Uphill climb for the "young black philanthropist": When older generation doubts younger, proving them wrong benefits everyone.
"'Why do you call yourselves philanthropists? That’s like calling an average student a scholar,' a woman said to me once when she learned the label I had adopted for myself. She is a member of one of the wealthiest Black families in America. How could I dispute her claim when obviously she knew about a world -- and a level of giving back -- that I was far from? Nevertheless, I did the best I could to defend the use of the word 'philanthropist' to describe myself and the cohort of young, Black community leaders I have come to know through my work with Friends of Ebonie. Yet, nothing I could say could convince her that I wasn't abusing the label. Her words took the wind out of my sails." -- Ebonie Johnson Cooper, Ebony.com
