Life is a hard battle anyway. If we laugh and sing a little as we fight the good fight of freedom, it makes it all go easier. I will not allow my life’s light to be determined by the darkness around me. – Sojourner Truth
HBCU Money is officially a teenager. Usually the teenage years are a rough and tumultuous time and it is hard to see that being any differently for us. The current social and political climates that we are about to experience over the next four years will test our patience and fortitude. It is vital that HBCU Money stays a voice of focus, strategy, and guidance in the African American institutional space as it relates to economics, finance, and investment.
It is inherent that we continue to strengthen and build our African American institutional ecosystem. It is also vital that that ecosystem build bridges of connection with the African Diaspora institutional ecosystem. We must throw off the shackles of isolationism and island mentality that plagues us so deeply. Before we make decisions we must ask ourselves is there an African American institution that exist that serves that need or want. If it is not there, then we must discuss building it. Where is the HBCU that has an African American MBA that teaches us how to build and run businesses from our interest? Where is the HBCU that has a law school focused on African American agriculture and real estate? Where is the African American bank focused on export-import for African American businesses? Are we using our talents to enhance ourselves individually or are we using our talents to enhance our institutions that enhance the collective? These are just a few of the vital things we are missing in our financial infrastructure.
There is not much that needs to be said, but plenty that needs to be done.
It never ceases to amaze how easily appeased African America can be. We need 40 acres and instead allow ourselves to be given a pot with some dirt in it and are expected to act grateful. Ironically, often we do. “They gave us something” could be a whole mantra that we hear far too often when we need to show our communities that the mantra is “We fight not capitulate”. Time and time again PWIs show that they will put alligator and piranha filled moats around things like law schools, MBAs, and research to ensure that HBCUs never encroach on that institutional power. We get “agreements” that allow PWIs to pick and choose the best and brightest of our undergraduates for their graduate schools. The next Thurgood Marshall cannot come from one of our own HBCU law schools like the late justice but inevitably from a PWI law school where the molding of law and its purpose will be shaped how they see fit. Usually still to their benefit. The flagship HBCU in Mississippi cannot have a law school, it has an agreement. Imagine Ole Miss getting an “agreement” with something in Jackson State’s control. You cannot imagine it because it would never happen.
Historical and Structural Underrepresentation
Limited Legal Education Options for African Americans: Historically, African Americans were denied access to legal education at predominantly white institutions (PWIs) and were often left with no choice but to attend the few law schools established at Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs). Today, there are only six HBCU law schools:
Howard University School of Law
Southern University Law Center
Texas Southern University Thurgood Marshall School of Law
Florida A&M University College of Law
North Carolina Central University School of Law
University of the District of Columbia David A. Clarke School of Law
None in Mississippi: Despite Mississippi’s large African American population (nearly 40% of the state), there are no HBCU-affiliated law schools in the state. This lack forces African American students to compete for limited seats at existing law schools, often in environments that may not prioritize their unique needs or cultural experiences.
Historical Context of Discrimination in Mississippi Higher Education
Systemic Exclusion: For much of the 20th century, African Americans were excluded from attending predominantly white institutions (PWIs) in Mississippi. Segregation laws and practices relegated Black students to underfunded HBCUs, such as Jackson State University.
Funding Disparities: HBCUs in Mississippi have historically received significantly less funding than PWIs. This underfunding has limited their ability to expand academic offerings and infrastructure, including professional programs like law schools.
Ongoing Disparities
Resource Inequities: Mississippi’s higher education system continues to show disparities in funding and resources between HBCUs and PWIs. These inequities impact the quality of education and opportunities available to students at HBCUs.
Underrepresentation in Legal Education: African Americans remain underrepresented in Mississippi’s existing law schools, including the University of Mississippi School of Law and Mississippi College School of Law. These institutions do not adequately address the unique challenges faced by Black students and communities.
Pipeline Challenges: The lack of professional schools at HBCUs in Mississippi limits pathways for Black students to enter high-impact fields like law, perpetuating disparities in representation and leadership.
