You wonder why some HBCUs seem to be failing i their stated purpose of education of the next generation of black leaders.
This one is about as bad as if Dixiecrat George Wallace were to speak at Tuskegee. At least during that period there was some honor left…
Fallen a long way down…
Betsy DeVos To Deliver Commencement Speech At Historically Black University
Alumni have created a petition urging Bethune-Cookman to rescind the invitation.
U.S. Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos is set to deliver the commencement speech at Bethune-Cookman University in Daytona Beach, Florida, the school announced on Monday.
The historically black college compared DeVos to the school’s founder, civil rights activist Mary McLeod Bethune, and stated that the secretary’s mission aligns with Bethune’s legacy.
“The legacy of Dr. Bethune is that she was not constrained by political ideology, but worked across all parties to support B-CU,” President Edison O. Jackson said in a press release.
Many graduates of Bethune-Cookman and other HBCUs expressed their outrage about DeVos’ whitewashing of the schools’ history. In February, DeVos claimed that the colleges were formed because of “school choice” and not as a response to segregation and racism.
Also in February, President Donald Trump met with more than 60 presidents of historically black colleges and universities. During the meeting, Trump signed an executive order to create a direct line for HBCUs to the president, but some in attendance believed it served as a photo-op and not a forum for HBCUs to discuss their grievances.
Twitter users criticized Bethune-Cookman for inviting DeVos to speak.
