One of the most exhausting and annoying arguments to see black college graduates have is which education is more valuable: attending a Historically Black College or University, or attending a Predominately White Institution. The conversation was started again last week when the venture backed Black media site, Blavity, posted an article titled “I Went to a PWI and still had a black college experience.” Since I graduated from Howard University five years ago, I’ve seen countless arguments on #blacktwitter about how attending a PWI offers a superior education over an HBCU and vice versa, but this by far was the worst.
The author stated that despite having nooses hung in front of Black Greek letter organization houses on campus while she was in school and being taunted by white students in blackface, the black student body at DePaul managed to overcome adversity and bond over chicken, spades and shooting dice outside of their dorms.
If the article hadn’t been posted on Blavity and the author’s name wasn’t visible, I could’ve easily assumed this was written by one of those internet trolls in black face. The reckless and tasteless use of dated stereotypes saddened me much more than it angered me.
I was upset that Blavity, an up-and-coming outlet started by black millennials, would publish something so problematic. I know that none of the founders of Blavity attended an HBCU so the notion that a PWI experience felt “Black AF” may have resonated with them, but I would’ve thought that a site backed by an industry facing its own diversity issues would have taken a closer look at the language in this piece. I was also upset that the author, a self-proclaimed feminist and writer who is pursuing an M.A. in women and gender studies, equates the black experience in America to shooting dice and selling junk food for fun.
In my four years at Howard University, trips to other HBCUs for homecoming and graduation, including my cousin’s at Florida A&M, I’ve seen as much diversity in class, geography, style, interests and beauty as I’ve seen living in cities like New York and San Francisco. I’m sure that the author was having fun with this piece, but what she fails to see is the struggle to address the belittling from family and colleagues that HBCU students and graduates face all the time.
She’ll never know how it feels to walk onto Google’s campus in Mountain View and have to explain to a colleague that yes, white people can attend HBCUs, or deal with snarky comments from our black counterparts that despite their Ivy League educations, are sitting across from us at the table.
She’ll never know what it feels like to explain the value of your education to an aunt who refuses to send your younger cousin to an HBCU because “she needs to know that the world isn’t all black.”
Writers have a responsibility to tell the truth, and as a black writer covering black issues, the author should’ve done the proper research to tell this story. While I choose not to engage in conversations about the pros and cons of attending HBCUs over PWIs and vice versa, I can respect established, well-crafted arguments that examine both sides without reducing an entire race of people to a chicken box.
Historically Black Colleges across this nation have a rich history of producing alumni who spent their lives fighting for the advancement of Black Americans through entrepreneurship, influencing policy and shattering the very stereotypes highlighted in this piece.
With all of the racial trauma that Black America is dealing with today from police brutality and the consistent taunts from internet trolls, the last thing we need is more stereotypes being reinforced on the World Wide Web by educated black people.
I’m sure that this article does not represent the best of Sesali Bowen’s work, but let it be a lesson writers covering black issues in these troubling times to think critically about what you say and the power of your words.