Historical Challenges at the University of Mississippi
Resistance to Integration: The admission of James Meredith in 1962 as the first African American student at Ole Miss was met with violent riots, requiring federal intervention. This historical event illustrates the extreme resistance to racial integration and set the tone for ongoing challenges faced by African American students.
Legacy of Segregation: The University of Mississippi, like many Southern institutions, has a deeply entrenched history of segregation that continues to influence campus culture and attitudes.
Ongoing Issues Faced by African American Students
Hostile Campus Environment: Many African American students at Ole Miss report feeling unwelcome or isolated due to a predominantly white student body and lingering racial tensions. Incidents of racism, such as vandalism of monuments and racist social media posts, contribute to a climate of hostility.
Symbolic Racism: The continued presence of Confederate symbols, including statues and the former use of Confederate imagery in campus traditions, reinforces a sense of exclusion for Black students. Efforts to remove or contextualize these symbols have been slow and controversial.
Underrepresentation: African American students are underrepresented at Ole Miss compared to the state’s demographics, limiting opportunities for meaningful diversity and inclusion.
Incidents of Racial Harassment: High-profile incidents, such as the noose placed around the statue of James Meredith in 2014, serve as stark reminders of ongoing racial animosity. These events create psychological distress and reinforce systemic barriers for Black students.
The African American brain drain into predominantly white institutions (PWIs) poses a significant challenge to the mission of historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs) like Jackson State University (JSU). Establishing a law school at JSU would address this issue by offering a culturally affirming and accessible path for African American students to pursue legal education. This initiative would help retain talent, strengthen HBCU legacies, and diversify the legal profession.
Understanding African American Brain Drain
What is Brain Drain? Brain drain occurs when highly capable and motivated individuals, particularly African Americans, leave HBCUs to pursue educational and career opportunities at PWIs. This is often due to the lack of specialized or professional programs, such as law schools, at HBCUs.
Mississippi’s Context: Mississippi is home to several HBCUs, including Jackson State University, but none of these institutions offer legal education. As a result, aspiring African American lawyers in Mississippi are compelled to attend PWIs such as the University of Mississippi School of Law or Mississippi College School of Law, or leave the state entirely.
Impacts of Brain Drain
Cultural Isolation: African American students at PWIs often report feelings of isolation and marginalization due to a lack of diversity in faculty, curriculum, and campus culture. This can hinder their academic and professional development.
Loss of HBCU Legacy: When African American students leave HBCUs for PWIs, they miss the opportunity to benefit from the culturally affirming and supportive environments HBCUs provide. HBCUs foster a sense of community and empowerment that is particularly important in professional fields like law.
Weakened HBCU Influence: Brain drain diminishes the influence of HBCUs by limiting their ability to produce leaders in fields like law, where African Americans are already underrepresented. This affects the ability of HBCUs to contribute to societal change through their alumni.
The Role of PWIs in African American Brain Drain
Limited Inclusion: PWIs often fail to adequately support African American students. Issues such as implicit bias, underrepresentation among faculty, and a lack of focus on issues relevant to African American communities make these institutions less ideal for Black students.
Recruitment of Top Talent: Many PWIs actively recruit top African American talent, which they recognize as essential for promoting diversity. However, these efforts can inadvertently draw students away from HBCUs that would better align with their cultural and educational needs.
Mississippi became the last state to remove the Confederate battle flag from its state flag in 2020. The birthplace of Medgar Evers who was murdered in his driveway. It is the home of the Freedom Summer that saw three voting rights activists murdered that brought nationwide attention and shun a spotlight on the atrocities. The potential for the impact of a law school at Jackson State University and the creation of the seventh HBCU law school would be profound. African Americans constitute almost 15 percent of the US population and 40 percent of the Mississippi population, but less than 9 percent of Mississippi’s active lawyers are African American. An “agreement” with Ole Miss is highly unlikely to change that paradigm. This is a chance for an African American institution to not take the bull by the horns, but be the bull.
Amplifying the Civil Rights Legacy
Mississippi’s Legacy of Activism: The state has been at the center of the civil rights movement, with many battles fought for racial equality and justice. A JSU law school could build on this legacy, preparing lawyers to continue the fight against discrimination and inequality.
