Last week, a white Spelman College student, Camilla Rose, sent HBCU Twitter into an uproar over a since-deleted post where she raved about her experience as a white woman at an HBCU (Historically Black College/University). Her post sparked a conversation and revealed a clear divide around the idea of white students attending HBCUs.
this is the worst, most misleading, headline of the year. This headline invokes an “ Angry Black Woman” stereotype, which was never the issue. I don’t like it one bit. https://t.co/JkjkBUAvKh
— #BANK$DAY -ᴢᴀʏ ♛ (@thezaybanks) December 7, 2020
To further continue the conversation, Chaos+Comrades spoke to Annie Bennett, a white student and a sophomore at Emerson College who is majoring in journalism with a minor in peace and social justice and comedy. This upcoming semester, she will be participating in an exchange program between Emerson College and Howard University, an HBCU.
Can you describe your decision process when choosing your college?
I decided to go to Emerson because it’s such a communication-focused school with a liberal arts base… I did look at Howard briefly online, and I really liked it because I am a big fan of D.C. especially for what I want to do, it’s really convenient. I liked that it was in the city, but it had a campus… but I decided not to go there because they didn’t have as much of a wide variety of media stuff as I was looking for, but also I worry about invading safe spaces for people of color, which is something I’m trying to be conscientious about, and also obviously it’s not the same thing, because I wouldn’t be oppressed as a white person going there but I’m already a minority, being queer, and I was like I don’t feel like being ostracized even more, if that makes sense?
Can you explain what encouraged you to consider participating in an HBCU exchange program? Did you have any apprehensions? If so, what ultimately made you decide to attend?
The communications schools at Howard and Emerson started a new program that had apparently been in the works for a while, and I got an email about it because I’m in the School of Communications. I got the email, and I was like this sounds cool, and I had looked at Howard, and I had been to Howard to visit… So, they sent me the courses, and they looked really interesting, and so I went and applied, and I got in… Also, I did really want the experience of getting to do another program and school, and, I am really interested in learning how to be a better ally, and I thought that this would be a good opportunity.
Some of the apprehensions that I had were, again, I was really conscientious of not wanting to enter safe spaces for people of color, Black people, to be specific. To be honest, I kind of went through two different schools of thought.
On one hand, I was like, ‘Oh, Emerson doesn’t really have any Black people,’ which obviously isn’t true, but it’s such a small population, so when I got the email, I was like ‘Oh, it’s a chance for white students to go to an HBCU.’ But, then the other part of me was like, ‘Oh, or is this a chance for Black students at a PWI to go to an HBCU?’ So I was, I was kind of navigating both of those, and I wasn’t sure which one it was, but in the end, I decided that it’s only one class. And, I probably wasn’t going to be talking that much anyways… I was excited about the opportunity to take a class through another school and getting to learn about something I’m really interested in through a lens that’s different from one I’m usually exposed to.
What is your view on white students attending HBCUs? What do you think motivates others, like yourself, to attend?
I think it’s a case by case basis. When I was looking at Howard, I briefly did some research on some other white kids who went to an HBCU, because I wanted to know what the general experience was like. And, I think, I’m not 100% sure, I think HBCUs offer a very unique experience. I don’t know, as a white person, you get to be exposed to a completely different demographic, which is a nice way of saying you’ll be around a lot of Black people and I think that’s appealing for some white people, because it makes them feel like they can become a better ally and learn more about Black culture.
Again, I kind of decided against it for personal reasons but also on a privilege level, and I don’t know, it’s complicated, and it’s one of those things it’s not black and white- get it? – there’s a lot of gray area, but I’m kind of rambling at this point… but, in summation, white people go to HBCUs because they offer an unique experience and a realm of opportunities.
What do you think will be the biggest takeaway from your experience?
I’m thinking, I hope, that my biggest takeaway will hopefully be from the [Film and Social Change class] itself and the actual curriculum and learning about film and social change, which is an issue I’m really passionate about.
How have other students generally reacted to your announcement of attending an HBCU? Have there been any negative reactions/comments?
I haven’t really talked to too many people about it, but, the people I have talked to have been like ‘Oh, that’s so cool! What an interesting opportunity.’ And, I’m trying to be really careful about not exotisizing it, but, with that in mind, that’s been most of the feedback that I’ve gotten,
As someone who will have attended both an HBCU and a PWI, do you think that you will recommend white students’ participation in the exchange program?
For me, I wanted to do it because it was an opportunity to do an exchange program at a different school that also had a topic that I was really interested in, that I could get credit for that did happen to be an HBCU, which is kind of an added bonus, because it means that I get to explore a different opportunity and learn more about a different demographic and a different culture while also making sure that I’m not super invading that safe space because it is just one online class.
So, that was how I justified it to myself, and I think everyone else is just going to have to just evaluate that. I could be saying that, and I could just think it’s fine, but someone else who’s a Black person could say ‘I really don’t think you should be doing this,’ and it would probably throw me for a loop, because like I said it’s not 100 percent my decision to make.
Do you think attending an HBCU will change your relationship with other white people, whether it be friends or family?
Good question. I guess we’ll just have to see what happens. I think it’s probably going to depend on how much the course ends up focusing on race and how much student participation there is too… And, something I’m really working on is my [own ideas of] white exceptionalism and recognizing I always have more to learn, and so I’m not sure it’ll change my relationships, but hopefully it’ll help me hold myself and others in my life more accountable and be a better to support tool to the Black people and people of color in my life.
