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Self-Segregation Harmful, Unnecessary at HBCUs

By David Johns
Black College Wire

Black student organizations on "majority" campuses provide safe havens for students who spend class hours, social time and quite possibly all of their campus time reminded of their existence as a minority.

There, small classrooms, dorm rooms and spaces intended for activities or rehearsals provide a place for black students to momentarily escape their blackness and share in communal discourse with people who just understand.

But the practice of self-segregating to find a comfortable place seems somewhat out of place at an institution uniquely designed to make students -- normally made to recognize their position as minorities - feel comfortable among people with similar skin tones, cultural traditions, and dialectical preferences.

Each year, countless students flock to historically black colleges and universities to escape the pressure of having to be cognizant of correctly pronouncing words, dressing to fit the norm or navigating that fine line between "acting black" and "talking white."

That said, it appears to be the norm - at black colleges - to pledge practically anything. Never had I heard of someone going through a formal "process" to declare allegiance to a dormitory.

As a member of a Greek-letter organization, I understand the objective of pursuing an organization to work with people who share like-minded goals and ambitions; however, where does it end?

Too often, students at HBCUs place inclusion in a group or association before academic and personal responsibilities-- and for what?

My HBCU is a big organization that students should feel proud to belong to.

They should walk on the Yard or pass through the Valley and say "What's up?" to one another and take pride in experiencing all that the university has to offer-- together.

We as black Americans have our entire lives to negotiate isolating situations. The practice of voluntarily dividing ourselves into factions -- just to belong -- seems unnecessary and fundamentally backward.

Students at all HBCUs should adopt the collective mentalities of such prominent black movements as Pan Africanism and the Black Arts to reverse the individualistic and selfish mentalities associated with our generation.

Striving to unify with one another, at an institution we chose partly to share in experiences with people who look like one another, can only facilitate the ability to revel in the comfort, power and strength of solidarity.

David Johns is a student at Howard University who writes for The Hilltop.

Posted March 31, 2003