October 24, 2023 • 32 mins
Have you ever pondered about the unique experiences and cultural richness of historically black colleges and universities? Join me, KC Carnage, as I take a nostalgic trip back to my college days alongside special guests, Kiana Haywood and Alicia Crooks. We reminisce about our transformative journeys at HBCUs, the indelible first day impressions, the empowering environment and how these invaluable experiences have shaped our lives.
Host KC Carnage (@iamkccarnage), Kiana Haywood (@kiana.haywood_) and Alicia Crooks (@downtoearthali)
Daz It Daz All is written by KC Carnage (@iamkccarnage) and Produced by KC Carnage and Rick Barrio Dill (@rickbarriodill). Associate producer Bri Coorey (@bri_beats), Audio and Video Engineering and Studio facilities provided by S.L.A.P. Studios LA (@SLAPStudiosLA) with distribution through our collective for social progress and cultural expression, SLAP the Network. (@SLAPtheNetwork.com)
If you have any ideas for a show you want to see or hear, email us at info@SLAPtheNetwork.com and as always, you can go to dazitdazall.com and sign up there to make sure you never miss a thing...
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
I was on campus when Obama was president.
Speaker 2 (00:02):
Right, thank you.
Speaker 1 (00:04):
It was like and it was so funny, like just the
culture on there, like I don'tthink it would have been the
same if I would have wentsomewhere else.
People were running out of thedorms and it was just like a big
celebration and I don't think Iwould have experienced
something like that elsewhere.
Speaker 2 (00:18):
Did you cry your freshman?
I feel like all the suburbankids freshman year they had this
like come to Jesus momentaround the same time where they
just started crying about beinglike this is their first time
being in a black space.
Speaker 1 (01:05):
What up, what up, what up.
Welcome to, that's it.
That's All you know who I am,KC Carnage, and today we're
going to be talking about HBCUs,because guess what month it is
Homecoming and I could not,could not, could not go by this
month without talking about myloves, about HBCUs.
And I also got some guests herewho's going to represent their
HBCUs?
We have Keana Haywood andAlicia Crooks, and I don't know
(01:29):
if any of you guys know whatHBCUs are, but they're,
historically, black colleges anduniversities that are public
and private institutionsestablished before the Civil
Rights Act of 1964 in the UnitedStates.
Before their inception, hbcusgifted black people with access
to education, which was deniedto them during slavery and
segregation.
Now let's take a little.
(01:51):
Cheers y'all, cheers.
Thank y'all for coming.
Thank y'all for coming.
Cheers, cheers.
No I can't read you.
But here we go.
The air cheers.
The reason why I thought thiswas so important to me?
Because I honestly didn't knowwhat an HBCU was until I went to
my HBCU.
Me too, wow, me too, no idea.
Well, I grew up in the suburbs,so like I didn't like they
(02:15):
weren't talking about like go toan HBCU.
It was like my family, like Iwas in my immediate family, I
was the first person to go tocollege, so they weren't talking
about like the differencebetween they, just like go to
college.
Why do you think it wasimportant for you to go?
Is this something that youalready wanted to do?
Speaker 3 (02:30):
Yeah, I think it was definitely my family, like you
know, and starting something new.
Like my mom didn't go to anHBCU, she went to a PWI, as to
what we call it, and so I mean,of course she didn't finish, but
I mean that's neither there.
But you know, I was like I'mgoing to go to an HBCU, I want
to be around people that looklike me, like period, I want to
have fun, I want to get myeducation and still like learn
(02:52):
about what HBCU stands for, likewhat that means to you know for
everybody.
So I thought it was pretty dope.
How about you, ali?
Speaker 2 (02:59):
Well, I'm from Detroit.
So if you know anything aboutthe motor city, motown, whatever
the D, basically Detroit isblack as hell.
So when I decided on Howard orI was deciding to go to school,
I wanted to just like take thatenergy that I had from my city
and just be in school with it,basically.
So I didn't know the most aboutHBCUs but I knew a little bit.
(03:23):
I applied to you know, like thetop whatever the top five were
for our time and I just pickedHoward because it was in DC and
I was like, ooh, I like.
Speaker 1 (03:32):
DC.
Well see, I didn't even applyto HBCU.
To be like I said, I did noteven know Boogie State was an
HBCU until I got there, right,and we're talking about it.
I applied to a couple ofdifferent schools and my first
choice was actually Universityof Hartford in Connecticut and
my uncle lived in Maryland and Ialready knew Boogie.
Boogie is my second home, likemy mom, and my aunt was the only
(03:54):
two that had kids, so we thatwas just what I knew.
So I was like I can either goto the snow or I can go and my
aunt's 20 minutes away, and Igot somewhere to like crash.
But it definitely exchanged mylife and I wouldn't have changed
it in the world.
Now, do you think it'simportant to talk to our black
children about going to HBCUs?
(04:16):
Absolutely.
Speaker 2 (04:17):
I can't imagine not talking to kids and my own, like
my little cousins, my nephewsabout Howard.
All I do is talk about Howardor I'm like okay, you don't like
Howard when else in the USthat's an HBCU.
Speaker 3 (04:31):
can I get you to?
Because you going somewhere,because you going somewhere.
Speaker 2 (04:34):
That's HBCU.
Speaker 1 (04:35):
Exactly, no-transcript.
What was it like your first daystepping on that campus?
Speaker 2 (04:40):
Um, I remember, like every first day of school since
I was a kid right that feeling,that smell of fall, all that,
all the change of the leaves andthings, and I remember feeling
like, what the fuck?
I do not have anything to wear.
I thought about, yes, I waslike where did they get all
(05:02):
their clothing from?
Oh my god.
I remember thinking, um, I wasglad that my parents dropped me
off, but I couldn't wait forthem to leave.
I remember thinking why are themen so fine?
Oh yeah, that was top four, forme definitely top four.
I remember thinking did I pickthe right major?
(05:24):
A lot of that all the time.
Like, is this the right?
Speaker 1 (05:26):
like is this the right path for me.
I feel like no one knows theright major until they actually
graduate.
I think beyond graduation.
Speaker 2 (05:32):
I think it's like your year is fast.
I got my degree.
Speaker 1 (05:34):
So it's like I'm as good at at some point when
you're deciding what yourmajor's going to be to get to a
point was like, okay, I have tofinish school.
I have to finish school sowhatever we're here now, whether
it's the third, the second timeyou tried it, this is where
we're at now.
Speaker 3 (05:46):
See, I think my experience was definitely
opposite from both of y'all'sbecause definitely mine was like
sophomore year, so it allstarted as like a pre-law major
and I was like, no, this ain'tgoing to be it, like I need to
change this, like right now,before I graduate.
Oh, I'm a fail, I'm not goingto graduate.
I was like no, I need to likehurry up.
I was going through everything,I mean like biology, teacher
(06:08):
communication.
I went through it all and I waslike, okay, maybe PR will be my
thing.
So yes, that's the outrageouswebsite.
Yes, so you know, I definitelyknow I couldn't wait till after
I graduated.
None of them.
I'm almost like you need to getthis up right now, Like stop
playing it.
Speaker 1 (06:22):
Yeah, I was a broadcast journalism major, but
did not actually use it untilthis year.
Speaker 2 (06:29):
Oh, that's what I'm saying.
Speaker 1 (06:30):
I'm a musician, I sing, I sing, so that's what I
was doing.
You know what I mean.
Like I went into like corporateAmerica right after college for
a few years and then I movedout to LA and I've been singing
professionally and then,literally like the top of this
year, I was like I looked at my,I looked at my degree, I was
like I need to use you what's up.
And then I was approached withopportunity to do this and I
(06:51):
just kind of like this is what Iwas supposed to be doing in the
first place, so is that okay?
So how do you think that youknow like going to your HBCU
changed your life?
Speaker 3 (07:01):
Growth.
It definitely matured me, yeah,definitely, and I you know from
Maryland and well, I was livingin Maryland at the time and
then I did a whole transition toliving in Miami, being away
from my mom and my family.
It definitely like built thematurity inside of me and I was
like, oh yeah, because once mymom left, I was definitely
homesick for like the firstsemester.