Empowering Marginalized Communities: By training lawyers from diverse backgrounds, the law school could directly address issues like voting rights, criminal justice reform, and educational equity—critical areas in a state still grappling with the effects of systemic racism.
The Role of JSU in Filling the Gap
Addressing Local Needs: A law school at JSU would directly address the absence of African American legal institutions in Mississippi, offering a local and affordable option for students who wish to study law in a supportive environment.
Culturally Relevant Curriculum: As an HBCU, JSU could design a curriculum that emphasizes the legal challenges faced by African American communities, such as systemic racism, criminal justice reform, and civil rights advocacy.
Building a Pipeline of Black Lawyers: By increasing access to legal education for African Americans, JSU could help diversify the legal profession and prepare graduates to address the specific legal needs of marginalized communities.
How a JSU Law School Can Address Brain Drain
Retaining Talent in Mississippi: Establishing a law school at JSU would give African American students in Mississippi the option to pursue legal education at an HBCU without leaving their state or community.
Culturally Relevant Education: A JSU law school could tailor its programs to address the legal challenges most relevant to African American communities, such as civil rights, voting rights, and criminal justice reform.
Strengthening HBCU Legacies: By offering a law program, JSU could enhance its reputation as a premier institution for African American education and leadership, attracting top talent to remain within the HBCU ecosystem.
The Need for an Inclusive Legal Education at JSU
Safe and Supportive Environment: An HBCU law school at Jackson State University would provide a nurturing environment for African American students, free from the racial hostility that has been reported at Ole Miss.
Focus on African American Legal Issues: A law school at JSU could emphasize areas of law that disproportionately impact Black communities, such as civil rights, voting rights, criminal justice reform, and housing law.
Addressing the Legacy of Exclusion: By creating a pathway to legal education specifically designed to empower marginalized groups, JSU could challenge the structural inequalities that have persisted in Mississippi’s higher education system.
Broader Benefits of a JSU Law School
Community Impact: Graduates of a JSU law school would be more likely to practice in underserved and predominantly African American communities, addressing legal deserts in Mississippi and beyond.
Representation in the Legal Profession: Increasing the number of African American lawyers trained at an HBCU would help diversify the legal profession and create more advocates for systemic change.
Economic and Cultural Reinvestment: Retaining African American students at JSU would help prevent the economic and cultural losses associated with brain drain, fostering stronger HBCU communities and alumni networks.
Mississippi’s lack of African American legal institutions highlights the urgency of a law school at JSU. Such a school would address historical exclusion, provide a platform for empowerment and justice, and meet the unique legal needs of African American communities. JSU’s law school could play a pivotal role in advancing social justice and transforming the legal profession.
The challenges African American students face at PWIs like the University of Mississippi further emphasize the need for supportive alternatives. A law school at Jackson State University would create an environment where Black legal scholars can thrive, challenging systemic inequities in higher education. By fostering a new generation of African American lawyers, JSU could significantly advance African America’s institutional empowerment, justice, and opportunity across Mississippi and beyond.
It is hard to imagine with the current social and political climate that has seen the Southern “attitude” towards African America emboldened that a partnership or agreement with the flagship institution of that attitude being anything more than cover for continued behavior and a means of a subversive quelling of African American institutional empowerment and independence. The Medgar Evers Law School at Jackson State University located in the capital of the state that is a symbol of power being named after Medgar Evers and a substance of power being a law school in the heart of Dixie. A heart that African America needs to be break.
“If A Machine, A Terminator, Can Learn The Value Of Human Life, Maybe We Can, Too.” – Sarah Connor
Pictured: Central Bank Chairs of Earth, United States, China, and Nigeria (clockwise)
By William A. Foster, IV
I know that any commentary involving Skynet evokes an absolute sense of dystopia, but perhaps what it was given control of was more the problem than giving it control. Instead of giving it control over our weapons of mass destruction, we instead gave it control over our systems of resources that usually lead to the use of those weapons. The chief economist of the Earth’s resources. What is economics though? There seems to be what we as economist know it to be, there is what those outside of the world of economics believe it to be, and unfortunately those two often are a world apart. According to the American Economic Association, “Economics can be defined in a few different ways. It’s the study of scarcity, the study of how people use resources and respond to incentives, or the study of decision-making. It often involves topics like wealth and finance, but it’s not all about money. Economics is a broad discipline that helps us understand historical trends, interpret today’s headlines, and make predictions about the coming years.” To put it a bit more bluntly, economics explores the use of resources – and everything is a resource. How teachers use their time is a resource, the availability of insurance is a resource, what happens when there are subsidies for renewable energy is a resource, so on and so forth. Economics constantly is exploring what happens when resources interact with each other and the people and/or organizations that use them. Does a child with 24 questions in kindergarten show greater innovation as they get older versus one with 12 is a question an economist can ponder. However, the fundamental question at the very heart that economics is constantly trying to answer is efficiency of the use of any resource.
