I have not seen one critique of HBCUs that’s not rooted in some form of antiblackness. https://twitter.com/_swallowmystyle/status/1247225278482571268

People say “oh well I just don’t think I would fit in”... and you think you’ll automatically fit in at a PWI? Why is that?

I’ve heard plenty of Black people say “I went to a black high school, I want a more diverse experience”.

You think PWIs are diverse?

“I really want to be educated and network well so I can be prepared for the real world”. HBCUs aren’t spaces of education? They aren’t connected to the real world? They don’t hire degreed/licensed professionals? What are you saying?

“HBCUs can be very elitist and/or homophobic”. And PWIs can’t?

*of course holding the notion that intraracial elitism and homophobia can hit different

“HBCU leader mismanage funding”. More frequently than PWIs? Or do PWIs (are financially able to) hide their mismanagement scandals? What’s the critique?

“HBCU degrees are worth less to employers because they’re easier to get”. Which employers? That’s not a prob with the school. That a racist employer problem.

And easier by what metric? Are HBCUs not rigorous? Do HBCUs not produce scholars?

FYI: Statistics prove the majority of black engineers, teachers, lawyers, and medical professionals across the U.S. matriculated at an HBCU. What’s the critique again?

“HBCUs are party schools”. And PWIs aren’t? Have you been on a white campus or in a white college town on a Thurs or Fri night?

“HBCUs are closing down because they’re broke and not meeting standards”. Recognize who creates these standards and how HBCUs across the US are directly targeted and underfunded.

All of these critiques suggest that black people and black-curated spaces are inferior to white ones, are less rigorous, are not to be taken seriously.

This does not suggest that HBCUs are above critique. What I am saying is to identify what is influencing your critique.

AND most of these anti-HBCU arguments are about the speaker caping for white people and white institutions.