Check this out…students representing Howard University’s Law School won the national mock trial competition. This is a big deal, and a moment for any graduate of a black school to celebrate.
Why?

Many people–both those that did and did not attend HBCUs–are under the ludicrous assumption that black schools are somehow second class, alternative options for those unable to attend better (read: white) institutions. Without knowing more than what’s on face, too many people will say that those that attend HBCUs are automatically lesser students than those that attend larger and/or whiter schools.
To those folks, I say to click that link and take that, suckers.
I’ve heard every excuse people have to give for not attending a HBCU. I know cats that have turned down full rides to schools like Hampton, Howard, and Clark Atlanta (my alma mater) to pay some white man in a bow tie smoking a pipe upwards of $25K to be treated like crosses between stepchildren and zoo animals. The answers ranged from increased access to facilities and additional “prestige,” whatever the fuck that means. In most of those cases, the reality was that too many of those niggaz had a fundamental belief that the white man’s ice is colder.
At least in mock trial, it wasn’t that damn chilly.
The best decision I ever made was to go to Clark. The lessons I learned there are the ones that guide my life every day. CAU was as diverse, if not more, than any school I’d been around. Remember, diversity ain’t just about race, man. It’s as much about class as anything else.
The education I received was on par with that which other received at less “prestigious” universities. I’ve been in undergrad classes at all kinds of schools, ranging from large state schools like Carolina to small, private institutions like Pomona and Duke, and I never sensed a difference in a quality of instruction between those places and Clark. Never did I think that I could not have hung academically at those places.
I have thought, though, that those places would have driven me up the fuckin wall. I’ve looked around and seen how black people are mascotted, how the retention rates at those schools are miserable, how students flunk classes because of the environment, not their aptitude. I’ve seen those places do bad things to good people.
And I would be damned before I stepped into any situation like that.
But the best thing about seeing Howard’s success was seeing that excellent students continue to refuse to drink the Kool-Aid and continue to attend black schools. They continue to support the system that has proven to be the backbone of black ascension in higher education. They know that black, by definition, does not equal second-class.
They showed folks what time it is. For that, I thank them.
It kills me every time I talk to an intelligent black high school student when I find out that he or she didn’t even consider a black school. It kills me that my nephew applied to, of all places, the University of Southern Mississippi instead of applying to Clark (it’s even more bothersome that he applied to damn Morehouse, but that’s another discussion for another post).
It’s garbage.
Should you not believe me, take a tour through graduate departments at most schools and ask the black students where they attended college. A striking majority of them will tell you they went to HBCUs. HBCU’s put too much emphasis on job preparation, but they still put more black folks into graduate school than their less melanized (nope, that ain’t a word) counterparts.
And they produce strong students. Don’t forget that.