Check this out…students representing Howard University’s Law School won the national mock trial competition. This is a big deal, and a moment for any graduate of a black school to celebrate.
Why?
Many people–both those that did and did not attend HBCUs–are under the ludicrous assumption that black schools are somehow second class, alternative options for those unable to attend better (read: white) institutions. Without knowing more than what’s on face, too many people will say that those that attend HBCUs are automatically lesser students than those that attend larger and/or whiter schools.
To those folks, I say to click that link and take that, suckers.
I’ve heard every excuse people have to give for not attending a HBCU. I know cats that have turned down full rides to schools like Hampton, Howard, and Clark Atlanta (my alma mater) to pay some white man in a bow tie smoking a pipe upwards of $25K to be treated like crosses between stepchildren and zoo animals. The answers ranged from increased access to facilities and additional “prestige,” whatever the fuck that means. In most of those cases, the reality was that too many of those niggaz had a fundamental belief that the white man’s ice is colder.
At least in mock trial, it wasn’t that damn chilly.
The best decision I ever made was to go to Clark. The lessons I learned there are the ones that guide my life every day. CAU was as diverse, if not more, than any school I’d been around. Remember, diversity ain’t just about race, man. It’s as much about class as anything else.
The education I received was on par with that which other received at less “prestigious” universities. I’ve been in undergrad classes at all kinds of schools, ranging from large state schools like Carolina to small, private institutions like Pomona and Duke, and I never sensed a difference in a quality of instruction between those places and Clark. Never did I think that I could not have hung academically at those places.
I have thought, though, that those places would have driven me up the fuckin wall. I’ve looked around and seen how black people are mascotted, how the retention rates at those schools are miserable, how students flunk classes because of the environment, not their aptitude. I’ve seen those places do bad things to good people.
And I would be damned before I stepped into any situation like that.
But the best thing about seeing Howard’s success was seeing that excellent students continue to refuse to drink the Kool-Aid and continue to attend black schools. They continue to support the system that has proven to be the backbone of black ascension in higher education. They know that black, by definition, does not equal second-class.
They showed folks what time it is. For that, I thank them.
It kills me every time I talk to an intelligent black high school student when I find out that he or she didn’t even consider a black school. It kills me that my nephew applied to, of all places, the University of Southern Mississippi instead of applying to Clark (it’s even more bothersome that he applied to damn Morehouse, but that’s another discussion for another post).
It’s garbage.
Should you not believe me, take a tour through graduate departments at most schools and ask the black students where they attended college. A striking majority of them will tell you they went to HBCUs. HBCU’s put too much emphasis on job preparation, but they still put more black folks into graduate school than their less melanized (nope, that ain’t a word) counterparts.
And they produce strong students. Don’t forget that.
6 Comments
by Lady
When I read the topic of the article, I thought to myself, “Here we go again,” and yet I can imagine your frustration with people’s excuses for not attending HBCUs. You have every right to your opinion. One thing I have learned is that people generally weight a university’s attributes and choose a school that they feel will benefit them the most. You can, however, be disappointed by their choices and the reasons surrounding those choices. As you said, “The best decision I ever made was to go to Clark.” You made that decision for yourself and you had your own motivations, just as others have their own motivations for the decisions they make.
There are lessons to be learned from all people in all places- we are either receptive to the lesson or we are not.
I would like you to elaborate on the statement, “too many of those n* had a fundamental belief that the white man’s ice is colder.” What evidence (please do not opine) do you have to support that statement and, in giving that evidence, speculate on why these people may have this fundamental belief.
You definitely raise an interesting insight regarding the perception of HBCUs by a particular segment of their target audience. After demonstrating that this opinion exists en masse, I’d like to discuss how these perceptions are formed, ways we can work to amend them, and fundamentally for the people who do not understand why this matters to you, why this is an important issue. (My colleagues, for instance, will need this information)
On a side note, why is it necessary to use “nigger” or any of its derivatives to describe people? Enough white people call our people by these terms. Do we really need to do so to ourselves, too?
by If all teachers were this hot...
