic tenets that comprise the concept, he listed, "spiritual wealth, emotional wealth, mental wealth, physical wealth, and financial wealth."

"Without those in place, you're not complete," he expressed, specifying, "The number one is spiritual work because you have to have your spiritual wealth in order."

Continuing his introduction, Waters said, "I want to tell you some of the great things I've lived over the years, and I'm going to tell you some of my struggles." He then gave a heads-up to the audience: "I'm going to be very transparent. I want to be very candid. If you don't want to hear the truth, you are welcome to leave at this point. I'm not going to hold back because this is the real world that we live in."

"So, I'm going to tell my history, and I'm going to tell the real history of Black history," Waters informed the crowd. Relevant to this telling of history, for Waters, are his "two equal passions." He describes these as, "My elders and my seniors because they are our past, present, and future. And my other passion is our youth — our present and our future."

He then shared a clip from an appearance he made on the Fayetteville radio station, WIDU, and a host gave Waters the prompt, "In your journey, what were some of the speed bumps?"

Right out of high school, Waters went into the military, but things took a turn when he explained, "I got introduced to the drug game back in '91, right after my ETS [Expiration Term of Service], and I knew better, but we had to go through those things."

This prompted a move for Waters. "Once I went through those things, and I thought I had no other way at that moment," he said, "I came back home on the East Coast." But, immediately following that, he told of a high-speed chase and a shoot-out, which included a bullet hitting him in the arm. Waters talked about learning and growing from those experiences, though.

In 2003, he made a massive change in his life, explaining, "One of the most powerful things that I did — I gave it all to God, and I never looked back." Seeing things through that new lens, he said, "Those challenges were lessons because if I never went through that, then there's no way I'd be able to relate and connect with people."

As a result of those challenges and his experience with street life, he said, "I've learned what it is to be out there. I know what it is for hurt and pain, to see it firsthand." He emphasized, "We're spiritual beings. If you really want to understand how people work, you have to connect from the spiritual perspective."

"People put on 10 different faces and 10 different masks," he explained, providing context for the need to connect spiritually, "So I'm grateful to be here through those challenges and those speed bumps that actually helped me grow and understand."

This led to a conversation on reaching the youth, one of his two expressed passions. "To reach the youth," he explained, "one of the things we have to do is be among them." He continued, "You have to sit down with them, listen to them, and don't prejudge them."

Returning from the radio appearance to his live presentation, he restated that, looking back at his journey, "It made me who I am today." He then turned to the audience, telling them, "Understand that you are great. You have a purpose in life, regardless of what anyone thinks." He continued, "You were born here to serve your gifts to the world. Trust me, every one of us has special gifts that no one else has."

Simply hearing him speak about being accepted to UNCW, it was evident how much he valued the opportunity. As he reminded the audience, "I went back with a record, a serious record." Waters remembered, "I was sitting with the Dean of Students and the Dean of Students, and he said, 'Mr. Waters, I'm going to be very honest with you. I see your record; I know You've changed. I know you've transformed.'"

But, the dean of students at UNCW continued, "We have to take this to a board of individuals who don't look like you or me." Waters shared his response to the dean: "I looked him in his eyes, and I said, 'I'm getting accepted into this university.'"

"It was an opportunity that I could have easily missed from my past," he acknowledged, "But your past doesn't have to stop you."

To be able to do so, he explained, "You have to protect your space — what I mean by your space, that's what comes into your ears and what comes into your eye line." Throughout his travels for the myriad businesses speaking events he's been involved with, Waters noted, "God always brought me back home."

"Your home and foundation are vitally important because your family is going to tell you the things that some people won't tell you," he explained. This has to do with families' support in protecting that space because, as he said, "Your families also will show you the people that you need to stay away from."

Transitioning to laying the foundation for a conversation on race, he referred to a work called "White Savior: Racism in the American Church." 1676 was a year Waters focused on, as he discussed the enormous impact of a rebellion in Virginia, Bacon's Rebellion to be specific, and the consequences that spread and intensified severely after that conflict.

He explained, "Europeans and African slave nations joined together in a large rebellion because both were being unfairly and very poorly treated. So they came together to do something about it." Waters continued, "Once the rebellion was over, the elite said, 'Okay, we're going to make sure that's not going to happen again.'"

"So, they passed laws that segregated permanent slaves, those of African descent, and gave their European counterparts rights and status," Waters recounted, adding, "Because if you can divide, you can conquer — and a lot of that still happens."

"The first use of term 'white' in legalise appeared in 1691 in a document created by the colonial government of Virginia," Waters informed, "to differentiate them by the color of their skin instead of their country of origin."

Following this thread, Waters said, "In 1790, Thomas Jefferson put together the first US national census, which placed the population into categories of free white males, free white females, and all other free persons." Meanwhile, he reminded, "Enslaved Africans were counted as three-fifths of a person, and Native Americans weren't counted at all."

"Congress also passed the Naturalization Act, which stated that you had to be a free white person to be a United States citizen," he explained, "So, we're grateful for how far we've come as a nation — from where individuals that look like me didn't have rights, and the women, the Queens as I address them, they didn't have rights either."

Waters told the crowd, "Now that we have these rights, we must utilize the rights we've been given. So, make sure you capitalize on these rights."

"I'm grateful that I see more and more individuals respect other individuals because they're human beings," he said, pointing to some progress made. He continued, "We see it more and more,that we've come a long way as human beings."

"We have a long way to go," Waters emphasized, "But we're going to be the solution to this." He said, checking to ensure the audience agreed as he presented the plan. They did, absolutely.

From his own experience, he testified, "I work with people all across the country and internationally, and one thing I've learned is that when you take your walls down, and when you open up, you get to learn so much about other people's cultures, and it's a beautiful thing." He emphasized, "When you learn other people's culture. I promise you grow beyond your wildest dreams."

"There are so many blessings in again that I can promise you aren't money — I'm talking about your time because your time is your currency," Waters attested. He expanded on this, "Your time is your money, honey, and what you do with that money is vitally important."

Looking over to the podium, he pointed out, "My phone is upside down. I keep it that way." He asked if the audience knew why before responding, "Because when I'm standing watching that phone and see notifications, that starts disrupting thoughts."

"One of the saddest things that I see is when I ride around the country, and I see family sit down and see this," Waters said, looking down at his phone for a visual example. "That's scary — that's scary because the interaction of family and that connection is going away because you're focused on this right here," he said, once again motioning to his phone. "So next time you get to the dinner table or sit down and have a nice meal with your family, friends, or associates, make sure that it's turned over."

Giving his reasoning for making the change and being more conscious, he said, "It's the genuine relationships of families and people — that's the most powerful currency and wealth that you can have." Waters expressed, with conviction, "Knowing that I have a good friend that I can talk to who can listen to me, I don't take things for granted."

He specified, "We use that term friends really loosely." Providing a way to analyze the depth of a friendship, he suggested," If they haven't been through hell on earth with you or if they haven't been with you when everybody else walked away, that's not a friend." He specified, "That's just an associate."

"A friend is an individual that's going to go through to the end with you, regardless of what it is," he clarified, "They're going to believe in you when nobody else believes in you." He added, "If you don't have that, be a good friend to someone, and eventually, you're going to attract friends to you."

As he began to wrap up the speech, he offered some advice: "One thing I've learned about life," he said, "is that if you have fun, you enjoy it." He implored the members of the audience, "Go after your passion what you believe in your purpose. Your passion will drive you to fuel you when there's no money."

In closing, he said, "So never, ever, ever, let someone else determine who you are and what your purpose is."