Speaker 1 (07:23):
Yeah, See, I wasn't.
I was always like I.
Like I said, I grew up in thesuburbs.
Like you know, I'm used to likemulti cultures.
I mean like both my neighborswas why, like I've never been
surrounded by that many blackpeople in my entire life.
So for me, when I went there, Iwas like, wait a minute, like
you know, like I was, like I,you know I got judged by the way
(07:44):
I spoke and you know, likethings that I was into.
But like it also like was oneof the best experiences of my
life because it was like I washome, like I felt like I was
with my cousins, I felt like Iwas with my family, and it also
taught me a lot about the worldand how things were viewed.
Like I was on campus when Obamawas president.
Right so it was like, and it wasso funny, like just the culture
(08:08):
on there, like I don't think itwould have been the same if I
would have went somewhere else.
Like I remember literallydriving from.
So my freshman year I lived oncampus and then I moved off
campus my freshman, my sophomoreyear, but my apartment was
literally like a two minutedrive, like we were the hangout,
like we wanted to get off.
Like everybody had the partyhouse yeah we had the party
(08:29):
house, so literally we saw it.
We were like we got to go tothe campus and literally we
parked and people were runningout of the dorms and it was just
like a big celebration and Idon't think I would have
experienced something like thatelsewhere.
Speaker 2 (08:42):
Did you cry, your freshman?
I feel like all the suburbankids freshman year they had this
like come to Jesus momentaround the same time, where they
just started crying about beinglike this is their first time
being in a black space.
And so all the city kidsespecially if they grew up in
like in a major black city wewere like why the fuck are y'all
(09:04):
crying?
It'll be in random classrooms,maybe the teacher says something
so like poetic that reallytouched them and they were like,
wow, I was really one of five,I was really one of two, and
kids would just start crying inclass.
Speaker 1 (09:17):
I don't think I ever cried in class but I definitely
had some come into Jesus momentslike especially so, like, so,
like for me, like, even though Iwas a communications major, the
communications building was inthe same building as the arts
department, so I took all and Imean I grew up in musical
theater and all that stuff, so Itook all my electives was in
that department, so I was in onebuilding, the tire.
(09:39):
Four years I was there, luckyyou.
Speaker 2 (09:41):
It was one building.
Speaker 1 (09:42):
It was one building and it was the arts.
It was the education to see.
Like to see that many blackprofessors that's what the
common Jesus was like to for meto see, like so many black
educators.
And because, like where I wasfrom, we had like two.
It was the music and it waslike the stuff that, like they
wouldn't want us for the musicsports, like you know, maybe
(10:02):
there was a math teacher, butfor the most part, most of my
teachers were white.
So, like my coming into Jesusmode was like, oh my God, there
are like real ed, like educatedblack people that are teaching
us and are, like you know,expounding our minds and stuff.
So that was definitely a changemoment for me.
Now, what was your favoritemoment in college Too?
Speaker 2 (10:24):
many now, girl, I definitely think the Obama
getting elected, that second kid, second term was powerful
because we did just whereHoward's located.
We literally walked to theWhite House and it was everyone
in the streets I mean everybodyin DC were just mobbing to the
White House, had a party, it wasa drum circle.
(10:45):
That was just likeinspirational.
Whatever it made my heart sing.
Even right now thinking aboutit, I'm getting chills.
I think my favorite moment incollege is I want to say,
graduation.
Speaker 3 (11:02):
But it's been a great time, oh girl.
Speaker 2 (11:05):
I don't even know.
Speaker 3 (11:06):
Everything was just on go mode you were just being
on go mode all the time.
I can definitely say like oneof my like funny moments, you
know, homecoming like everybodyalumni come back pulling up the
food, the drinks, the fraternitysororities on campus.
Speaker 1 (11:23):
I can agree with you on that one.
I can agree with you on comingand the professors were like
what are you doing in class?
Speaker 2 (11:29):
This is a formality.
Y'all should be outside.
Speaker 1 (11:32):
And they encouraged it.
They encouraged it.
I think it was a camaraderiething.
It was definitely a camaraderiething, like go be with your
people, like this is the timefor celebration.
I definitely think that, likethat is a distinct like
attribute to HBCUs.
Like they're going to make uscelebrate us, yeah.
I mean they're going to make uscelebrate accomplishments and
they're not going to overlook itor bypass it, because they
(11:55):
understand it.
I guess one of my favoritethings like you said, homecoming
, but more so where I come from,we didn't like the biggest
black celebration I guess wewould say we had.
We used to have a heritageparade and it was always around
my birthday in June and it wasone day.
It was a-.
Speaker 2 (12:14):
Not.
Speaker 1 (12:14):
Juneteenth, no, juneteenth, no, no, no, no, no,
no, juneteenth Like I ain'tgoing to hold you, I didn't
either.
Speaker 3 (12:20):
I know nothing about no.
Speaker 1 (12:21):
Juneteenth.
I didn't know nothing aboutJuneteenth, really Nothing about
, no Juneteenth.
Speaker 2 (12:24):
I mean, I learned a Howard, but yes, no.
Speaker 1 (12:26):
I mean nothing about no Juneteenth, but we had an
African-American festival thatused to happen once a year and
it would have the parade.
So that would be the only thingthat I can say that, like we
were, we were, we got the chanceto celebrate our wedding.
So, homecoming, I was like whatis going on?
What is happening?
I love it here.
Woo, like Woo.
I'm like what is happening.
(12:49):
It was like food everywhere,like you said, the fraternities,
the sororities, you know.
Like I wanted to play it.
I didn't get a chance to, butlike it was a, it was a.
It was definitely a change of.
It changed my life.
I feel like I say, is that itchanged my life?
What?
What outside influences haveyou had?
Like?
Any like?
Okay, let me.
Let me ask this question whatis your favorite form of media?
(13:13):
And like whether thatrepresents HBCUs or colleges,
like whether it's a show,whether it's a that?
Speaker 3 (13:21):
represents us.
Yeah, what's that show?
Bill Cosby's Spin-Off.
Speaker 2 (13:25):
Oh, a Different World , yes, that was definitely, but
like what's a new?
Speaker 3 (13:29):
I don't know like a new age.
All American, hong Kong, allAmerican, hong Kong, all
American.
That is actually a really goodone.
Speaker 2 (13:34):
Mine was school days.
Oh yeah, mine was school days.
Speaker 1 (13:37):
Mine was school days, but what's but, but, but, but,
but I think it's about schooldays.
I liked it because it wouldactually remind me of my school
when.
Speaker 2 (13:43):
I watched it.
Speaker 1 (13:44):
Like when I watched it I was like this is like we
had, because our school, myschool, was pretty small.
Like, but we, but we now islegit.
Like, but we when I was there,it was like we was in the
grassroots edition.
Speaker 2 (13:55):
We was in the grass, I didn't even notice.
Y'all were that close to us.
Speaker 1 (13:58):
We're so close.
Speaker 2 (14:00):
We're so close and then they go.
Speaker 3 (14:01):
I'm telling you, FFR.
Speaker 1 (14:03):
Didn't even know.
That was like 20 minutes.
Speaker 3 (14:06):
Yeah, I knew she didn't know.
Speaker 2 (14:09):
I'm like what do you mean?
Bowie and Morgan is down thestreet, they right down the
street, they ain't crazy theyuse.
Speaker 1 (14:14):
Morgan Bowie was very close, but also too like I
don't find too many shows nowLike I felt like there was a
time that, like HGCU's were,were pushed, not only in movies,
I mean, like Spike Lee used todo it all the time, like you
know he was definitelyspearheading it the most.
Speaker 2 (14:30):
All American Homecoming is the closest like
new age version Right.
Speaker 1 (14:34):
I don't know any new, newer movies, but like I think
that, like, like, like you said,a different world, like that's
my show.
I just I just actually justrewatched it, like two months
ago yeah, it's.
Speaker 2 (14:46):
And all the black shows always had like their gear
on Living single.
They always had Martin, martin,chris and Belair.
Speaker 1 (14:55):
It's like I feel like the nineties and early 2000s
did a great job with that kindof representation where I like,
I wish they would bring back now, but it's like that's why this
was so important.
