Deion Sanders went from being the head football coach at Historically Black University Jackson State University to taking that role at the University of Colorado (UC). It hasn’t been a totally smooth ride, witness the discontent over a T-shirt.
The shirts, which display the slogan “H-B-C-U State of mind” with the ‘C-U” in the university’s buffalo logo, made waves on social media. HBCU Gameday tweeted video of a content creator reminding viewers that the HBCUs can only be historically Black, and that designation is not just granted to schools that feature a lot of Black athletes and public figures.
Many HBCU advocates believe the shirts are disrespectful to actual HBCUs. The University of Colorado Boulder officially listed that African-American students make up only 2.7% of its fall 2023 enrollment class.
Some supporters have claimed that just because the shirts signal that UC is adopting a “state of mind” that does not mean it is co-opting the experience. Others argue that the very affiliation is cultural appropriation.
“It is perfectly fine if you opted for a PWI (predominantly white institution) over an HBCU, ” shared journalist Krystal Franklin, who identifies as a Grambling State alumnus. “It starts to
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