FYE or Nah? Black Dancer Receives Blacklash For Bringing the HBCU Majorette Experience to Her PWI

Fingers are still typing, as users get their comments all the way together regarding one of Los Angeles’ newest dance teams.

Princess Isis Lang, a Black student at the University of Southern California (USC), recently took to her Twitter account to post a video introducing her followers to a new majorette team she started, The Cardinal Divas of USC. The eight-second video posted by @princesslang0, shows the ladies dancing in the stands during their first performance.

oh nothing… i created a majorette team at a PWI and performed at our first game.

truly though i’m so blessed and can’t thank God enough. Thank you to my parents and to everyone who supported me along this LONG journey. and my girls FYE💫The Cardinal Divas of SC are UP NEXT. pic.twitter.com/vif5e02z4b

— PRINCESS ISIS (@princesslang0) September 19, 2022

Proud of her accomplishment, Lang added a caption to the now-viral video stating, “Oh nothing… i created a majorette team at a PWI and performed at our first game.” The caption continued with, “Truly though i’m so blessed and can’t thank God enough. Thank you to my parents and to everyone who supported me along this LONG journey. and my girls FYE💫The Cardinal Divas of SC are UP NEXT.”

The post has been met by over 2.5 million eyes, and people had things to say about the idea of assimilating a Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCU) tradition at a predominantly white institution (PWI).

Some responses to the video included backlash from viewers.

One user replied, “It’s giving I want HBCU culture but desire PWI validation!”

The user continued, “If an HBCU isn’t good enough for you stop trying to replicate HBCU culture at white schools! Y’all do this all the time and it’s very tiring at this point! Not J-Sette Rejects at the white school.”

Other Twitter responses showed full support for the new team, including, “Nothing wrong with her bringing representation to her school” and “Now a Black girl wants to create a dance space for other Black girls on her campus it’s a problem,” raising an eyebrow at the end of the tweet.

Y’all need to be real in these comments because HBCUs don’t even gatekeep their own culture. It was at an HBCU where a white girl pledge a D9 and graduated from said HBCU. Now a black girl wants to create a dance space for other black girls on her campus it’s a problem?🤨

— niyah🫶🏾 (@s_hania_) September 19, 2022

Twitter users also shared concerns about what the idea could mean for the majorette team’s future. They mentioned that the Black dancer’s idea could be an opportunity for PWIs to claim something that belongs to the Black culture.

“The issue here is that they are setting up to have this culture colonized,” a user tweeted. A similar concern read, “Well when the white girls integrate it and take it over, no one at the school can complain.”

You clearly aren't a POC. The issue here is that they are setting up to have this culture colonized.

— Mo Knowledge (@MoKnowledgeBlog) September 19, 2022

A few years from now when this becomes a staple at PWIs and white girls are active participants, you people will start to sing a different tune.

Not everything needs to have general/wider acceptance

— Nerdu San (@sirnerdu) September 19, 2022

Twitter users were even dropping history lessons in regards to the video. One user explained that what the Black student created, The Cardinal Divas, was actually a drill team and not a majorette team.