I was like, if I want to doepisode, we come in our Preferra
Fidelia.
We're going to do what we gotto do, but also to like what,
what, um, what was some of yourbiggest takeaways from your
school?
Speaker 2 (15:15):
I think I think I learned the most after I left
Howard.
The impact of everything, likeall the information that I
learned from my professors ordifferent experiences that I
have flooded me once I leftCause I mean, detroit is so
black Howard, ndc at that timewas really black Now is phasing
(15:36):
out because of gentrification.
But then I moved out of thatspace and I moved to Orange
County and if you know anythingabout Orange County is white as
hell.
So when I left, by that time Iwas about like 25, 26.
That's when all the experiences, like what everything the
professors, my parents preppedme for, came to work.
(15:59):
You know, just really beingcomfortable in my skin, um,
maintaining my confidence inspaces, knowing that I'm
supposed to be in certain spaces, uh, based on like, yeah, like
everything about me, myintelligence, my character, what
I have to bring when I'mworking in corporate spaces it
just really made me feeloutspoken.
(16:19):
But I didn't have that energyuntil I left.
I feel like when I was there Iwas comfortable, I was in my
bubble.
Even in DC I was just like it'sa bubble.
It felt like a bubble at thetime, but when I left I had to
really like you know what?
Speaker 1 (16:36):
Nah you got me messed up.
Speaker 2 (16:38):
You got me messed up, I'm like I'm not educated, I'm
in myself Right in space.
Speaker 3 (16:42):
Yeah, everything in which you just said for real
being at that at HBCU and thentaking that with you literally
like all right, let me show theworld what I can do, just having
that impact.
I definitely like to show youand what's been great.
Speaker 1 (16:58):
What's been great, too, is that more and more HBCUs
are now being accredited,because my school wasn't
accredited.
It's accredited now, but itwasn't accredited.
So when I got out of school ittook a while for me to get up
and running, because, althoughwe were institutionally I mean
also too we were the third HBCULike we're at the top of HBCUs
that came out, so we were asmaller school.
(17:21):
Now people are flooding money.
Like I went to go visit, I waslike this ain't some shit.
I said I grew up in the wrongyear.
Speaker 2 (17:28):
I mean they got everything.
I mean it's state of the art.
The HBCUs are still underfunded.
Did you see the recent stats onit?
I don't know if you guys saw itrecently, but it came out this
week or last week that we'restill missing $2 billion of
funding towards HBCUs alone.
Speaker 3 (17:46):
Now you know, black people and money don't get along
.
Ok, they won't do it.
They won't do it.
Speaker 1 (17:52):
There's a lot of private investors Like Kevin
Duran, I believe, just got.
He just funded our school theyjust named.
Is he from Maryland?
Yes, they just named our gymafter him, so that's dope.
I hope I didn't miss quote that.
I hope it was Kevin Duran.
I probably should have lookedthat up before I said it, but
I'm pretty sure it's right.
If it's wrong, guys you guyscan tip Duran, Duran Kevin.
Speaker 3 (18:14):
Duran, and you know what you just said about the
accredited.
You know that's how the schoolin Atlanta, what's the Clark
Atlanta?
Speaker 2 (18:22):
No, I know what you're talking about.
It's.
Speaker 3 (18:25):
Morehouse Spelman Clark.
Atlanta is the last oneMorehouse With the band yeah
Purple and.
White Morris Brown.
Yes, morris Brown.
They lost their accreditation.
I thought they gained it back.
Well, in the beginning, I mean,they had it, lost it for a long
period of time and they justgot it back.
Speaker 1 (18:44):
Like literally, how are they just going to say
you're not accredited, butyou're going to still take
people's money and tell?
Speaker 3 (18:48):
them they're going to go to school.
No, they weren't said that.
Any students or anything.
Speaker 2 (18:51):
It just made everyone's degree from there not
valuable, which is messed upbecause they're not giving
people's money back.
Speaker 3 (18:57):
No, no, that's the game.
Speaker 2 (18:59):
It's all wrong.
Speaker 1 (19:00):
If you best believe, it couldn't have been me.
Speaker 2 (19:02):
First of all, I didn't need to pay off the money
in the first place.
Speaker 1 (19:06):
No it couldn't have been me Let them have had my
degree and say I couldn't use itor whatever.
Y'all, give me my money back.
I'm going to all the courts.
I'm going on channel nine, I'mgoing channel 11.
We talking to everybody but Fox, because we know Fox is
propaganda.
But we talking to everybody butFox.
But so, all in all yourexperience in your schools, like
(19:29):
we all think, our school is theone where we graduate.
But, what do you think madeyour school super special?
Speaker 3 (19:34):
I got this one.
I got this one, go ahead soy'all know the song Lift Every
Voice.
Yes, it came from FloridaMemorial baby, Really it was a
great fun thing.
Speaker 1 (19:45):
It was a great fun thing.
Yes, it was a great fun thing.
Would you like?
Speaker 2 (19:49):
to go Bowie, I'll go.
Speaker 1 (19:51):
I was going to say Tony Braxton graduated from.
Speaker 3 (19:54):
Bowie State University.
Speaker 1 (19:55):
I'm going to go to the New York University, but
also too, I think, what made ourschool very special, because we
were smaller, so I think thatit was very intimate.
It was very personal, like wehad real relationships.
Speaker 3 (20:07):
Yeah, family-oriented .
Yeah, it was real relationships.
Speaker 1 (20:10):
A lot of our network has been very strong, the alumni
has been very strong and thenalso, too, because it was so
small and you see somebody fromBowie, it's like different vibes
.
Speaker 3 (20:19):
Like it's like you went to Bowie High School,
that's what.
Speaker 1 (20:21):
I think it made it special.
Speaker 2 (20:23):
OK, well, let me tell you about VHU.
Ok, here we go.
Speaker 1 (20:27):
We got the first one of them on the show Right.
Speaker 2 (20:29):
Not only are we the best HBCU oh god, here you go,
here you go.
What can you say about Howard?
I feel like Howard is such awell-known school that people I
don't know.
I don't know why people isconfused with Harvard.
Speaker 1 (20:47):
But I sometimes I just say it, but they do say
Harvard, they do say Howard isthe Harvard of Black Virgin
Right.
Speaker 2 (20:53):
Sometimes I just say it and see if they know what I'm
talking about, or just lettheir mind wander.
But you already know KamalaHarris.
Speaker 1 (21:00):
Yeah, the VHU, y'all got a list, we got a list A
crazy ass list.
Speaker 2 (21:07):
I think that just not the alumni, but the way that
Howard is in the center of DCand you get that political, that
personal political experienceand the way that the professors
drive that experience for you.
We were always protesting forthe good of the community, all
the time, putting ourselves,putting our bodies getting
(21:29):
locked up on the front lines inthe heart of America.
Speaker 3 (21:33):
Damn it, especially with the Trayvon Martin
situation that happened.
Trayvon Martin's mom went to myschool and so we did a really
big thing and we reallysupported her and she supports
the school like hands down.
So when that happened, that wasvery traumatic Because it was
just like.
Speaker 2 (21:51):
Didn't she run for counsel recently, did she?
Speaker 3 (21:55):
Oh, I don't know about that, like what could
happen after that, but she did,she was there she was there.
Speaker 2 (21:59):
She was there.
My support from you.
She's there.
Speaker 1 (22:03):
All in all, one thing that I thought was very
important to talk about it,because people don't talk about
it enough, and also, too, Ithink people that go to HBCUs
don't talk about HBCUs enoughunless you're in a community
Like of HBCUs.
I can definitely do that If youwere somebody that says I'm from
HBCU, then we're talking aboutHBCUs.
Are most people right?
But most people are discussing,or maybe it's not necessarily
(22:25):
at the forefront.
And I feel like, because itchanged my life, especially
being from a suburb who weren'taround a lot of black people I
think that I'd be completely adifferent person Because I just
wasn't exposed to it.
But I do believe that it's forus, we should go, it's for us by
us.
It's for us by us and we shouldgo, and there's nothing saying
(22:47):
that you won't get that top toyour job.
