Why do African-Americans Celebrate Mediocrity?

Yesterday, my college had an event that was supposed to commemorate the "Black high achievers" of the school. At first, I was elated. Society shines more light on AAs who do bad things rather than on those who work hard, so I was happy that the college took the time to praise those who did. So when I arrived at the school, I was immediately surprised by how many people are there. (Over 200 people showed up!) Since the name of the program was called "Black High Achievers," I expected the people on the President's list or, at the very least, the Dean's list to be invited. However, it seemed that every man and his brother showed up. Then later in the ceremony, the organizer of the event said that the ceremony was meant to recognize people with a GPA of 2.9 and higher. The rest of speakers went on and on about how hard we worked and so forth, but for the entire evening I was really ticked off. Here were AAs who were saying that for their own people, having a GPA of 2.9 is a high achievement! Instead of telling the students to get their act together and work harder, they praised them how they had arrived. How can we set the bar so for ourselves?! I have a problem with anyone who acts as if being mediocre is an achievement for AAs. You cannot praise someone for staying out of jail, taking care of their kids, etc., because that is what they are supposed to do. This only reinforces the mentality that it is our place to be subpar.