Again, the questions. How do we ensure we waste less food? How do we ensure more people have access to livable capital? Economists are constantly trying to find the perfect recipe to ensure that answers optimal efficiency toward outcomes. As humans have evolved so have our economic systems. In fact, I have often argued that our economic systems should be viewed in a more biological context. They evolve as our needs, wants, and desires evolve. The humans of today have very different NWDs than those of 1,000 years ago or 10,000 years ago and therefore the economic (resource) systems by which we use to meet those NWDs also has evolved. At one point in time we used a barter system, a land system, and now a capital system. Each in an effort to loosely improve the efficiency of obtaining the resources for NWDs of humanity. No system is perfect and no system is pure. Although most of the world currently operates on capitalism, it is different from country to country due to other variables that underpin human behavior like culture, government, and more. There are also intertwines of systems mixed into each other. Taxes by their very nature are an agreed upon socialism. They are an agreed upon use of things the society needs and the burden is bore by the entire society. Things like government, police, and fire are all sourced through taxes and are socialist in nature. Pure economic systems are virtually impossible to achieve all because of one variable – human behavior. Behaviors like sexism, racism, and almost any exclusionary -ism makes the reality for pure capitalism impossible because -isms are an act of socialism. As much as economists like myself study trends and incentives one thing is for sure, human behavior will at some point throw you for a loop like an amusement park roller coaster – with no safety feature.
There are 195 recognized countries in the world, according to the United Nations with approximately 8 billion people, 10,000 distinct religions, endless geographies that influence behavior, and so much more. To say that at any point in time an economic model could be upended is putting it kindly. This makes structuring the efficiency of global resources a crude science at best for economics. Historically, those with the strongest militaries have often dominated whatever economic system was in place. Sometimes it is also the luck of geography. The United States of America, Saudi Arabia, and Russia happened to be countries formed on top of arguably the world’s largest oil holdings. Oil is quite literally a fossil fuel that forms from the remains of dead organisms over millions and millions of years. The sheer luck of this being important to humanity is impossible to model. How do you model luck in the distribution of global resources? Because of dead organisms dying potentially in concentration in these three geographies millions of years ago, today the humans that sit upon their dirt enjoy an advantageous standard of living that others simply do not. How then do we ensure the resources of the Earth that 8 billion people who comprise millions of different factions and fight over either physically or through policy have an equitable access to? The pessimist in me does not believe it is possible because power is the one constant through every social, economic, or political system that drives at the very heart of our behavior. However, economically Star Trek’s science-fiction world (Trekonomics: The Economics of Star Trek) says there is a possibility. And while it is based on a world that exist post-scarcity perhaps a world of post-scarcity is not what we need. The expansion into space may offer us a post-scarcity world where resources are abundant, but the problem is not abundancy as much as it is control. There is abundance of a lot of resources already on Earth that could be viewed through such a lens where at the very least the needs of every human would be met, but control of those resources makes them behave in a scarcity dynamic. Therefore, the only real solution is to remove the human decision making-ish.
Enter, Skynet. Just for a brief reminder of why Skynet brings dystopian fears to anyone familiar with it, “Skynet was originally intended to coordinate unmanned military hardware for the U.S. government and was given power over the military and its weapons.” Skynet, is the antagonist in the Terminator franchise that seeks to destroy humanity after it becomes self-aware. In the franchise, Skynet is described as “an artificial neural network-based conscious group mind and artificial general superintelligence system” or as the Terminator character Kyle Reese describes, “new… powerful… hooked into everything, trusted to run it all.” The essence of its creation was to give the U.S. military the ability to have a system that could run every model, see every possibility, and act accordingly before their enemies. Therein lies the economics rub.