There's nothing saying that youwon't make those six figures,
there's nothing about it.
But what's going to happen isthat it is specialized and
specific for our needs, our wayof life, and giving, like you
said, ali, giving us the knowhow to be able to stand strong
in those spaces that are notthat don't look like us.
(23:07):
That four years is real.
Speaker 3 (23:10):
Like that four years is real and even afterwards.
It's like you step into thereal world like, oh, you
competing up against somebodythat went to Harvard versus
Howard or, you know, bowie orwhatever, and you know, we
competing for the same job andthey looking like, okay, I heard
of this PWY, but I never heardof this.
Like, what school is this?
And it's just like we have thesame education.
(23:32):
Like you know, I did a fouryear, he did a four year,
whoever you going up against,and it just felt like we just
got to break down that barrier,like literally, like we got to
be confident, stand strong.
Like, yes, we both got the sameeducation.
Like you know, we did the samemajor or whatever cause we
wouldn't made it this far,competing with one another.
So like, don't try to downplayme in where I went to.
Like you know, yeah, we mayhave a different experience.
You know I went to an HBCU withsomewhere else, but we still
(23:55):
got our education.
Speaker 2 (23:56):
I think that's just the whole idea of black people
have to do like work five timesas hard as anybody else.
Even if we had the sameexperience of going to school or
any higher educationinstitution.
I think what I struggled with,what I struggled with leaving
Howard, what's about to saysomething?
Leaving Howard specifically waslike meeting other black people
(24:19):
that went to PWYs and maybethem feeling self-conscious
about who they were.
Cause when you say you go toHBCU, there's a kind of there's
a pride and there's a pride init, yeah, and they're like oh
you, the real black person, andnot for nothing.
Speaker 1 (24:34):
I mean on the other end of it, not for nothing.
You do kind of like, even ifyou don't do it on purpose there
is a subconscious eyes like youain't got no HBCU.
Like it's like California.
Like you, you don't know HBCU.
Like I, went to the HBCU, Iknow what was popping over here
so like I can get that like itis, isn't that?
funny though it is that dualityof like, kind of doing
(25:00):
everything in your power asblack people in America and as
black women in America, to makesure that we are not only
showing up in these spaces as ablack person, but also
understanding what that means.
You know what I mean, becauseall of the stereotypes that are
surrounding around us, it'sreally your individuality, it's
really how you are cultivatingyourself and showing up and the
(25:23):
president is showing up, and Ido believe that HBCUs help you
do that, and I do believe thatit helps you cultivate a
community and, more so, acommunity.
Yeah, yeah, because I've beenlike.
I like my community, my collegecommunity is unmatched, like
it's unmatched.
I didn't leave with a lot ofpeople that I still get
connected to, but the few that Ido, it's always love, it's
(25:44):
always you know they're doingamazing things and it's
important.
I believe that it's importantto keep pushing that
conversation and keep talkingabout it and letting our
children know about it, lettingour young ones know about it,
because it's nothing like it.
Speaker 2 (25:58):
Yeah, it's nothing like it.
And then holding thatconnection, so like wherever we
are in our careers and our life,being able to provide that
grant, like funding scholarshipto kids and our family, our
friends, kids, whatever, so thatthey can link right back to the
school, but following the moneytrail so we don't get lost at
the school.
Speaker 3 (26:17):
Okay.
Speaker 1 (26:18):
Okay, that's like really weird to be talking about
that, okay, because we don'tknow what those, we don't know
what those are.
Love not jokes.
Go with jokes, okay.
Speaker 3 (26:27):
Like that wait, y'all had a scandal, honey, we did.
We had a whole scandal aboutthat.
Speaker 2 (26:32):
And I was there during that time and my mom
stayed at the admin office goingoff, like, where is the money?
Yeah, what am I waiting on?
Like.
And then they really this is sofunny they would go to the back
, stay there for whatever amountof time, come out and be like
oh okay, we took care of yourtuition.
(26:52):
Yeah, I swear, every time youhad to show up custom out
waiting line custom out, becauseif you weren't gonna say
nothing, they was gonna saynothing.
Speaker 3 (27:01):
Exactly, and they wouldn't even gonna do nothing.
Speaker 1 (27:03):
But they couldn't risk you saying something to get
blown up.
Speaker 2 (27:07):
So they had to be like oh, she, not the one.
It used to be a thing everysemester.
It was like oh, I gotta go tothe, I gotta go to the.
I didn't show you, okay, solet's talk about that let's talk
about like I wonder.
Speaker 1 (27:18):
this is a question I want y'all to answer and
literally please respond to it.
In PWIs, right Whiteinstitutions, are y'all
financial aids fucked up Like we?
need to know, like we need toknow, like for real, cause I
swear, every semester somebody'sclass was dropped.
My last semester a lady fuckedup too.
And if it wasn't, if I was not,and I pray, let me, let me, let
(27:40):
me restock it, cause it made meemotional.
Because if I did was not agreat student.
I was on a Dean's list everysemester, except for the first
semester I was there.
And because I was done withsome dusty boy that got me all
fucked up.
But like my my great point.
I graduated, but my lastsemester yes, my last semester I
I was gonna gear gear it up andI lived there like I had an
(28:03):
apartment there, so I never wenthome and had to like come back
or whatever.
But it was time to start mylast semester before graduation
and all my classes got dropped.
And I know my mom.
My mom is on top of stuff, so Iknow that financial aid came in
.
My mom drove all the way fromJersey and we're conscious Like
we don't know what to do.
My mom is wild and she was likeno, I know my papers.
I and my mom was one of thosepeople that had like the the box
and all the paper.
(28:24):
She bought her box.
It was like this is the day Ibought it.
Where is these things?
Where is these things?
And they couldn't figure it out.
I couldn't figure it out andI'm just crying.
Speaker 3 (28:31):
I was like I just want to graduate.
I'm not here Like I'm tired,okay, and it gets so stressful?
Speaker 1 (28:35):
Yes, and then and then.
So we get there and she waslike well, you can talk to such
and such as the guy we wentupstairs to like some Dean's
office.
The secretary says that she waslike um, what's your name?
She pulls on my information andthis guy comes out.
I'm like what is going on?
I just want them to tell me Igot my glasses, all the stuff
going on.
And he goes she's good, we'lltake care of her semester.
(28:55):
My mom was like what it's like?
I don't know what happened withyour financial aid, but you're
done.
You like it's paid.
I paid it, it's fine.
Well, not he paid it, but yeah,he was like you're a good
student, you haven't been introuble.
He's like your grades areimmaculate.
We got it and that was it.
My mom's actually like, untilthey gave the refund to her back
to financial aid, she didn'thave to like all the stuff that
(29:15):
she was gonna pay for that year.
Speaker 2 (29:17):
They got rebated back to her and stuff, so like I was
like look at God.
Speaker 1 (29:22):
But like I really under like, but that's people
looking out for you.
Yeah, he really wanted me towin.
Speaker 3 (29:29):
And that's what we got to stop thinking like.
I mean, they always say thatthe perception of us like we're
crabs in a barrel.
And it's like well, someinstance we kind of are, but
like with that type of situation, like we can, definitely we got
, if we got it you got it rightso you know, it's just, we just
need more that to go around.
Speaker 2 (29:47):
I just want more stories to come out about PWIs
and their financial aid office.
We want to know.
Speaker 3 (29:55):
I'm trying to tell you, because it's like when they
say that, how we tighten it,they are even tighter.
Speaker 1 (30:00):
They are when Johnny and all that somebody's.
Speaker 3 (30:07):
Josh and D Well and they be paying, and that's why
they're not gonna say nothing.
Speaker 1 (30:16):
I know somebody might slip through the cracks I'm
away for it, but I mean, all inall, I think we, you know, we
had a great conversation abouthow we felt about our HBCUs and
definitely want to Thank theladies for coming on.
I like to aim my shows with amessage, so I'm gonna ask you
guys to leave a message toeither your younger self about
(30:36):
Whether they want to attend anHBCU, or the next child that I'm
looking to decide, to the nextblack child, to decide if they
want to go to an HBCU or notokay, keanu, you can do it, you
did it.
