Growing up as a Black boy in an impoverished Boston community was no easy feat. “We had to deal with the massive amounts of life lost, incarceration and the crack epidemic. It was predicted that Black males my age wouldn’t live to see the age of 25,” says Dr. Omékongo Dibinga. “So walking out of the door with those expectations placed upon me every day was a challenge.”
As a Congolese American, Dibinga, 40, learned early on that racial discrimination can come from his own kind. In grade school, he was bullied by his Black peers, among others. In graduate school, he was not accepted by many of his African classmates.
Dibinga’s parents shaped his path to social justice advocacy. As a youth, they exposed
him to the culture, history and traditions of the African diaspora. During his toughest
year of grade school, he used his origins as motivation. “I felt like I didn’t want to be an embarrassment to these many people who fought for me to be where I am,” he says.
His cultural interests were complemented by a love of hip-hop. “It’s the soundtrack of my life,” he says, adding that he picked up writing rhymes and spoken word as early as elementary school.
Dibinga graduated from the Boston Latin School in 1995. “I went from that same school to where I had 27 F’s on my report card to graduating as a member of the National Honor Society just because I was able to embrace my culture and realize that I can use that as strength and empowerment,” he says.