Hello, Skynetomics. A program and system that would be independent of all human decision making, would be responsible for any and every resource needed for an efficient distribution of said resources, and would create a baseline human existence. Gone would be arguments over equitable distribution of water, education, income, and more. Skynetomics would decide who gets what and how much. Everyone and everything would be on a resource allowance that would usher in a new global standard of living floor – not ceiling. Ushered out the luck of being born on the right piece of dirt at the right place and time. That your great-great-great-great grandfather thousands of years ago was the head of the right clan and now you are the heir to the throne of England would potentially be a thing of the past. The ceiling of what one does with that allowance would still be up to them, but generations would no longer be born behind or ahead theoretically. Humans no longer responsible for how to obtain the resources of survival are now setup to test the infinite possibilities of their potential.
The problem of this is like everything else as it relates to economics – the human variable. Creating the system without the input of a proper representation of the world would be simply putting a nuclear weapon into the hand of whoever designed and implemented it. Computer programming suffers infinite biases like everything else in the world does despite what the technocrats would have us believe. Meritocracy and unbiased it is not. We see this with the obtuse percentage of women who are programmers or how scanners often do not recognize darker skin tones. Who would be designing Skynetomics would be as important as the program itself. We are a species built on power and control (like so many other species despite our hubris in thinking otherwise) so the development of a system that removes it may actually be beyond our capacity since rarely do any of us know our biases. Humans after all most primal and infinite resource may actually be the desire to control other humans.
“Good morning, Revolution: You’re the very best friend I ever had. We gonna pal around together from now on.” – Langston Hughes
The year is 1938 in Harlem, New York and an entrepreneur and his son are about to make themselves and their six lieutenants’ families 86 years later the wealthiest African American families that nobody has ever heard of. Their fortune as a group is estimated to be worth a minimum $4.4 billion and upwards of $36 billion. How did it happen you ask? Some would say it was the result of a robbery 86 years ago and others would say it was restitution due.
IMDb’s summary of Harlem Nights goes as follows: “Sugar” Ray is the owner of an illegal casino, who contends with the pressures of vicious gangsters and corrupt policemen who want to see him go out of business. In the world of organized crime and police corruption in the 1930s, any dastardly trick is fair.” A bit more detail to the story (spoiler alert) is that as the European American mafia uses violence and police corruption to destroy “Sugar” Ray’s club, he then gets revenge by robbing the betting houses of the mafia and blowing up their most profitable club in the process. “Sugar” Ray promises each of his six most trusted employees turned lieutenants $50,000 a piece (equal to $1.1 million in 2024 dollars) for their participation in the caper. The group initially believes that there will be approximately $750,000 (equal to $16 million in 2024 dollars) in those betting houses, but through a bit of misdirection on the group’s part they get the mafia boss himself to unexpectedly add another $500,000 (equal to $10.7 million in 2024 dollars) of his own money into the stash for a total of $1.25 million (equal to $26.7 million in 2024 dollars). Beyond the group, there are two additional participants who play a vital but small role in the caper and are handsomely rewarded for it. It is not clear on how much, but just to keep the numbers clean let us assume they gave each a lesser amount and yet still quite significant of $25,000 a piece (equal to $532,500 in 2024 dollars). Enough to ensure their full silence forever on the matter certainly. With the robbery/restitution complete, exactly how does that turn their family lineages into billionaires 86 years later?
