The American Dream Deferred: When Our Best Isn’t Enough
Historically, colleges have been an integral part of the American Dream. You graduate high school, get a degree that will pay you enough money to land a great job, and you get married. It’s been marketed as a way to advance not only intellectually but financially and socially. However, for many middle and lower class students who come from poverty, they don’t have the luxury of affording a college education resulting in millions of kids going into extreme debt all before the age of 21.
“You graduate high school, get a degree that will pay you enough money to land a great job, and you get married.”
College claims to not only provide socioeconomic advancement, but education is also touted as a path to increased racial equity in society. A sort of educational and institutional shield for black students against the racial inequalities they face at every turn. This shield has however proven to be a mirage – nothing more than an empty promise that lasted no longer than it took to pass the lips of the higher education system.
College campuses, even historically black ones, are often unwelcoming homes for students from low income backgrounds and minority groups. Howard University students recently protested for basic needs as they fought unlivable housing conditions. Freezing temperatures, mold, infestations and flooding in dorm rooms forced them to either sleep outside in sleeping bags or seek housing off campus to avoid respiratory issues which students had been documented complaining about. Students also complained of wifi being down which prohibited them from completing school assignments, and even eventually being held back from graduating as a result.
“It took support from Jesse Jackson, Wale, Gucci Mane, the NAACP, the NBA, and coverage from CNN, NBC, and ABC before the 34-day protest came to a conclusion”
Howard University is a historically black college which has been deemed “The Flagship of HBCU’s”. Yet it took support from Jesse Jackson, Wale, Gucci Mane, the NAACP, the NBA, and coverage from CNN, NBC, and ABC before the 34-day protest came to a conclusion with a confidential agreement between schools officials and students. Students protested, organized educational marches surrounding key points on the campus, used social media for live reporting, as well as addressing deans with concerns and necessary reforms for safety, equality and basic rights.
“America doesn’t care about black colleges.”
And Howard University isn’t alone in their underfunding of student housing and basic needs. In 2016, Norfolk State students alerted their campus of roach infestations. In 2018, Hampton University students informed their university of moldy dorms and inedible food. In June, CBC reported Tennessee officials found that Tennessee State University has been underfunded by about $544 million dating back to 1950.
Ivy League schools consisting of predominantly white students receive more than $140 billion in funding, and in most cases more federal funding than state. It begs the question, why? Is it institutionalized racism? Is it wanting to protect the legacy of historically wealthy white schools that also coincide with nepotism and institutionalized racism? Why such a huge divide is a question I ask myself personally. The answer appears evident. “America doesn’t care about black colleges.” *Kanye West, George Bush voice*
“Is it just another dream deferred?”
The underlying racism and institutional practices that reinforce it are deeply entrenched and proving difficult to overcome. As we students are waking up to these inequities, the false promise of the American Dream and the myth of the Black model minority, colleges and universities are claiming a recommitment to making their campuses places where all people can succeed. It feels like words we’ve heard before, and black students are rightfully questioning whether education is an important tool for advancing equity – and whether it’s important at all, or is it just another dream deferred? Like everything, time will tell.
The Takeaway
Howard students are protesting for basic needs as they fight unlivable housing conditions such as freezing temperatures, mold, infestations and flooding in dorm rooms. Historically, colleges have been a part of the American Dream, however, for many HBCU students inequality follows them even to higher education. In a world of the deferred American dream and the myth of black model minority, black students are questioning the value of education as a whole, and what it will really take to affect societal change.