Speaker 3 (30:50):
And when you get here You're gonna cry.
It's gonna be some childhoodrelations, but stick it through,
keep going and nothing is gonnahold you back, and I'm so proud
of you.
Speaker 2 (31:04):
Ali, you know yourself, you know who you are,
trust in everything that God hasgiven you and preparing you for
You're going to love everyexperience about being around
your own people, learning othercultures we did not talk about
that, but learning othercultures at this, at at Howard,
(31:24):
at an HBCU, is going to help youunderstand the world around you
, to be an advocate.
It's gonna help you toconceptualize what it means to
be a black person, and I loveyou.
Speaker 1 (31:38):
Yes.
Well, there you have it, y'all.
If y'all have any questions oranything that you want to talk
about.
As far as the top is concerned,again I'm gonna say go.
If you're a black child andyou're deciding whether to go to
this one or that one, go to theone where your people are going
to be, go to the one where yourheart is gonna tell you and go
to the one where you're gonna beseen and celebrated at all
(32:00):
Times.
Yes, if you have any questionsor comments concerned, don't
hesitate to drop a line on us orjust join the conversation Like
subscribe, share, do all thethings and that's it.
That's all.
That's it.
That's all.
Is written by me, kc carnage,and produced by myself and Rick
(32:20):
barrio dill.
Associate producer, Brie Corrie, assistant producer, larissa
Donna, audio and videoengineering and studio
facilities provided by slapstudios LA, with distribution
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expression, slap the network.
If you have any ideas for ashow you want to hear or see,
(32:41):
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See you next show.
I was on campus when Obama was president.
Speaker 2 (00:02):
Right, thank you.
Speaker 1 (00:04):
It was like and it was so funny, like just the
culture on there, like I don'tthink it would have been the
same if I would have wentsomewhere else.
People were running out of thedorms and it was just like a big
celebration and I don't think Iwould have experienced
something like that elsewhere.
Speaker 2 (00:18):
Did you cry your freshman?
I feel like all the suburbankids freshman year they had this
like come to Jesus momentaround the same time where they
just started crying about beinglike this is their first time
being in a black space.
Speaker 1 (01:05):
What up, what up, what up.
Welcome to, that's it.
That's All you know who I am,KC Carnage, and today we're
going to be talking about HBCUs,because guess what month it is
Homecoming and I could not,could not, could not go by this
month without talking about myloves, about HBCUs.
And I also got some guests herewho's going to represent their
HBCUs?
We have Keana Haywood andAlicia Crooks, and I don't know
(01:29):
if any of you guys know whatHBCUs are, but they're,
historically, black colleges anduniversities that are public
and private institutionsestablished before the Civil
Rights Act of 1964 in the UnitedStates.
Before their inception, hbcusgifted black people with access
to education, which was deniedto them during slavery and
segregation.
Now let's take a little.
(01:51):
Cheers y'all, cheers.
Thank y'all for coming.
Thank y'all for coming.
Cheers, cheers.
No I can't read you.
But here we go.
The air cheers.
The reason why I thought thiswas so important to me?
Because I honestly didn't knowwhat an HBCU was until I went to
my HBCU.
Me too, wow, me too, no idea.
Well, I grew up in the suburbs,so like I didn't like they
(02:15):
weren't talking about like go toan HBCU.
It was like my family, like Iwas in my immediate family, I
was the first person to go tocollege, so they weren't talking
about like the differencebetween they, just like go to
college.
Why do you think it wasimportant for you to go?
Is this something that youalready wanted to do?
Speaker 3 (02:30):
Yeah, I think it was definitely my family, like you
know, and starting something new.
Like my mom didn't go to anHBCU, she went to a PWI, as to
what we call it, and so I mean,of course she didn't finish, but
I mean that's neither there.
But you know, I was like I'mgoing to go to an HBCU, I want
to be around people that looklike me, like period, I want to
have fun, I want to get myeducation and still like learn
(02:52):
about what HBCU stands for, likewhat that means to you know for
everybody.
So I thought it was pretty dope.
How about you, ali?
Speaker 2 (02:59):
Well, I'm from Detroit.
So if you know anything aboutthe motor city, motown, whatever
the D, basically Detroit isblack as hell.
So when I decided on Howard orI was deciding to go to school,
I wanted to just like take thatenergy that I had from my city
and just be in school with it,basically.
So I didn't know the most aboutHBCUs but I knew a little bit.
(03:23):
I applied to you know, like thetop whatever the top five were
for our time and I just pickedHoward because it was in DC and
I was like, ooh, I like.
Speaker 1 (03:32):
DC.
Well see, I didn't even applyto HBCU.
To be like I said, I did noteven know Boogie State was an
HBCU until I got there, right,and we're talking about it.
I applied to a couple ofdifferent schools and my first
choice was actually Universityof Hartford in Connecticut and
my uncle lived in Maryland and Ialready knew Boogie.
Boogie is my second home, likemy mom, and my aunt was the only
(03:54):
two that had kids, so we thatwas just what I knew.
So I was like I can either goto the snow or I can go and my
aunt's 20 minutes away, and Igot somewhere to like crash.
But it definitely exchanged mylife and I wouldn't have changed
it in the world.
Now, do you think it'simportant to talk to our black
children about going to HBCUs?
(04:16):
Absolutely.
Speaker 2 (04:17):
I can't imagine not talking to kids and my own, like
my little cousins, my nephewsabout Howard.
All I do is talk about Howardor I'm like okay, you don't like
Howard when else in the USthat's an HBCU.
Speaker 3 (04:31):
can I get you to?
Because you going somewhere,because you going somewhere.
Speaker 2 (04:34):
That's HBCU.
Speaker 1 (04:35):
Exactly, no-transcript.
What was it like your first daystepping on that campus?
Speaker 2 (04:40):
Um, I remember, like every first day of school since
I was a kid right that feeling,that smell of fall, all that,
all the change of the leaves andthings, and I remember feeling
like, what the fuck?
I do not have anything to wear.
I thought about, yes, I waslike where did they get all
(05:02):
their clothing from?
Oh my god.
I remember thinking, um, I wasglad that my parents dropped me
off, but I couldn't wait forthem to leave.
I remember thinking why are themen so fine?
Oh yeah, that was top four, forme definitely top four.
I remember thinking did I pickthe right major?
(05:24):
A lot of that all the time.
Like, is this the right?
Speaker 1 (05:26):
like is this the right path for me.
I feel like no one knows theright major until they actually
graduate.
I think beyond graduation.
Speaker 2 (05:32):
I think it's like your year is fast.
I got my degree.
Speaker 1 (05:34):
So it's like I'm as good at at some point when
you're deciding what yourmajor's going to be to get to a
point was like, okay, I have tofinish school.
I have to finish school sowhatever we're here now, whether
it's the third, the second timeyou tried it, this is where
we're at now.
Speaker 3 (05:46):
See, I think my experience was definitely
opposite from both of y'all'sbecause definitely mine was like
sophomore year, so it allstarted as like a pre-law major
and I was like, no, this ain'tgoing to be it, like I need to
change this, like right now,before I graduate.
Oh, I'm a fail, I'm not goingto graduate.
I was like no, I need to likehurry up.
I was going through everything,I mean like biology, teacher
(06:08):
communication.
I went through it all and I waslike, okay, maybe PR will be my
thing.
So yes, that's the outrageouswebsite.
Yes, so you know, I definitelyknow I couldn't wait till after
I graduated.
None of them.
I'm almost like you need to getthis up right now, Like stop
playing it.
Speaker 1 (06:22):
Yeah, I was a broadcast journalism major, but
did not actually use it untilthis year.
Speaker 2 (06:29):
Oh, that's what I'm saying.
Speaker 1 (06:30):
I'm a musician, I sing, I sing, so that's what I
was doing.
You know what I mean.
Like I went into like corporateAmerica right after college for
a few years and then I movedout to LA and I've been singing
professionally and then,literally like the top of this
year, I was like I looked at my,I looked at my degree, I was
like I need to use you what's up.
