I’m not sugar coating or honey dipping anything today. Last night I came across an article on News One, “Smart Black Girls, Dumb Thugs, Drugs, Guns and Murder” about Brittany Smith, a Harvard senior facing accessory to murder and firearm charges because of her boyfriend. It was ugly and completely avoidable from the start. People love to pretend education automatically equals wisdom, but this story shows that’s not always true and sometimes the same old foolish choices

You would think her educated behind was tainted and seduced by a round-the-way thug, but no, she and her girl, campus drug dealer Chanequa Campbell, were well aware of their actions. A scholarship, a few awards, good grades, and ivy league connections just weren’t enough to keep them grounded. They thought they were slick. That is exactly why smart people still end up making dumb decisions when they start chasing excitement, validation, and the illusion that consequences won’t catch up.

This trick decided that thug life was way more glamorous than hard work, honor and integrity. Brittany Smith and any other woman who has been given the opportunity to climb the ladder but chooses reckless behavior deserves a damn punch in the stomach. Yes, I’m livid because for a large part of my life I lived in the projects and saw scarcity up close.

I watched my mom bring back bags from the food bank, anticipate brown government envelopes every month and constantly talk about not having enough. Not for one second in my life have I ever considered doing anything that would hurt the people around me in order to earn an income or choose a man over my education. I chose discipline, not chaos, and that matters.