by Eric D.GrahamNORTH CAROLINA (BASN) --As a collective whole, Black people are the coolest people on the planet.
Our coolness, in fact has shaped and transformed the whole entire world in every endeavor whether it’s in the field of politics, education, religion, sports or entertainment.
The essence of this coolness, however, seems to be embodied mostly in the Black athlete. Whether it's the NBA's projected No. 1 overall pick John Wall, boxer Floyd Mayweather, former NFL superstar Eddie George, WNBA star Candace Parker, sports reporter Stephen A. Smith, boxer Laila Ali, Pittsburgh Steelers' head coach Mike Tomlin, or track star Usain Bolt.
The coolness is all the same.The term cool, however has been replaced by the word swag or swagger by this new generation of young people.
I guess, the word cool wasn't cool enough. But when you see it, you want to be it.
Because, I remember when I was five-years old and my kindergarten teacher asked me, "What do you want to be when you grow-up?
My answer was short and to the point.I want to be cool........
I mean Billy Dee Williams cool....Nat King Cole cool...Denzel Washington cool.....Harry Belafonte' cool ....Puff Daddy cool....Jay-Z cool....LL Cool J.... cool.....
Now, that's cool. But what did it mean to be cool? I had to know the answer.
And the only person, who knew all the answers, was my Grandma.
So, I asked her..."Nanny, what does being cool mean?
With her big, purple church-hat tilted coolly to the side like Dr. Dorothy Height, my Grandma coolly said, "Coolness ain't nothin' but God, baby.
Because, you can see that coolness...In the way we walk. The way we talk. The way we sing. The way we rap. The way we dance. The way we dress. The way we play. The way we pray. The way we preach. The way we teach. The way we work. The
way we worship. The way we laugh. The way we cry. The way we love..... In the way we make love and the way we show love.
Man, we are some cool people.
But some people try to restrain our coolness. Hate our coolness. Envy our coolness. Handcuff our coolness. Lock up our coolness. Abuse our coolness. Kill our coolness. But, they can never obtain our coolness.
See, they sit in big boardrooms.
And study our coolness. Try to interpret our coolness. Copy our coolness. Manufacture our coolness. Steal our coolness. Sell our coolness. But they can never destroy our coolness.
Because, coolness is in our hair, in our skin, in our eyes, in our thighs, in our hips, in our lips, in our kiss, in our hug, in our heart, and in our soul.
Coolness, in fact, is a scientific substance that flows through our veins. It is encoded in our DNA.
Man...........we are some cool "ass" people. Because, everything we do is cool.
Tiger Woods made golf cool. Serena and Venus made tennis cool. Muhammad Ali made boxing cool. Cheryl Miller made female basketball cool. Shani Davis made speed skating cool. Flo Joe made running cool. Earl the "Pearl" made going to a Black College cool.
Big House Gaines made Winston-Salem State cool. Dr.J made the Slam Dunk cool. Kareem Abdul Jabber made the sky-hook cool. Magic made the Lakers cool. Allen Iverson made the NBA cool. Skip to My Lou made street ball cool. And Michael Jordan, is just plain cool.
Man, don't you know, we are just cool as hell!!
Because, Jackie Robinson made Major League Baseball cool. Buck O' Neil made the Negro League cool. Chris Webber and Jalen Rose made wearing long basketball shorts cool.
John Thompson made coaching college basketball cool. Coach Tony Dungy made winning cool. Jim Brown made football cool. Walter Payton made jumping over the crowd cool and Deion Sanders made the NFL cool.
Man, we are cooler too than cold...
Because, Martin Luther King Jr. made protesting cool. Jesse Jackson made preaching cool. The Black Panthers made being too Black too Cool. Elijah Muhammad made righteousness cool. Malcolm X made learning cool. Farrakhan made being a Black man cool and Dr.Khalid was cooler than cool. 
Why? Because......We are some cool people.
But being cool, Ain't nothin' but God baby.
