For many students and alumni of historically Black colleges and universities, the wave of bomb threats on the campuses feel like history repeating itself.
“I was caught off-guard because we’re in 2022 and still facing the same problems as our grandparents and their grandparents,” said Marian Turner, an international studies major at Spelman College in Atlanta, referring to a time before the gains of the civil rights movement of the 1960s. “It just really brings to light everything that’s happening, because we’re actually experiencing it.”
Turner remembers checking her email two hours before a 9 am class on Tuesday , the day Spelman and a dozen other historically black colleges, or HBCUs, received bomb threats, the second such wave targeting the schools in a month. It would have been her first day of in-person classes since the Omicron variant delayed a return to campus.
She was glad campus was empty at the time of the threat, but still felt outrage, fear and even defiance. So she decided to go on campus, but ended up leaving to avoid putting herself in danger. Instead, she attended class virtually.
The threats at dozens of the nation’s 100 HBCUs – colleges that have produced a who’s who of leaders, promoted a sense of purpose, and provided a sanctuary from racism and discrimination in higher education – have shaken Black communities across the country. The institutions have played a powerful role, dating back to the end of slavery and Reconstruction, and are viewed by many as a symbol of Black achievement and cultural pride.
The FBI is investigating the hoax bomb threats as racially motivated hate crimes. No explosive devices have been found on the campuses, but the threats have forced the cancellation of thousands of classes and spurred campus lockdowns. Six juveniles have been identified as persons of interest in the investigation, according to NBC News.
“It’s just another day of seeing us get disrespected. As Black students, or just Black people in general, we continue to try to break barriers and find our voices in society,” Turner said. “We’re already a minority, but it’s like we take a step forward and these people who are against us bring us back. I shouldn’t have to live in fear when I’m just going to get an education.”
HBCUs have a long legacy of educating some of the nation’s most prominent Black Americans, from the Rev Martin Luther King, a graduate of Morehouse College in Atlanta, to vice-president Kamala Harris, a graduate of Howard University in Washington. The UNCF, an education organization that supports HBCUs, states that the colleges make up only 3% of US colleges but produce more than 20% of all Black graduates, demonstrating their importance in both higher education and American society.
“These schools are remarkable for their resilience, fortitude and dedication to community, and serve a mission of inclusion and opportunity,” said Damon Hewitt, president and executive director of the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, in a statement.
Millicent Springs-Campbell is a graduate of Howard who lives in Atlanta. She visited her alma mater two months ago with her daughter, who was recently accepted to the university. She said initially she felt anxiety for students and faculty because Howard’s school grounds are not gated. That quickly turned to anger.
“I think it was targeted to threaten the actual legacy of HBCUs,” Springs-Campbell said. “I liken it to when Black churches are threatened. It’s more than just a threat to the physical buildings, but what they stand for.”
Despite the threats, she still wants her daughter to attend Howard, if she chooses. “I wouldn’t want one cowardly act by whoever is behind it to persuade her decision in going to the best institution for her.”
Howard and Spelman enjoy more notoriety than many other HBCUs due to high-profile alumni and their location in major US cities. But other schools that normally fly under the national radar were also threatened.
Rahman Johnson teaches mass communications at Edward Waters University, a HBCU in Jacksonville, Florida, with just over 1,000 students. Johnson received his bachelor’s degree from there, as did his late grandmother. He’s also a doctoral candidate at Jackson State University in Jackson, Mississippi, which also received a bomb threat. He took the dual intimidation personally.
“It felt like a gut punch,” Johnson said. “I felt as though I was back living in the time of my grandmother. And while I don’t have the hindrances of her being a Black girl growing up in the south at that time, I felt that we’re in it again.”
Johnson said he got a call before 5am alerting him to the threats, but wanted to keep his habit of working out, so he prepared to visit the gym, purposely wearing an Edward Waters University tank top. He said he felt a tinge of worry, but the desire to be an example of courage for his students led him to keep the shirt on.
“If someone happened to see me, I did not want my students to even think that I would shrink, or that we should shrink. I am part of the fabric of America, and we cannot allow bigotry or hate from those who don’t understand us or have the intelligence to articulate how they feel, to push us into a corner.”
The Rev Janette Wilson, the national executive director of Push for Excellence, founded by the Rev Jesse Jackson, says she sees the bomb threats as part of a “storm of hatred” sweeping the country – a continued reaction to progress made since the civil rights movement.
“When you look at the states where the bomb threats occurred, these are southern states, where the states’ rights agenda is being pushed at the highest level, where the criminal justice system hasn’t come into the 20th century,” said Wilson.
“There’s a desire to create a level of fear on those campuses and discourage students from attending HBCUs, where most of our Black doctors, lawyers, engineers, computer scientists and business people graduated, and even our outstanding athletes historically attended.”
PUSH provides scholarships to students attending HBCUs. She believes the threats seek to create fear and discourage Black students from organizing and mobilizing their voting power.
“If these students on these campuses decide to register and vote where they attend school, they will change the character and culture of state legislatures that deny them reductions of student loan debt, changes in tuition and access to the ballot in those states. We will change the south, and therefore, change America,” she said.
Johnson agrees, adding that the threats have only made his commitment to his students, and being part of the HBCU legacy, stronger.
“I hope my generation has done the work to empower them, to let them know they’re supported,” he said.