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It was the fourth season when the white character Matthew was introduced to the audience of the prolific sitcom, A Different World. On the second show of the season, the insatiable Professor Randolph, played by Roger Guenveur Smith, led a class on the African American experience. Engaging the class with thought provoking questions, his final question to the class was, “What does it mean to be Black in America?” Instantly, Matthew walked into the crowded classroom of eager Black students and said, “I may not be the best person to answer that question.”

While it may be true that anyone who is not Black cannot speak for the life experiences of being Black in America, perhaps there can be a window perspective. By that, I mean the process of repositioning individuals to view and interact with a majority of Black folk, and a great place for this to materialize would be at an HBCU.

Recall a moment when you recognized the racial makeup of a movie that may have had an all white cast with one person of color included. How might that person have felt surrounded by a dominant race? Would they have felt compelled to assimilate while off the movie set? Would that person have been their most authentic self as they interacted with others? In the same vein, view the racial demographics of corporate America, where the majority of members are white with a small percentage of Black folk, or full-time professorships in the United States, which largely consists of the majority race with a small percentage of Black folk or other minorities in the profession. The point I’m making here is that the social position of Black people in America for generations has been the “other,” or the minority. For a non-Black member to attend and belong to an HBCU would be constructive on many levels.

First, the admittance of non-Black students into HBCUs gives them perspectives into the Black experience. By and large, we are still a segregated society and we see this in many of our institutions, including public schools, places of worship, plus our neighborhoods. Viewing the Black positionality at the collegiate level is important for understanding the degree of issues that affect Black folk.

Second, non-Black students will understand what it feels like to be a minority by being a minority. As a minority in a Black collective student body, non-Black students may recognize what it feels like for Black people and other minority races when they are surrounded by a majority race.

The third benefit of non-Black students attending an HBCU is the opportunity to befriend Black students. Referring back to the aforementioned fact that we are still a segregated society, befriending Black students is an opportunity that is otherwise not readily available. Segregation creates social bubbles of people who are quite similar in many ways and we, at times, sit complacently within our public school bubbles, neighborhood bubbles and bubbled places of worship.

Through this experience, non-Black students would be able to share their realities with family and friends back home. Being occupied in segregated bubbles keeps other narratives at bay and the only narratives that enter these bubbled spaces come in the forms of media, music or entertainment. One of the ways in shifting the paradigm of white perspectives, racists or anyone who believes in the false narratives of Black stereotypes, can begin with those who have access to these communities. Through testimony, knowledge and perspective from other white or non-Black people who have gained access to the window of Black people and Black culture is one way that the paradigm shift may happen.

While considering the importance of narratives, we see the evidence of critical race theory in action. The critical race theory movement consists of activists and scholars who examine racial experiences and measure powerful entities as it relates to the social structure and relationships to racism and race inequalities. Accompanied with reading and understanding, the stories and experiences of Black students become real to non-Black students as they step into the kicks of being minorities amongst a Black majority student body.

In short, yes, I believe it would be beneficial to non-Black students to attend an HBCU, all according to the aforementioned reasons.

Finally, understanding the Black experience has been addressed for centuries, and the magic of A Different World, along with scholars, activists, written works and artistry, the essence of capturing the experience is paramount in changing the perception of Black folk. Non-Black students should be included in this process. Indeed, we’ve always had profound writers, including Ida B. Wells, Anna Julia Cooper and early scholars such as W.E.B. Du Bois, amongst countless others in the 20th and 21st century, express and research the living conditions of Black folk. With this, in the 21st century, we have more tools to work with. For example, the Black Lives Matter demonstrations showed that there were not simply Black and brown faces that were present. We witnessed white faces who were also carrying signs, walking in the streets, standing side by side with Black folk.

I’ll end with this, Frederick Douglass wrote, “… As a people, we feel ourselves to be not only deeply injured, but grossly misunderstood. Our white countrymen do not know us. They are strangers to our character, ignorant of our capacity, oblivious to our history and progress, and are misinformed as to the principles and ideas that control and guide us, as a people.”

Kinyel Ragland

Writing since April 2019 · 2 stories contributed