Tag Archives: hbcu

HBCU Police Departments Need To Form Racial Terrorism Intelligence Units

7 Jan

“Self defense is not just a set of techniques; it’s a state of mind, and it begins with the belief that you are worth defending.” – Rorion Gracie

After 9/11 the New York Police Department formed America’s first counterterrorism units housed within a police department. The stated mission of this department, “The NYPD Counterterrorism Bureau (CT) is the city’s primary local resource to guard against the threat of international and domestic terrorism in New York City.” To do this required the NYPD to “develop its own significant in-house counterterrorism infrastructure, operating throughout the city, throughout the United States, and even the world to share intelligence and develop techniques to combat this continually evolving threat.” Make no mistake about it, HBCUs and HBCU conferences need to do the same to deal with racial terrorism that has a very real possibility to impact our campuses.

Almost all HBCUs are located in or near populations that openly do not care for African Americans, our property, or our lives. Those populations use everything from hostile policies to local police to terrorize our institutions, our faculty, and most importantly – our students. Remember, Sandra Bland was arrested in Prairie View by a non-city of Prairie View nor Prairie View A&M University police officer, then transported to a Waller County jail where she died under at best mysterious circumstances in a county that has been openly hostile towards African Americans in every way possible. The problem unfortunately is much larger than even just traffic stops. Since the rise of Trumpism, “The number of white nationalist groups rose for the second straight year, a 55 percent increase since 2017, when Trump’s campaign energized white nationalists who saw in him an avatar of their grievances and their anxiety over the country’s demographic changes,” a 2019 Southern Poverty Law Center Report said. Make no mistake about it, those groups are in HBCU backyards and should be viewed as a real and present threat. The problem is HBCUs can not simply rely on local and state officials, who they themselves both historically and presently are often complicit and purposeful in not coming to the aide of HBCUs or the lives on our campuses – and sometimes downright aiding and abetting. We must take matters of self-defense, strategy, and intelligence gathering into our own hands.

HBCU police departments have a unique opportunity and they always have. Students arriving on HBCU campuses for the first time in their lives can see a dynamic where African Americans feel like the police are actually there to protect them not punish them. That task has become even more grave as the reemergence of outright racial hostilities takes the United States by storm. HBCU police departments must form intelligence units that gather information about groups in their geographic sphere of possibility and share that intelligence among each other. If that means deploying intelligence assets across an entire state that have even the most remote possibility to do so, then it is worth knowing about their whereabouts and capabilities. It may also mean that HBCU conferences have to become more than just athletic bodies. HBCUs can use the conference structure as a means of sharing the financial load of these intelligence units as well as make it easier to share information. White nationalist groups are often “chapters” and exists in multiple states so concerted efforts among our police departments is paramount. This is even more true with HBCUs heightened profile after receiving hundreds of millions from philanthropists in 2020. Being beacons of light that our enemies would love nothing more than to dampen.

The presidents of HBCUs and HBCU conference commissioners must now realize they are operating more than just college campuses. They are operating small nation-states and part of the job of commander-in-chief is to see that that nation is defended against foreign forces outside of its walls that seek to do harm to not only the institutions, but the citizens they were so entrusted to protect. For once, we must act with proactivity and not reactivity. Our very lives may depend on it.

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HBCU Veteran Showcase: The U.S. Navy and Prairie View A&M University’s Kia Jenkins

11 Nov

Major/Concentration: Social Work

Classification: Senior

Branch of the Military: The United States Navy

Your path to an HBCU definitely qualifies as non-traditional. You started off in the military, then community college, and finally found your way to Prairie View A&M University. Can you tell us a bit more about your journey and how it came to be and how you ultimately ended up choosing an HBCU?  