And then I was approached withopportunity to do this and I
(06:51):
just kind of like this is what Iwas supposed to be doing in the
first place, so is that okay?
So how do you think that youknow like going to your HBCU
changed your life?
Speaker 3 (07:01):
Growth.
It definitely matured me, yeah,definitely, and I you know from
Maryland and well, I was livingin Maryland at the time and
then I did a whole transition toliving in Miami, being away
from my mom and my family.
It definitely like built thematurity inside of me and I was
like, oh yeah, because once mymom left, I was definitely
homesick for like the firstsemester.
Speaker 1 (07:23):
Yeah, See, I wasn't.
I was always like I.
Like I said, I grew up in thesuburbs.
Like you know, I'm used to likemulti cultures.
I mean like both my neighborswas why, like I've never been
surrounded by that many blackpeople in my entire life.
So for me, when I went there, Iwas like, wait a minute, like
you know, like I was, like I,you know I got judged by the way
(07:44):
I spoke and you know, likethings that I was into.
But like it also like was oneof the best experiences of my
life because it was like I washome, like I felt like I was
with my cousins, I felt like Iwas with my family, and it also
taught me a lot about the worldand how things were viewed.
Like I was on campus when Obamawas president.
Right so it was like, and it wasso funny, like just the culture
(08:08):
on there, like I don't think itwould have been the same if I
would have went somewhere else.
Like I remember literallydriving from.
So my freshman year I lived oncampus and then I moved off
campus my freshman, my sophomoreyear, but my apartment was
literally like a two minutedrive, like we were the hangout,
like we wanted to get off.
Like everybody had the partyhouse yeah we had the party
(08:29):
house, so literally we saw it.
We were like we got to go tothe campus and literally we
parked and people were runningout of the dorms and it was just
like a big celebration and Idon't think I would have
experienced something like thatelsewhere.
Speaker 2 (08:42):
Did you cry, your freshman?
I feel like all the suburbankids freshman year they had this
like come to Jesus momentaround the same time, where they
just started crying about beinglike this is their first time
being in a black space.
And so all the city kidsespecially if they grew up in
like in a major black city wewere like why the fuck are y'all
(09:04):
crying?
It'll be in random classrooms,maybe the teacher says something
so like poetic that reallytouched them and they were like,
wow, I was really one of five,I was really one of two, and
kids would just start crying inclass.
Speaker 1 (09:17):
I don't think I ever cried in class but I definitely
had some come into Jesus momentslike especially so, like, so,
like for me, like, even though Iwas a communications major, the
communications building was inthe same building as the arts
department, so I took all and Imean I grew up in musical
theater and all that stuff, so Itook all my electives was in
that department, so I was in onebuilding, the tire.
(09:39):
Four years I was there, luckyyou.
Speaker 2 (09:41):
It was one building.
Speaker 1 (09:42):
It was one building and it was the arts.
It was the education to see.
Like to see that many blackprofessors that's what the
common Jesus was like to for meto see, like so many black
educators.
And because, like where I wasfrom, we had like two.
It was the music and it waslike the stuff that, like they
wouldn't want us for the musicsports, like you know, maybe
(10:02):
there was a math teacher, butfor the most part, most of my
teachers were white.
So, like my coming into Jesusmode was like, oh my God, there
are like real ed, like educatedblack people that are teaching
us and are, like you know,expounding our minds and stuff.
So that was definitely a changemoment for me.
Now, what was your favoritemoment in college Too?
Speaker 2 (10:24):
many now, girl, I definitely think the Obama
getting elected, that second kid, second term was powerful
because we did just whereHoward's located.
We literally walked to theWhite House and it was everyone
in the streets I mean everybodyin DC were just mobbing to the
White House, had a party, it wasa drum circle.
(10:45):
That was just likeinspirational.
Whatever it made my heart sing.
Even right now thinking aboutit, I'm getting chills.
I think my favorite moment incollege is I want to say,
graduation.
Speaker 3 (11:02):
But it's been a great time, oh girl.
Speaker 2 (11:05):
I don't even know.
Speaker 3 (11:06):
Everything was just on go mode you were just being
on go mode all the time.
I can definitely say like oneof my like funny moments, you
know, homecoming like everybodyalumni come back pulling up the
food, the drinks, the fraternitysororities on campus.
Speaker 1 (11:23):
I can agree with you on that one.
I can agree with you on comingand the professors were like
what are you doing in class?
Speaker 2 (11:29):
This is a formality.
Y'all should be outside.
Speaker 1 (11:32):
And they encouraged it.
They encouraged it.
I think it was a camaraderiething.
It was definitely a camaraderiething, like go be with your
people, like this is the timefor celebration.
I definitely think that, likethat is a distinct like
attribute to HBCUs.
Like they're going to make uscelebrate us, yeah.
I mean they're going to make uscelebrate accomplishments and
they're not going to overlook itor bypass it, because they
(11:55):
understand it.
I guess one of my favoritethings like you said, homecoming
, but more so where I come from,we didn't like the biggest
black celebration I guess wewould say we had.
We used to have a heritageparade and it was always around
my birthday in June and it wasone day.
It was a-.
Speaker 2 (12:14):
Not.
Speaker 1 (12:14):
Juneteenth, no, juneteenth, no, no, no, no, no,
no, juneteenth Like I ain'tgoing to hold you, I didn't
either.
Speaker 3 (12:20):
I know nothing about no.
Speaker 1 (12:21):
Juneteenth.
I didn't know nothing aboutJuneteenth, really Nothing about
, no Juneteenth.
Speaker 2 (12:24):
I mean, I learned a Howard, but yes, no.
Speaker 1 (12:26):
I mean nothing about no Juneteenth, but we had an
African-American festival thatused to happen once a year and
it would have the parade.
So that would be the only thingthat I can say that, like we
were, we were, we got the chanceto celebrate our wedding.
So, homecoming, I was like whatis going on?
What is happening?
I love it here.
Woo, like Woo.
I'm like what is happening.
(12:49):
It was like food everywhere,like you said, the fraternities,
the sororities, you know.
Like I wanted to play it.
I didn't get a chance to, butlike it was a, it was a.
It was definitely a change of.
It changed my life.
I feel like I say, is that itchanged my life?
What?
What outside influences haveyou had?
Like?
Any like?
Okay, let me.
Let me ask this question whatis your favorite form of media?
(13:13):
And like whether thatrepresents HBCUs or colleges,
like whether it's a show,whether it's a that?
Speaker 3 (13:21):
represents us.
Yeah, what's that show?
Bill Cosby's Spin-Off.
Speaker 2 (13:25):
Oh, a Different World , yes, that was definitely, but
like what's a new?
Speaker 3 (13:29):
I don't know like a new age.
All American, hong Kong, allAmerican, hong Kong, all
American.
That is actually a really goodone.
Speaker 2 (13:34):
Mine was school days.
Oh yeah, mine was school days.
Speaker 1 (13:37):
Mine was school days, but what's but, but, but, but,
but I think it's about schooldays.
I liked it because it wouldactually remind me of my school
when.
Speaker 2 (13:43):
I watched it.
Speaker 1 (13:44):
Like when I watched it I was like this is like we
had, because our school, myschool, was pretty small.
Like, but we, but we now islegit.
Like, but we when I was there,it was like we was in the
grassroots edition.
Speaker 2 (13:55):
We was in the grass, I didn't even notice.
Y'all were that close to us.
Speaker 1 (13:58):
We're so close.
Speaker 2 (14:00):
We're so close and then they go.
Speaker 3 (14:01):
I'm telling you, FFR.
Speaker 1 (14:03):
Didn't even know.
That was like 20 minutes.
Speaker 3 (14:06):
Yeah, I knew she didn't know.
Speaker 2 (14:09):
I'm like what do you mean?
Bowie and Morgan is down thestreet, they right down the
street, they ain't crazy theyuse.
Speaker 1 (14:14):
Morgan Bowie was very close, but also too like I
don't find too many shows nowLike I felt like there was a
time that, like HGCU's were,were pushed, not only in movies,
I mean, like Spike Lee used todo it all the time, like you
know he was definitelyspearheading it the most.
Speaker 2 (14:30):
All American Homecoming is the closest like
new age version Right.
