In the aftermath of the tragic losses of Alton Sterling, Philando Castile and five Dallas Police officers, there was an unnecessary debate about Historically Black Colleges and Universities and Predominantly White Institutions on Twitter.
This isn’t the first time we’ve seen this debate, but it was extremely saddening to see that this was a topic of conversation when people – black people especially – should be unifying.
Black students who attend PWIs were ridiculed by many HBCU students. They argue that black PWI students don’t get a “full cultural experience,” and in the wake of racially charged events, they don’t have the “right” to say anything because they are “sell-outs” to the white man.
Being a black student at a PWI, I took offense to these messages. Not only did people work hard for African Americans to attend white universities, but they are trying to discredit my college experience because of a color.
Black students at PWIs usually claim that their degree will hold more value. In some cases this could be true, only because colleges are ranked by their prestige. No doubt an Ivy League degree will hold more value than my own, but they are both PWIs.
This debate not only discredited us, but it showed the world, or at least Twitter, that we continue to find ways to separate ourselves. Seeing Black Twitter, a platform that I’m a part of, start this debate was disappointing.
We can’t be unified if we continue to classify ourselves. It’s the same with colorism. Light skin versus dark skin is a constant debate that only charges popular ideas that one skin tone is more beautiful than the other, something that reminds me of how slaves were ranked by their owners.
We as black people have to do a better job of including each other, no matter our differences, especially something like the institution that will be handing us our degrees. How about next time we start a better hashtag like #YoungBlackAndEducated. That’s empowering. This argument fueled the constantly used remark that blacks kill each other more than anyone kills them.
Some users quickly shut the debate down, and I am proud to know that students from both types of schools see the irrelevance in the debate.
Ultimately students from both schools will be first identified by the color of their skin, until the rèsumè is opened and the college is revealed, skill and
qualifications will be the determining factor of who is the better candidate.
Let’s transform the narrative and empower each other. Remember we have to be twice as good to get half of what they have, and tearing each other down to prove how good we are individually based on our choice of university isn’t the way.
Ari’yana Gibson is a 21-year-old English secondary education senior from Slidell, Louisiana.