Well, one thank you for the opportunity and my journey has definitely been unique. I actually made the rookie mistake and signed up for online college with University of Phoenix a few years before signing up for the military. I managed to get an associate but not knowing what I wanted to do for the rest of my life, I decided to take a leap and march right to the recuiter’s office without a second thought. Fast forward to me getting out and moving back to Houston, I started having some health problems that forced me to quit my job and becoming 100% disabled by the VA. I was fortunate to receive information about a program that the VA offered disabled veterans to be able to go to school in order to find better employment that will not interfere with my disabilities. I was able to get approved and came up with a degree plan that the VA approved. After watching Black Panther and seeing black empowerment and investing our money and education into HBCUs on social media sites, following HBCU Digest on twitter, I took a tour with TSU and then PVAMU and the rest is history.

Statistics show a mixed message at times if veterans are graduating worse, on par, or better than traditional college students. What would you say have been the advantages and disadvantages for you as a student veteran?

I would say my advantages with being a student veteran is that my focus is solely on my education. When I was younger, to be honest, college was not on my radar at all. I am the youngest and my parents were not college graduates nor did they ever talk to me about the possibilities of going to college. In their defense, I was not a star student in high school and graduated with a 1.95 GPA. Now that I understand the importance of higher learning and the power of knowledge, I left Lone Star with a 3.08 GPA and I am currently rocking a 4.0 at Prairie View so I am extremely proud of that accomplishment. The disadvantages I would have to say would be the overall college experience that most of my peers got to have. Staying on campus and experiencing housing or campus parties, homecoming, joining a sorority and overall friendships and bonds you create as a traditional college student.

Given some of the unique challenges that student veterans may face, what do you think HBCUs can do to help African American military veterans achieve matriculation?  

Now this is a tricky question to answer simply because each veteran is unique and had a different military experience from one another. Some veterans have PTSD, many have a short temper due to the military environment and how vastly different yet similar it is with college. One way I know for sure that HBCUs can help would be ensuring that our paperwork is a smooth transition and making veterans feel welcome and important is really all that we can ask for. Also, for those veterans that deal with PTSD and other issues, having a space dedicated only for veterans to go to regroup or to connect with other veterans could really be helpful as well.

What class and/or professor has had the biggest impact on your time at Prairie View A&M?
This one is hard to narrow down to one class or professor, I have three professors that really helped me my first semester at PVAMU. Professor Mendez for Spanish because I was able to understand the language and he held a very strong structure for the classroom setting to help us focus on the task. I appreciate that and he was very helpful and open to each and every student.
Dr. Spears has been a wonderful mentor and counselor for Social Work. She is kind, patient, understanding and will not sugar coat anything if she feels that social work is not a good fit for you. She also ensures all of us join organizations that involve our major in order to have the necessary tools we will need when we go on to graduate school.
My last professor is Dr. Jackson and his class Research because he pushes us to go for our major and that if you come to him for help, he not only sees that you are trying but he will ensure that you do well in that class. He makes his class ten times harder and better than the class for the graduate program so that we will pass with flying colors. He makes the class fun and crazy all at the same time if that makes sense.
Technology and social work are not something often mentioned going hand in hand, but how can you see technology helping the field of social work in the future?

Well being able to have the software downloaded onto an iPad would be helpful for me because I carry mine around with me all the time and I am able to record a conversation while I am either typing or writing my notes would be extremely helpful with the line of work I am looking into doing once I complete graduate school. Being able to record without having to have a separate recorder and make it less awkward is a great plus. Being able to access past recording, files on client/patients, eco-friendly because less paper is being used, the list can go on with all of the benefits that technology can for those in the field of social work.

Tell us about your favorite HBCU memory/experience during your matriculation?
So far my best memory is finishing my first semester with all A’s and I am looking forward to having my first official homecoming experience. Spring fest was a hit and miss for me simply because I was so caught up with class and the fact that I did not really have any friends because it was my first semester there. I am so ready and excited to experience my absolute last semester before graduation and getting prepared for that special day!