Speaker 1 (14:34):
I don't know any new, newer movies, but like I think
that, like, like, like you said,a different world, like that's
my show.
I just I just actually justrewatched it, like two months
ago yeah, it's.
Speaker 2 (14:46):
And all the black shows always had like their gear
on Living single.
They always had Martin, martin,chris and Belair.
Speaker 1 (14:55):
It's like I feel like the nineties and early 2000s
did a great job with that kindof representation where I like,
I wish they would bring back now, but it's like that's why this
was so important.
I was like, if I want to doepisode, we come in our Preferra
Fidelia.
We're going to do what we gotto do, but also to like what,
what, um, what was some of yourbiggest takeaways from your
school?
Speaker 2 (15:15):
I think I think I learned the most after I left
Howard.
The impact of everything, likeall the information that I
learned from my professors ordifferent experiences that I
have flooded me once I leftCause I mean, detroit is so
black Howard, ndc at that timewas really black Now is phasing
(15:36):
out because of gentrification.
But then I moved out of thatspace and I moved to Orange
County and if you know anythingabout Orange County is white as
hell.
So when I left, by that time Iwas about like 25, 26.
That's when all the experiences, like what everything the
professors, my parents preppedme for, came to work.
(15:59):
You know, just really beingcomfortable in my skin, um,
maintaining my confidence inspaces, knowing that I'm
supposed to be in certain spaces, uh, based on like, yeah, like
everything about me, myintelligence, my character, what
I have to bring when I'mworking in corporate spaces it
just really made me feeloutspoken.
(16:19):
But I didn't have that energyuntil I left.
I feel like when I was there Iwas comfortable, I was in my
bubble.
Even in DC I was just like it'sa bubble.
It felt like a bubble at thetime, but when I left I had to
really like you know what?
Speaker 1 (16:36):
Nah you got me messed up.
Speaker 2 (16:38):
You got me messed up, I'm like I'm not educated, I'm
in myself Right in space.
Speaker 3 (16:42):
Yeah, everything in which you just said for real
being at that at HBCU and thentaking that with you literally
like all right, let me show theworld what I can do, just having
that impact.
I definitely like to show youand what's been great.
Speaker 1 (16:58):
What's been great, too, is that more and more HBCUs
are now being accredited,because my school wasn't
accredited.
It's accredited now, but itwasn't accredited.
So when I got out of school ittook a while for me to get up
and running, because, althoughwe were institutionally I mean
also too we were the third HBCULike we're at the top of HBCUs
that came out, so we were asmaller school.
(17:21):
Now people are flooding money.
Like I went to go visit, I waslike this ain't some shit.
I said I grew up in the wrongyear.
Speaker 2 (17:28):
I mean they got everything.
I mean it's state of the art.
The HBCUs are still underfunded.
Did you see the recent stats onit?
I don't know if you guys saw itrecently, but it came out this
week or last week that we'restill missing $2 billion of
funding towards HBCUs alone.
Speaker 3 (17:46):
Now you know, black people and money don't get along
.
Ok, they won't do it.
They won't do it.
Speaker 1 (17:52):
There's a lot of private investors Like Kevin
Duran, I believe, just got.
He just funded our school theyjust named.
Is he from Maryland?
Yes, they just named our gymafter him, so that's dope.
I hope I didn't miss quote that.
I hope it was Kevin Duran.
I probably should have lookedthat up before I said it, but
I'm pretty sure it's right.
If it's wrong, guys you guyscan tip Duran, Duran Kevin.
Speaker 3 (18:14):
Duran, and you know what you just said about the
accredited.
You know that's how the schoolin Atlanta, what's the Clark
Atlanta?
Speaker 2 (18:22):
No, I know what you're talking about.
It's.
Speaker 3 (18:25):
Morehouse Spelman Clark.
Atlanta is the last oneMorehouse With the band yeah
Purple and.
White Morris Brown.
Yes, morris Brown.
They lost their accreditation.
I thought they gained it back.
Well, in the beginning, I mean,they had it, lost it for a long
period of time and they justgot it back.
Speaker 1 (18:44):
Like literally, how are they just going to say
you're not accredited, butyou're going to still take
people's money and tell?
Speaker 3 (18:48):
them they're going to go to school.
No, they weren't said that.
Any students or anything.
Speaker 2 (18:51):
It just made everyone's degree from there not
valuable, which is messed upbecause they're not giving
people's money back.
Speaker 3 (18:57):
No, no, that's the game.
Speaker 2 (18:59):
It's all wrong.
Speaker 1 (19:00):
If you best believe, it couldn't have been me.
Speaker 2 (19:02):
First of all, I didn't need to pay off the money
in the first place.
Speaker 1 (19:06):
No it couldn't have been me Let them have had my
degree and say I couldn't use itor whatever.
Y'all, give me my money back.
I'm going to all the courts.
I'm going on channel nine, I'mgoing channel 11.
We talking to everybody but Fox, because we know Fox is
propaganda.
But we talking to everybody butFox.
But so, all in all yourexperience in your schools, like
(19:29):
we all think, our school is theone where we graduate.
But, what do you think madeyour school super special?
Speaker 3 (19:34):
I got this one.
I got this one, go ahead soy'all know the song Lift Every
Voice.
Yes, it came from FloridaMemorial baby, Really it was a
great fun thing.
Speaker 1 (19:45):
It was a great fun thing.
Yes, it was a great fun thing.
Would you like?
Speaker 2 (19:49):
to go Bowie, I'll go.
Speaker 1 (19:51):
I was going to say Tony Braxton graduated from.
Speaker 3 (19:54):
Bowie State University.
Speaker 1 (19:55):
I'm going to go to the New York University, but
also too, I think, what made ourschool very special, because we
were smaller, so I think thatit was very intimate.
It was very personal, like wehad real relationships.
Speaker 3 (20:07):
Yeah, family-oriented .
Yeah, it was real relationships.
Speaker 1 (20:10):
A lot of our network has been very strong, the alumni
has been very strong and thenalso, too, because it was so
small and you see somebody fromBowie, it's like different vibes
.
Speaker 3 (20:19):
Like it's like you went to Bowie High School,
that's what.
Speaker 1 (20:21):
I think it made it special.
Speaker 2 (20:23):
OK, well, let me tell you about VHU.
Ok, here we go.
Speaker 1 (20:27):
We got the first one of them on the show Right.
Speaker 2 (20:29):
Not only are we the best HBCU oh god, here you go,
here you go.
What can you say about Howard?
I feel like Howard is such awell-known school that people I
don't know.
I don't know why people isconfused with Harvard.
Speaker 1 (20:47):
But I sometimes I just say it, but they do say
Harvard, they do say Howard isthe Harvard of Black Virgin
Right.
Speaker 2 (20:53):
Sometimes I just say it and see if they know what I'm
talking about, or just lettheir mind wander.
But you already know KamalaHarris.
Speaker 1 (21:00):
Yeah, the VHU, y'all got a list, we got a list A
crazy ass list.
Speaker 2 (21:07):
I think that just not the alumni, but the way that
Howard is in the center of DCand you get that political, that
personal political experienceand the way that the professors
drive that experience for you.
We were always protesting forthe good of the community, all
the time, putting ourselves,putting our bodies getting
(21:29):
locked up on the front lines inthe heart of America.
Speaker 3 (21:33):
Damn it, especially with the Trayvon Martin
situation that happened.
Trayvon Martin's mom went to myschool and so we did a really
big thing and we reallysupported her and she supports
the school like hands down.
So when that happened, that wasvery traumatic Because it was
just like.
Speaker 2 (21:51):
Didn't she run for counsel recently, did she?
Speaker 3 (21:55):
Oh, I don't know about that, like what could
happen after that, but she did,she was there she was there.
Speaker 2 (21:59):
She was there.
My support from you.
She's there.
Speaker 1 (22:03):
All in all, one thing that I thought was very
important to talk about it,because people don't talk about
it enough, and also, too, Ithink people that go to HBCUs
don't talk about HBCUs enoughunless you're in a community
Like of HBCUs.
