On Feb. 26, President Barack Obama signed an executive order recognizing the nation’s Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs). In honor of the event, the president said of HBCUs, “They are the campuses where a people were educated, where a middle class was built, where a dream took hold.”
As someone interested in HBCUs and history, I thought it would be worthwhile to look at the reporting of this event and the comments made online about it. My quick review uncovered quite a few misunderstandings. Interestingly, because a Black president signed the executive order, quite a few readers of newspapers throughout the country assumed that this was the first time the order was put forth. Some readers called President Obama a racist for “introducing” such an order. Others referred to him as a “separatist or segregationist.” Of course, these readers have no understanding of the history of HBCUs or the executive order that Obama signed.
In reality, President Carter (a Democrat) initiated the executive order and President Reagan (a Republican) expanded it. Every president, regardless of political party, has renewed the order since its creation. President Obama is the first Black president to sign the order, and, thus, to the uninformed citizen it could appear that he is giving preferential treatment to “Black” institutions.