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The Bryce/Blakey Family Announces The Creation Of The Arthur G. Blakey, III Endowed Internship For HBCU Students at Houston’s Buffalo Soldiers Museum

11 Jun

“True heroism is remarkably sober, very undramatic. It is not the urge to surpass all others at whatever cost, but the urge to serve others at whatever cost.” – Arthur Ashe

The passing of a loved one always takes something out of a family’s heart, especially when the loved one passes unexpectedly. This was the case for the family of beloved son, brother, father, uncle, cousin, military veteran, and HBCU alumnus  Arthur G. Blakey, III whose passing left his family with a deep somberness as his laughter, joy, and unselfishness would be acutely missed in their lives. As is often the case, families want to find a way to shine the light on their loved ones and who they were and the lives they so valiantly lived.

Arthur Blakey, III, was the grandson of an HBCU love story that began over 100 years ago with his grandparents Arthur Blakey, Sr. and Jessica Blakey who would fall in love at Virginia Normal and Industrial Institute (Virginia State University) graduating in 1913 from the institution. Arthur Blakey, Sr. would go on to  start at Shaw University’s Medical School, but finish at Meharry Medical College four years later and open his own practice in Goochland County, Virginia. Arthur Blakey, III’s mother, Gladys Holland, also a Virginia State University alumnae, would raise Mr. Blakey, III and his younger three siblings in the surrounding area and shadows of Richmond and Petersburg, Virginia, and even living on the campus of Virginia State University for a formidable period. Eventually himself spending time at Virginia State University before joining the Air Force and serving his country in the Vietnam conflict. His life would go on to continue to be one of service to his community and family. If there was a helping hand needed, he was there to lend it. His sister, Dr. Laurette Blakey Foster, herself a product of the family’s third generation at Virginia State University and entering her fourth decade as a professor at Prairie View A&M University describes her big brother, “Arthur Gilbert Blakey, III was the oldest of his siblings. He was not only the big brother but also the protector. As a child he was always curious and sometimes mischievous but always sheltered his siblings from harm. As he attended St. Emma Catholic Military boarding school it was always a treat to visit on Sunday afternoons to watch the cadets in uniform as they parading their formations. When Arthur completed high school he joined the United States Air Force where he continued in his role as a protector but now one for a greater family. He served two tours in Vietnam before returning to civilian life in Petersburg. Arthur never knew how to say no. If someone needed money, gas, food or a car repaired, he was there. If he did not have enough, he would ask you to help as well. As well as he knew the streets, he knew the aristocrats and was the life of any gathering whether with strangers or family. We are so proud he lived his life his way.”

In looking for a way to honor his legacy, the family decided to speak to the things that were core to who he was and for what he was proud – someone who helped others, his service in the military, and his connection to his community. As such after a series of meetings, his family partnered with the Buffalo Soldiers Museum, located in Houston, TX, which is the nationally recognized museum on the African American military history experience. The Buffalo Soldiers Museum itself still quite young by museum standards is less than twenty years old, but tells a powerful and rich history of African America’s place in the country’s military annals. However, like many African American institutions, more help and resources are always needed. This endowed internship, which will be the first endowed fund of any kind for the museum, will be targeted to HBCU students and faculty to spend eight weeks working at the museum under guidance of the museum’s leadership who is developing a program specifically for the interns in conjunction with the family.

It highlights the value of African American institutions working together, collaborating, and ultimately strengthening the African American ecosystem. In this case we have the African American family, an African American museum, an African American bank, and HBCUs all tied together and strengthening each other. This is how a community empowers itself and builds itself. It is the institutional circulation of economic and intellectual capital that we need more of in our community. The inaugural intern is expected to be chosen for summer 2020. While it will begin with one student, the internship program is expected to grow to support as many as five with one slot being slated for an HBCU professor. Without a doubt the light of Arthur G. Blakey, III will continue to shine bright in the lives of those who know him and those who will benefit from his legacy for generations to come.

For more information please visit http://www.buffalosoldiermuseum.com/

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