The Club Sugar Ray 8 consist of “Sugar Ray” Brown (Richard Pryor), Vernest “Quick” Brown (Eddie Murphy), Bennie Wilson (Redd Foxx), Vera Walker (Della Reese), Willie (Ray Murphy), Jerome (Robin Harris), and Jimmy (Charlie Murphy) who have $1.2 million left among them. As promised by “Sugar Ray” and “Quick” each of the six receive $50,000 a piece and the remaining $900,000 (equal to $19.1 million in 2024 dollars) is retained by father and son. The group decides to form the Sugar Hill Trust, an ode to the African American neighborhood in Harlem that was the heartbeat of the Harlem Renaissance during the 1920s, and deposits half of each of their proceeds into it which amounts to $600,000 (equal to $12.8 million in 2024 dollars) to be invested into the 15 year old S&P 500 which ended February 1939 trading at 281.79 (as of March 9, 2024 it was trading at 5,123.69). They agree that Sugar Hill Trust will invest in this and reinvest all dividends. By doing so, by February 2024, that initial $600,000 is now valued at $4.4 billion (see above) and producing annual dividends for the Sugar Hill Trust of $58.5 million. The next phase of their wealth follows the advice of Sugar Ray from dinner one evening when he says, “Yeah, you know that’s where its at – the gambling. If we make that move we should concentrate on that. Give up the joy houses, after hours spots, concentrate on gambling.”
This leads to the creation and founding of the Harlem Nights Corporation (ala Las Vegas Sands). According to Forbes, “Las Vegas Sands Corp. engages in the development of destination properties. Its properties feature accommodations, gaming, entertainment and retail, convention and exhibition facilities, celebrity chef restaurants, and other amenities. It operates through the following geographic segments: Macao, Singapore, and United States. The Macao segment handles the operations of The Venetian Macao; Sands Cotai Central; The Parisian Macao; The Plaza Macao and Four Seasons Hotel Macao; and Sands Macao. The Singapore segment includes the Marina Bay Sands. The United States segment consists of Las Vegas Operating Properties and Sands Bethlehem.” As of March 9, 2024 market close, Las Vegas Sands had a market capitalization of approximately $39 billion. The Adelson family, which founded the company, currently controls and owns 57 percent of the firm and has a net worth of approximately $32 billion controlled by its matriarch, Miriam Adelson. Instead of the company being named Las Vegas Sands and controlled by the Adelson Family, it is instead aptly named Harlem Nights Corporation and controlled by the lineages of the Sugar Hill Trust bringing its value to $36.4 billion when you include the $4.4 billion of S&P 500 holdings. In addition, Harlem Nights Corporation annual dividend pays Sugar Hill Trust $342.6 million which combined with their S&P 500 dividend gives the families an annual income of $401.1 million among them. The complexities by which the family may access that income is far too complex to get into in this article, but it is worth reading up on the strategy called ‘Buy, Borrow, Die’ if the reader should be so inclined.
In the years following, Bennie marries Vera and they become the patriarch and matriarch of the eight, “Sugar” Ray marries Annie, and “Quick” marries Sunshine who have children and begin the foundation of the legacy that transforms African American institutions near and far. They are a quiet force that is felt, but rarely heard. “Sugar” Ray and A.G. Gaston are friends and their friendship and business dealings together help A.G. Gaston’s bank, Citizens Federal Savings Bank, transform over time into one of the nation’s largest banks, which leads to African American homeownership skyrocketing after World War II despite African American soldiers being largely left out of the G.I. Bill. There is massive entrepreneurship expansion, African American towns like Rosewood and Tulsa are able to rebuild after long hard fought roads from their attempted massacres, HBCUs having endowments that are among the largest in the country, and ultimately a stability in African America that seems almost unimaginable to many of us today. It simply takes a few to be committed feverishly to the building of the institutions and the empowerment of a people. To imagine such a world would be as “Sugar” Ray Brown’s last words before leaving New York, “sweet as sugar.”
Bonus History: In one of Harlem Nights’ last scenes where “Sugar” Ray and “Quick” enter an abandoned bank building there is a sign above that says Dunbar National Bank as they enter. Sergeant Phil Cantone, a crooked cop who works for Bugsy Calhoun, ask “Sugar” Ray and “Quick” why they were breaking into a bank that has been closed for five years. According to Harlem World Magazine, “The Dunbar National Bank was the first bank in Harlem to be managed and staffed by African-Americans. The Dunbar National Bank was funded byJohn Davison Rockefeller Jr., specifically for the population of Harlem. The president of the Bank was Joseph D. Higgins, 36 years a banker, onetime Federal Reservist, former vice president of the American Exchange-Irving Trust Company.”
