Recently, predominantly White Institutions (also known as PWI’s) were pitted against Historically Black Colleges & Universities (also known as HBCU’s) – but it wasn’t the institutions that started this discussion, it was the students – Black students. Black students from PWIs debate with Black students from HBCU’s every now and then about an argument that is tiresome and inherently, divisive. The topics range from respect for HBCU’s to even comparisons of Blackness. As black intellectuals, aspiring to pursue higher education and achievement, we have the means to network across the country and create solutions to problems more efficiently if we all come together..
HBCU students take pride in their schools’ history of blackness and they have every right to do so. Black students from PWI’s have the same pride as it relates to their Blackness, but also see a chance to promote their blackness and its history on their campus by adopting trends and nicknames to describe their school’s Black community. Recently, students from HBCU’s argued that students using the #HBCUCLA were being disrespectful to the history of HBCU’s. UCLA students argued that #HBCUCLA is just a metaphor for the love between the black community on campus. In my opinion, both sides were valid in how they felt, but that should not have created an argument. Instead, it should have fostered a discussion that focused on the empowerment of all Black scholars. We had, and still have, an opportunity to network and give each other resources to aid in the struggle of being black in America – a struggle we all face regardless of what school we go to that could be helped with something as small as words of encouragement or as big as an opportunity to collaborate socially and professionally.
Besides the argument of what school has the most Black students or Black history, another issue that stems from the argument of PWI v HBCU is that of who is more Black. Blackness, like other things our society creates, is a spectrum. There is no right or wrong way to be Black, and no one can be more black than any other black person. You shape certain characteristics and behaviors based on your environment, like where and how you grow up, family structure, as well as the friends you make. These circumstances are forced on us – we don’t ask to be raised or nurtured the way we are. It’s all by chance. Not to mention, there are no requirements to being considered Black. By the Black’s Law Dictionary, black is defined as someone who does not have rights to buy sell or trade under their own name. In the eyes of America and many systems that parallel the same beliefs, all African-Americans are Black and we are all hated by the hearts of many people who aren’t black, so why don’t we embrace and love all black people, regardless of what college they attend?
At the end of the day, we are all black adults in higher education and shouldn’t argue or be at odds with each other for the path we chose because not only is our history valid, but so are our identities as Black people. That history that binds us all is just as important as the present time in which we are all working toward a better future.