As a graduate of an all-female HBCU (there’s only two, so guess) that might someday attend law school, if some side hustle doesn’t pan out, I was really excited to hear about Howard’s (H-O-W-A-R-D) win over Harvard (H-A-R-V-A-R-D). Read that again. Yeah, Howard, the all-black school, beat Harvard, consistently top three US News law school Harvard.If you’re excited too, then I’m glad. If you’re surprised, well, I guess that’s a by-product of the mentality Bo is writing about.When I told my high school counselors and teachers that I was going to my alma mater, they all asked me, in nicer words but with varying degrees of disgust all the same, why I was going to waste my intellect on a black school.I wish I could go back and show them the numbers of equally bright students from my graduating class that went on to the Vandy’s and UTs and even the Harvards that are worse off than I am right now, academically and professionally. And they didn’t graduate with nearly as many great college stories.Ask your neighborhood AUC alum to tell you about their Olive Branch and you’ll see what I mean.
by Kirk
Lady, not sure if I’m reading your comment correctly, so if I’m not, then I apologize in advance.
It seems to me that one problem is that even if people are making the best choices for themselves, based on whatever motives they may have, they still might be making those decisions based on inaccurate or incomplete information.
If someone looks at all the options and decides that the white man’s ice is colder (to borrow the line), then so be it, even if you don’t agree with their decision. However, if they made that decision because someone else told them that the black man’s freezer itself is inferior, then that’s a problem.
It isn’t that an individual made a bad decision necessarily, it’s that misperceptions (and a few outright lies) might cause people to make decisions that are not in their best interest, which helps no one, save for whatever university happens to be on the “Pay to the Order of” line on the tuition check.
What makes the Howard victory so important is that it has the potential to be a big step in the right direction, and convince a few talented folks that their options are not as limited or obvious as it might have appeared at first glance.
by Valencia
I came upon this same incident when I decided to apply to Clark Atlanta University. It hit much closer to home though. When I’d told a close friend of mine that I was going to apply to CAU, she asked my why would I apply to a HBCU. To quote that friend, “They will not prepare you for the real world…and there are more than just Black people in the world.” I just looked at her for a moment. (I wasn’t sure if she was trying to imply that I would receive less of an education at a HBCU or that she was just concerned about my lack of diversity in receiving my education.) See after 7th grade she had went on to public school and had the “advantage” of mingling with other races and ethnic groups. I on the other hand had continued at my predominantly Black private school. To me it didn’t seem to make her any different than me and I was receiving an excellant education, one she had once been exposed to, so I reminded her of that and also of the fact that we lived in Los Angeles where the Black people were hardly the majority. I went on to tell her that just because the school was a HBCU that it was not inferior. I already knew that CAU was a great school with the progressive and dynamic business school that I was searching for. In my mind I was sure it was just different in culture. That it was.
There are more than just Black people at CAU or in the AUC for that matter. It is a sea of students, staff and faculty that is almost as diverse as any block on either the western or eastern seaboard. With that diversity came an extreme amount of knowledge that was passed around to the students and when absorbed produces great minds who can compete with any of the so-called top-whatever-number schools. And that is just one of many HBCUs. To me, the Howard win came as no surprise. That’s as real world as you can get.
I may have to send her a copy of that article….
by MsInstyle
Okay … before I start … what’s up Bo?? Congrats to Howard and all that good stuff.
It’s funny that you say that going to white schools you are treated like second class citizens and so on and so forth.
I went to an HBCU my freshman year, Howard University to be more specific, and never in my life have I been treated so BAD! It’s as if the faculty doesn’t want to work there and the staff is just WRONG. I left Howard because I needed to leave behind an antiquated system … waiting in line for 10 hours for a sticker to register for my classes was just wack. The fact that the staff didn’t REALLY want to work there was just WACK.
I’m not against historically black colleges but I can’t front on my experience. Nobody knew anything and nobody gave a damn.
Howard could have been Harvard for all I care … if you’re treating me like shit … I’m OUT!
by Lady
To Kirk: I don’t think you misread my words; The text is what it is to you. There is, perhaps, a meaning there that I did not intend I’m sure that what you read is as legitimate (if not exactly the same) as what I thought I wrote. Also, I appreciate your response.
I also am not marginilizing the Howard victory- I am actually very happy- I’m beaming in the faces of the law students and professors here, especially knowing that many of them do hold these notions of HBCUs in general. Also, I am fascinated to a fault with “rational” decision making (with full knowledge) and what people do in reality, including going out of the way to NOT attain full information before making a decision, the implications of that, etc. The HBCU is the subject of a great case study just waiting to happen… (thinking of a way to study this within my dicipline…)