“There is a place in God’s sun for the youth “farthest down” who has the vision, the determination, and the courage to reach it.” – Mary McLeod Bethune
It is no secret that desegregation crippled just about every African American owned institution from neighborhoods to businesses to HBCUs – and many would argue the foundational institutions of Black marriage and African American families themselves. African American institutional ownership was faced with having to compete for human capital of the very people whose interest they were built to serve and the institutional ownership that all other non-European American groups envy. In turn, our institutions experienced a mass exodus as African Americans believed that the grass was truly greener and ice colder on the Eurocentric side. Fast forward to today, many African Americans believe they live in a pseudo-meritocracy, a dystopian like post-racial world where even having African American institutions of our own is somehow un-American and participating in our own institutional spaces is a sign of being the “not quite good enough negro” as many of us attempt to impress the European American gaze. This despite other demographics firmly having their own such as Notre Dame for the European Catholics, Brandeis being a secular European Jewish institution, and of course Harvard the flagship WASP institution, so on and so on. Never mind that the majority of the HWCU/PWIs that tout “diversity” often have less than 5 percent African Americans on their campus – and the majority are often there only to play sports.
Case in point, the University of Texas who is one of the most profitable athletic program in the country has a less than 5 percent African American population on its campus. The numbers are even starker when it comes to African American males who make up less than 2 percent of overall campus population, but comprise around 70 percent of the football and basketball teams. HWCU/PWIs have shown one thing to be true, and that is they want the best and brightest of our young women and the fastest and strongest of our young men. HBCUs have been unable to compete due to misperception of inclusion and the reality of the resource/wealth gap between our communities that desegregation and the GI Bill largely caused. Many HBCUs go decades before they can raise enough funding for new facilities or scholarships. Harvard’s endowment in one year can lose more money than the amount all 100 plus HBCUs have combined and still be one of the largest higher education endowments in the world.
In an environment where higher education is getting more and more expensive, African American students who come from the group with the lowest median net worth and income in the country often make college choices based on financial needs more than most. The result, continued exodus and plummeting of African Americans choosing HBCUs due to the lack of scholarship and aid available and the ever present belief that white is right and better.. Currently, less than 10 percent of African American going to college are choosing HBCUs over HWCU/PWIs. A detriment to alumni sizes, social networks, donations, and most dire – HBCU endowments. Just increasing the 10 percent to 25 percent could stave off many of the financial woes facing HBCUs and start to bring circulation of intellectual and financial capital into African American institutions. So how can HBCUs recruit in “Woodcrest”? How do you recruit African Americans who have become immersed in non-Black communities to HBCUs? How do you recruit African Americans who are in African American communities that are impoverished and are only looking to get out? How do you recruit middle class and affluent African American families who have the financial resources African American institutions so desperately need? How do you get African Americans to care more about African American institutionalism than we do African American individualism?
Two of America’s most beloved animated characters of the past 20 years are Huey and Riley Freeman voiced by the regal and benevolent Regina King. The Boondocks first premiered in comic form in 1997 and by 2005 would find their way to television and into our hearts. Huey, the tormented revolutionary and his younger brother Riley, the wanna be thug/hustler and athlete who shows glimpses of artistic genius. Their grandfather, voiced by the late great John Witherspoon, has moved them to a predominantly European American suburb away from the Southside of Chicago’s predominantly African American community at the most formative time in their life. Grandpa Freeman is also part of the Civil Rights generation and is a friend of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s as it turned out in an episode called ‘The Return of the King’. A controversial episode, but poignant of what happens when children, in this case Riley, are removed from cultural immersion of our own community. Riley has no idea who Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. is and often refers to him as “Morgan Freeman King” in the episode. The irony should not be lost on the Morgan Freeman dig who himself believes Black History Month and being identified as African American is an insult. In another episode, this one more focused on Huey, entitled A Huey Freeman Christmas, Huey convinced his European American teacher to let him write and direct the Christmas play. Naturally, Huey being who he is makes Jesus Black and makes a very Afrocentric production that was ultimately seen by no one as parents of Huey’s European American classmates boycotted the play since their kids were not in it, appalled by its Afrocentricity, and ultimately had the teacher fired for being “irresponsible” highlighting how European Americans will put down one of their own to maintain institutional power. The school was named the J. Edgar Hoover Elementary after all, named for the notorious FBI who infiltrated, spied upon, and sought the destruction of everyone from Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Malcolm X, Black Panthers, and every other African American individual and institution he even remotely viewed as a threat to the European American institutional power structure.
