Lindenwood U Hosts Inspirational Speaker for MLK Day

A Kansas City law school graduate shared the life story behind his founding of an organization to turn around the lives of troubled urban youth, as part of Lindenwood University's annual Martin Luther King, Jr. celebration.

Tyrone Flowers, founder of Higher M-Pact in Kansas City, said he wants to disperse a model or method of working with high-risk urban youth that can transform their lives.

"Higher M-Pact impacts youth engaged in destructive behavior by turning their obstacles into opportunities and by creating a solid foundation for success," according to the organization's website.

Flowers, 41, provided a glimpse into the obstacles he himself overcame to provide the powerful, inspirational speech at Lindenwood's Black Student Union-sponsored program on Monday, and the personal resources he drew on to earn college degrees and found Higher M-Pact.

Flowers said he was just days before high school graduation and joining the military, when he was shot three times by a fellow basketball player, at a party. Recovery keeps him relying on a wheelchair for mobility.

He went on to study at community college, then University of Missouri - Columbia, for both undergrad and law school. He then worked with youth in the criminal justice system, in Kansas City. 

Flowers said his mission is to help others succeed—those who may have experienced what he has. Flowers described how he was born to teenage parents, had virtually no parenting, lived with a drug-addicted relative, and survived on pilfered cereal and milk.

After a string of institutions left Flowers labeled with behavior problems and learning disorders, Flowers said he sought to prove all that wrong.

Flowers encouraged college students present Monday to "keep moving forward," even if not certain where their education would lead them after graduation.

"If you keep moving forward, it will become clear what you should do," Flowers said.

Students and others clamored to meet Flowers Monday after the speech and program, telling him how inspiring his story was to them personally. He asked students about their majors in school.

The consensus seemed to be that there was plenty of work to be had, in order to make the world a better place for more people.

Martin Luther King's dreams still seemed alive, 44 years after his death.

Flowers got lengthy, loud applause from the standing-room-only crowd.