Blacks and the PWI racism dilemma
The Friday Flashpoints!
This week, I was not shocked in the least to see that some white folks still have condescending attitudes towards all Black schools—such has been true since slavery ended and the first Black schools were founded—and likely will remain for folks of this ilk until the end of time. I do, however, still get somewhat shocked when I see Black people having condescending attitudes towards OUR Black schools.
To be clear, I have many Black kin and friends who graduated from PWI schools—men and women who have excelled in their professions and do their parts each day to both uplift our race and combat systemic white supremacy; I see you and give all due respect for earning your degrees—often amid racial hostility to varying levels.
But what puzzles me to no end is when events happen at PWI's that implicate race or racism and when Black people, be they HBCU grads or not, blast said racism, how some Black PWI grads feel as if THEY are being personally attacked simply because their alma mater is being put on blast for its racism?
So, after graduating from Morehouse and Florida A&M in the mid-90's, upon entering the University of Florida College of Law, I instantly peeped game that the "integrated" setting at UF was still rather segregated, albeit mostly by choice. Indeed, there's a reason that PWI's have Black Student Unions, Black graduations, and Black Greek extravaganzas that are largely attended by, well, Black people; the same holds true at many other PWI's across America as well.
But sticking with my own experiences, while I earned a great education and made some life-long friends from all races at UF, when the university is in the news for its latest round of racism, be it Neo-Nazis/Confederate types wanting to speak on campus; minority enrollment numbers perpetually on the decline, Black graduates being shoved out of graduating lines by a university marshal; Black coaches being passed over for head coaching opportunities, or the university refusing to allow professors to testify as paid experts in Black voting rights lawsuits filed against the state's Republican governor and legislature, I don't feel inclined in the least to defend UF's racism in the public cyber square. In fact, I regularly use my pen to call the school out in my blogs, newspaper spaces, and on social media with a rhetorical fury because I was a Black man, Morehouse Man, and FAMUan long before I became a UF graduate.
So it makes no sense to me to see some intelligent Black PWI grads getting all upset when their alma mater is next in line in the cyber "kut" to get beaten for it latest round of racism; in those instances, it ain't about you, Brother or Sister, it is about "them," with them being the racists being put on blast. Like my mother who grew up in segregated Tallahassee and graduated with a BA in English from FAMU before later earning a PhD in British Literature from Florida State reminds: "I am still dumbfounded by the B+++ (three plusses) grade that I got in a Victorian Age paper that I wrote and how the professor couldn't explain what prevented my work from receiving an 'A'."
Separately, but still adjacent, I know from private conversations and social media chatter that many Brothers and Sisters who attended PWI's feel as if they have been (or are still) slighted by Blacks that attended HBCU's; my strong belief is that the disconnect is partly about perceptions, misperceptions, and a failure to communicate about the ties that bind.
Thinking back to my undergrad days at Morehouse, 97% of my time was spent on our campus or at Clark Atlanta, Spelman, and Morris Brown, collectively known as the AUC. Occasionally you would find me or my Boyz over at Georgia Tech, Emory, or Georgia State for an event, but it was relatively rare. Conversely, it was not rare to find Black Georgia Tech, Emory, Georgia State and other PWI Black students at the AUC, or, during Freaknic each year, when Black students from PWI's and HBCU's alike flocked to the AUC for the weekend's revelry.
The same holds true for Black Florida State, Florida, and Miami students who got time in "On the Set" at FAMU; or, Black LSU students who got time in "On the Bluff" at Southern University; or, Black Vanderbilt students who kicked it over at Tennessee State and Fisk Universities; or, UNC-Chapel Hill and Duke University students who spent time over at North Carolina Central University, which I saw with my own 21-year old eyes when my Morehouse HCASC Quiz Bowl spent a weekend in competition at Central back in '93.
Realizing these realities, I find it baffling when some (not all) Black students at PWI's who studied, dated, and felt the "HBCU Love" try to act as if they didn't yearn for the Black College experience literally by hanging out at HBCU's, or figuratively by creating HBCU-like climates within their PWI schools. In similar fashion, it baffles me that some HBCU alumni don't realize that "Black is Black" and when systemic racism rears its despicable head, as it often does, that the racists are racist towards HBCU graduates and Black PWI graduates all the same.
Thus, my sincere hope is that the petty slights and differences can be placed aside as we remember that the ancestors are proud of their descendants for persevering and "getting that lesson”—no matter where the lesson is received, while also realizing that they are extremely proud that the schools that they built, developed, cleaned, cooked, and prayed for remain strong, vibrant, and capable of producing graduates that remain at the vanguard of every field of professional endeavor.
Thank you for subscribing to the Hobbservation Point—have a great weekend!