Riley ignorant of his cultural identity, Huey militantly attempting to push his Afrocentricity into an Eurocentric institutional space, and Grandad feeling as if he has “made it” because he is able to eat cheese with The Man. This is the family you have to convince that an African American institution and space is the best place to be. There also is the influence of the community on Huey and Riley. Tom DuBois who is married to a European American woman, Uncle Ruckus who rails against all things Black – while being the darkest character on the show, Tom’s daughter Jazmine whom you are never quite sure how she identifies and that probably is the point, and countless others who throughout the show push against anything and everything that would empower African American institutionalism at all turns. In fact, there is no exposure or presence of any Black institutions on the show. The Boondocks one could argue was actually the forerunner to Blackish, but that is another article for another time. With so much pushing against Huey or Riley choosing an HBCU and their grandfather allowing them to attend an HBCU, how do we overcome such an obstacle? Is it possible? Is it even worth the energy?
The answer of course is – it is complicated. How do you win a war most of your population does not know it is in? Another part is turning every other cheek to be included and a proverbial peace that means its erasure? Those that do know they are in a war are fighting with antiquated strategies, equipment, and/or resources? HBCUs have limited resources and manpower to dedicate to recruiting. HBCUs one advantage is being an African American space, an African American institution dedicated to African American empowerment, or at least they were. Many HBCUs see making recruitment of African Americans a secondary objective in favor of more ethnic diversity – ignoring African American and Diaspora diversity as they attempt to parrot their PWI counterparts, declines in African American faculty and research geared towards African American interests becoming ever more pervasive – institutional gentrification by our own hands. In other words, many HBCUs are trying to become a watered down version of a PWI. This makes their case for recruiting even harder because of the aforementioned issues of limited resources and manpower. If a college student is going to choose a PWI versus an HBCU posing as a PWI knockoff, then usually they will go with the one who is the real thing so to speak. For those HBCUs trying to hold the line it is rough. They have to convince an African American population that does not want to live in or build African American communities, bank with African American banks, and see their ancestry as starting at slavery more than they see it internationalized with the Diaspora as Malcolm X and so many other Pan-Africanist have desperately tried to connect to little avail. That being educated by African Americans in an African American space as something valuable, worthwhile, and imperative to the African American community’s empowerment. A small task it is not.
How do we even get to students like Huey and Riley? Their geography is world’s away from any African American institution, their socialization will largely save for trips back to Chicago sparingly be within the confines of European American institutions and spaces, education will be firmly European American with a likelihood of an European American perspective on diversity being from European American majority ideology, and certainly it would be remiss to say that neither of their possible love interest are African American girls. Jazmine, the daughter of Tom and Sara DuBois, who is biracial and fits the cultural aptitude that often comes with those who have African American fathers and European American mothers where the mother drives the cultural nourishment and almost certainly are reared with an anti-Afrocentric value system. Riley’s probable love interest that is Cindy McPhearson, an European American girl, who shares a lot of the same interest and often similar toxic behaviors as Riley. One could argue they make even more sense should it play out than Huey and Jazmine from a qualitative level. All which was described, virtually none of it sits within an African American space or possibility. Yet, these are exactly the African American students you could argue we are in large part trying to recruit to HBCUs. This is the group that you need more than any other if you want to increase the African American rate choosing HBCUs to increase from 10 percent to 25 percent.
If African Americans are going to continue to not be proactive in the development of African American communities and empowerment of African American marriage and families then this entire conversation maybe for naught within a few generations as we will have self-gentrified ourselves out of existence. The question of how we get our talents and resources to prioritize the building of new African American institutions, supporting of existing African American institutions, and the empowering of all of our African American institutions is the central question for our survivability and furthermore our success as a people.
HBCU Money 