In Review: HBCU Homecomings Recharge Millions of African-Americans

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There is something special about the month of October. There’s a sweet smell in the air, the birds are chirping, and excitement mounts inside of me and more than a million others who can relate to my college experience. It is Homecoming Season! Some may ask, what is the big deal? Well, I will tell you… this isn’t just any Homecoming, this is Homecoming at a Historically Black College/University (HBCU). At an HBCU, Homecoming is a family reunion, block party, cookout, and any other feel-good function you can think of combined in one. It is THE event of the year for students and alumni alike that is marked on everyones calendar. After Homecoming weekend I return home full of happiness, motivated to keep pushing towards my dreams, and an increased pride in my Blackness and all that it entails. My soul glows from the inside out because it was recharged with all the wonderful examples of Black excellence, intertwined in moments of “let-your-hair-down-ratchetness,” giving me some extra pep in my step for work Tuesday morning (Monday just isn’t an option after Homecoming). 

Why HBCUs Exist… 

HBCUs were created in the post-civil-war era as institutions of higher learning where African Americans were welcome to attend, at a time when most Predominately White Institutions (PWIs) banned Blacks from stepping foot on campus, let alone actually trying to attend a class. For years, HBCUs have provided African Americans a safe space to learn and grow as individuals and into adulthood without the constant second-guessing because of the color of our skin.

I attended Howard University – “The Mecca” also known as “The Hilltop.”

Founded in 1867, Howard University celebrated its Sesquicentennial, its 150th anniversary, this year. One hundred and fifty years of fostering Black excellence by being one of the leading producers of minority doctoral graduates in the country and producing famous alumni such as Thurgood Marshall, Phylicia Rashad, and Zora Neale Hurston. The reason I chose to attend an HBCU for undergraduate is because I was tired of being the only person that looked like me in my classes and in all my extracurricular activities. I was tired of the breezing over Black history only during the month of February. I was tired of the entire class staring at me when we read To Kill A Mockingbird aloud and the word “n***er” was said. Most importantly, I was tired of feeling like an outsider in a world that paints my Blackness as a negative.  

I attended both a PWI (graduate school) and an HBCU (undergraduate and graduate school) during my educational tenure; however, my time at my PWI pales in comparison to my HBCU experience. During my time at Howard University, I learned detailed African and African-American (Black American) history. I also learned that the people of the Black Diaspora are much more diverse than what is showcased (for example, there are vast cultural differences between Black Californians, Jamaicans, and Kenyans). Furthermore, I learned how to better care for and appreciate my natural hair. The negative stereotypes about Black people are dispelled at HBCUs. I grew up in the inner city and my friends and I were constantly fed messages and images of crime, absentee fathers, and poor education within the Black community. But at Howard University, future Black doctors, judges, and engineers roamed the campus having stimulating conversations about current events and plans for the future. It was at Howard University where I realized Black fathers do exist, not just in my circle of close-knit friends, but across the country. It was at Howard University where I also realized there were smarter Black girls and boys like me who came from two-parent households, and not mainly housing projects. Overall, I began to see that I was more the norm of Black America, and not the exception. With every day on campus, I became more comfortable with the Black woman I was and realized my Blackness was a blessing and not a curse, as society would have you believe. 

In a country that seems to remind us every day that our skin doesn’t warrant the same equality or opportunities as others, Homecoming unequivocally reminds us of the power and brilliance that lives within our community. I need that annual experience, and I wouldn’t miss it for anything. 

This article was originally published on 8 October 2018.

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Should Canada Accept Trudeau’s Apology?

by with 3 Comments CultureFeaturedInternational

Blackface, brownface, any face other than your own is wildly offensive. Maybe we can take solace in the fact that nobody is doing it today (at least we hope not), and every time it comes up it’s an old photo or from someone’s high school yearbook. But, when you consider the photo or yearbook is fairly recent (2001 recent), and not from the early 1900s, you still have to pause. Most of these images appear to be at parties where, of course, none of the Black or Brown people being portrayed are present.

The most recent brownfacer is Canada’s Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, who decided to do it at a party at a private school… where he was teaching. Yeah. At the time, Trudeau was 29-years-old, not necessarily the high school kid in the Deep South who claimed not to know better. Similar to all who get exposed in this act, he followed the textbook response, whether genuine or not he immediately apologized. He also just began his re-election campaign which makes the timing of such news awful.

