The current administration in Washington concerns me more and more every day.
Just last week, Secretary of Education, Betsy DeVos, penned a letter in which she said:
“HBCUs are real pioneers when it comes to school choice. They are living proof that when more options are provided to students, they are afforded greater access and greater quality. Their success has shown that more options help students flourish.”
Wait… what?
More options? School choice?
The woman who currently serves as Secretary of Education seems to be very confused about what HBCU’s are and what they were created for. For those of you who may share this confusion, allow me to explain. Historically Black Colleges and Universities were not created to provided black students with another “choice”. At a point in time in American history, attending an HBCU was a black student’s only choice if they wanted an education, being that white students did not want to attend the same schools as black students and went out of their way to keep schools segregated. By saying that these institutions were created to provide another “option” to black students, DeVos displays a refusal to acknowledge the segregated school system that this country participated in for such a long time, and in some ways, still does.
Do better.
First it was DeVos, then it was Counselor to the President, Mrs. Kellyanne Conway. During an interview on Lou Dobbs Tonight (on Fox Business), Kellyanne referred to these institutions as “HCBUs” on more than one occasion.
Do. Better.
She was doing an interview on the importance of the schools, but could not even say the acronym correctly. Say it with me:
Historically Black College and Universities.
Both DeVos and Conway could have saved themselves much embarrassment on this topic by simply putting Google to good use. Why should HBCU students feel at ease when we know that the future of our beloved schools are in the hands of an administration full of people that are completely clueless about these black schools in the first place?
As if all of that foolishness wasn’t enough, Secretary of Housing and Urban Development, Ben Carson, recently went before his employees and said this:
"There were other immigrants who came here in the bottom of slave ships. They too had a dream that one day their sons, daughters, grandsons, granddaughters, great grandsons, great granddaughters might pursue prosperity and happiness in this land."
Slave ships? Immigrants?
Really?
The word immigrant implies that the people doing the migrating voluntarily decided to leave their homeland to live in another country. This was not the case when it came to slavery. African slaves were, in no way, immigrants. Africans that were brought into this country did not have a choice in their migration. They did not come to this country looking for a better life. They were brutally captured, endured horrific conditions on those slave ships he spoke of and they were forced into coercive labor. Carson, as an educated black man and an American citizen, should know that piece of history very well.
Not only does Donald Trump and his administration like to create “Alternative Facts”, they also like to completely rewrite history. Their complete disregard and or oblivion for the struggle and the history of not only black people, but people of color all together, is beyond alarming. This is who is running this country. If you aren’t concerned about the ignorance and dishonesty of this administration, you very well may be part of the problem.