If you’re a person of color in Canada, if you’ve supported Trudeau in the past, do you continue to support him? Victims of racism, usually minorities with Black or Brown skin, have grown weary of Black and Brownface, as well as monkeys and other animals and caricatures used to mock them. Images often from the 21st century. Excusing such behavior, especially from adults like Trudeau, is unacceptable.

Will Trudeau be forced to pay a debt to society, will he be forced to reconcile his past other than a quick apology? Probably not, and therein lies the problem. Rarely are politicians or those in positions of power made to make amends for their racist behavior, and if society and global communities are ever going to improve, that has to change.

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Corporate Social Justice, by Jay-Z

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We look up to our heroes… our athletes, entertainers, those who make it out. Society has deemed us only worthy of certain achievements, so when one of us reaches a certain level… it’s hard to admit, personally or publicly, when that person has messed up, or even worse, compromised their values for personal gain.

Obama was the first Black president. And because he was the first, he can do no wrong. I’m sure you’ve heard this argument before… from the loyal Obama supporter who’s willing do dismiss all reasonable logic when it comes to his presidency… just because he was the first.

Jay-Z is viewed by many in a similar light. He’s a billionaire. The first hip-hop artist to ever reach that status. He set the Blueprint, literally, for millions of innercity youth throughout the country. He’s loved and respected for it, and like Obama, for many, he can do no wrong.

But so exists the Obama supporter and the Jay-Z fan who can also call BS when they see it. If you’re a true fan, you’ve earned the right to criticize your heroes when they do unheroic shit. 

So when Jay-Z announced a Roc Nation partnership with the NFL to co-produce their halftime shows moving forward with a social justice campaign caveat attached to it, many people applauded the move, but just as many scratched their head and asked why. It’s a legitimate question, and I think the answer rests with his new corporate partner, the National Football League.

Let’s be honest, the NFL has blackballed Colin Kaepernick. It’s no longer about kneeling, because it if was Eric Reid and Kenny Stills who continue to kneel, wouldn’t have a job. This is about principal, and the NFL owners have decided to not sign him and hold firm to that position. While Kaepernick is not without fault, mainly for choosing to settle his collusion case and for signing a lucrative endorsement deal with Nike, you can make the argument that he did what he was sent to do, which was create a movement worthy of discussion and dialogue.

MLK and Malcolm were assassinated for their convictions. Someone inevitably had to pick up the torch to continue their movements. While Kaep is not a traditional Civil Rights leader, nor do I believe he’s striving to be, he’s still alive and well… it’s hard to justify the advancement of his movement without him being a part of it, especially when you’re set up to get a fat check in the process. For many, that’s common sense, and for others, they’re convinced that Jay-Z has a plan and we should give it time to develop. But you see, that’s not how social justice works.

If we appreciate anything about Dr. Martin Luther King Jr and true social justice, it should be The Letter from Birmingham Jail he wrote in 1963 in response to eight white religious leaders of the South who questioned his visit to Birmingham, Alabama. If we just trust King’s intuition and grace in a moment of great contention and perceived controversy in America, we quickly realize that the “wait and see” strategy has never worked for oppressed communities.

“For years now I have heard the word “wait.” It rings in the ear of every Negro with a piercing familiarity. This “wait” has almost always meant “never.” We must come to see with the distinguished jurist of yesterday that “justice too long delayed is justice denied.”” – MLK 

So again, why should we wait, continue to wait, and trust that Jay-Z’s social justice campaign will deliver… with not even a blueprint or list of action steps? We shouldn’t.

The NFL wins big with this partnership. They get one of the best entertainers in the world to manage their Super Bowl halftime shows (which frankly have been hit or miss.) And more importantly, this entertainer happens to be Black and perceived to have a lot of leverage within the Black community. What better way to win back the good graces of many of their Black fans than partnering with one of their biggest heroes.

To make things even worse, we find out that Jay has been working on this deal for a year. If this social justice campaign was intended to be impactful, why wouldn’t they at least highlight the objectives of the campaign when they announced the partnership? Are communities of color expected to wait and see what the campaign entails?

Jay chose income over community, personal gain over values, and he’s paying the price for it. A week later and we’re still waiting on any details regarding this social just campaign. We can’t afford to wait… on the NFL, or Jay-Z.