I can definitely do that If youwere somebody that says I'm from
HBCU, then we're talking aboutHBCUs.
Are most people right?
But most people are discussing,or maybe it's not necessarily
(22:25):
at the forefront.
And I feel like, because itchanged my life, especially
being from a suburb who weren'taround a lot of black people I
think that I'd be completely adifferent person Because I just
wasn't exposed to it.
But I do believe that it's forus, we should go, it's for us by
us.
It's for us by us and we shouldgo, and there's nothing saying
(22:47):
that you won't get that top toyour job.
There's nothing saying that youwon't make those six figures,
there's nothing about it.
But what's going to happen isthat it is specialized and
specific for our needs, our wayof life, and giving, like you
said, ali, giving us the knowhow to be able to stand strong
in those spaces that are notthat don't look like us.
(23:07):
That four years is real.
Speaker 3 (23:10):
Like that four years is real and even afterwards.
It's like you step into thereal world like, oh, you
competing up against somebodythat went to Harvard versus
Howard or, you know, bowie orwhatever, and you know, we
competing for the same job andthey looking like, okay, I heard
of this PWY, but I never heardof this.
Like, what school is this?
And it's just like we have thesame education.
(23:32):
Like you know, I did a fouryear, he did a four year,
whoever you going up against,and it just felt like we just
got to break down that barrier,like literally, like we got to
be confident, stand strong.
Like, yes, we both got the sameeducation.
Like you know, we did the samemajor or whatever cause we
wouldn't made it this far,competing with one another.
So like, don't try to downplayme in where I went to.
Like you know, yeah, we mayhave a different experience.
You know I went to an HBCU withsomewhere else, but we still
(23:55):
got our education.
Speaker 2 (23:56):
I think that's just the whole idea of black people
have to do like work five timesas hard as anybody else.
Even if we had the sameexperience of going to school or
any higher educationinstitution.
I think what I struggled with,what I struggled with leaving
Howard, what's about to saysomething?
Leaving Howard specifically waslike meeting other black people
(24:19):
that went to PWYs and maybethem feeling self-conscious
about who they were.
Cause when you say you go toHBCU, there's a kind of there's
a pride and there's a pride init, yeah, and they're like oh
you, the real black person, andnot for nothing.
Speaker 1 (24:34):
I mean on the other end of it, not for nothing.
You do kind of like, even ifyou don't do it on purpose there
is a subconscious eyes like youain't got no HBCU.
Like it's like California.
Like you, you don't know HBCU.
Like I, went to the HBCU, Iknow what was popping over here
so like I can get that like itis, isn't that?
funny though it is that dualityof like, kind of doing
(25:00):
everything in your power asblack people in America and as
black women in America, to makesure that we are not only
showing up in these spaces as ablack person, but also
understanding what that means.
You know what I mean, becauseall of the stereotypes that are
surrounding around us, it'sreally your individuality, it's
really how you are cultivatingyourself and showing up and the
(25:23):
president is showing up, and Ido believe that HBCUs help you
do that, and I do believe thatit helps you cultivate a
community and, more so, acommunity.
Yeah, yeah, because I've beenlike.
I like my community, my collegecommunity is unmatched, like
it's unmatched.
I didn't leave with a lot ofpeople that I still get
connected to, but the few that Ido, it's always love, it's
(25:44):
always you know they're doingamazing things and it's
important.
I believe that it's importantto keep pushing that
conversation and keep talkingabout it and letting our
children know about it, lettingour young ones know about it,
because it's nothing like it.
Speaker 2 (25:58):
Yeah, it's nothing like it.
And then holding thatconnection, so like wherever we
are in our careers and our life,being able to provide that
grant, like funding scholarshipto kids and our family, our
friends, kids, whatever, so thatthey can link right back to the
school, but following the moneytrail so we don't get lost at
the school.
Speaker 3 (26:17):
Okay.
Speaker 1 (26:18):
Okay, that's like really weird to be talking about
that, okay, because we don'tknow what those, we don't know
what those are.
Love not jokes.
Go with jokes, okay.
Speaker 3 (26:27):
Like that wait, y'all had a scandal, honey, we did.
We had a whole scandal aboutthat.
Speaker 2 (26:32):
And I was there during that time and my mom
stayed at the admin office goingoff, like, where is the money?
Yeah, what am I waiting on?
Like.
And then they really this is sofunny they would go to the back
, stay there for whatever amountof time, come out and be like
oh okay, we took care of yourtuition.
(26:52):
Yeah, I swear, every time youhad to show up custom out
waiting line custom out, becauseif you weren't gonna say
nothing, they was gonna saynothing.
Speaker 3 (27:01):
Exactly, and they wouldn't even gonna do nothing.
Speaker 1 (27:03):
But they couldn't risk you saying something to get
blown up.
Speaker 2 (27:07):
So they had to be like oh, she, not the one.
It used to be a thing everysemester.
It was like oh, I gotta go tothe, I gotta go to the.
I didn't show you, okay, solet's talk about that let's talk
about like I wonder.
Speaker 1 (27:18):
this is a question I want y'all to answer and
literally please respond to it.
In PWIs, right Whiteinstitutions, are y'all
financial aids fucked up Like we?
need to know, like we need toknow, like for real, cause I
swear, every semester somebody'sclass was dropped.
My last semester a lady fuckedup too.
And if it wasn't, if I was not,and I pray, let me, let me, let
(27:40):
me restock it, cause it made meemotional.
Because if I did was not agreat student.
I was on a Dean's list everysemester, except for the first
semester I was there.
And because I was done withsome dusty boy that got me all
fucked up.
But like my my great point.
I graduated, but my lastsemester yes, my last semester I
I was gonna gear gear it up andI lived there like I had an
(28:03):
apartment there, so I never wenthome and had to like come back
or whatever.
But it was time to start mylast semester before graduation
and all my classes got dropped.
And I know my mom.
My mom is on top of stuff, so Iknow that financial aid came in
.
My mom drove all the way fromJersey and we're conscious Like
we don't know what to do.
My mom is wild and she was likeno, I know my papers.
I and my mom was one of thosepeople that had like the the box
and all the paper.
(28:24):
She bought her box.
It was like this is the day Ibought it.
Where is these things?
Where is these things?
And they couldn't figure it out.
I couldn't figure it out andI'm just crying.
Speaker 3 (28:31):
I was like I just want to graduate.
I'm not here Like I'm tired,okay, and it gets so stressful?
Speaker 1 (28:35):
Yes, and then and then.
So we get there and she waslike well, you can talk to such
and such as the guy we wentupstairs to like some Dean's
office.
The secretary says that she waslike um, what's your name?
She pulls on my information andthis guy comes out.
I'm like what is going on?
I just want them to tell me Igot my glasses, all the stuff
going on.
And he goes she's good, we'lltake care of her semester.
(28:55):
My mom was like what it's like?
I don't know what happened withyour financial aid, but you're
done.
You like it's paid.
I paid it, it's fine.
Well, not he paid it, but yeah,he was like you're a good
student, you haven't been introuble.
He's like your grades areimmaculate.
We got it and that was it.
My mom's actually like, untilthey gave the refund to her back
to financial aid, she didn'thave to like all the stuff that
(29:15):
she was gonna pay for that year.
Speaker 2 (29:17):
They got rebated back to her and stuff, so like I was
like look at God.
Speaker 1 (29:22):
But like I really under like, but that's people
looking out for you.
Yeah, he really wanted me towin.
Speaker 3 (29:29):
And that's what we got to stop thinking like.
I mean, they always say thatthe perception of us like we're
crabs in a barrel.
And it's like well, someinstance we kind of are, but
like with that type of situation, like we can, definitely we got
, if we got it you got it rightso you know, it's just, we just
need more that to go around.
Speaker 2 (29:47):
I just want more stories to come out about PWIs
and their financial aid office.
We want to know.
Speaker 3 (29:55):
I'm trying to tell you, because it's like when they
say that, how we tighten it,they are even tighter.
Speaker 1 (30:00):
They are when Johnny and all that somebody's.
Speaker 3 (30:07):
Josh and D Well and they be paying, and that's why
they're not gonna say nothing.
Speaker 1 (30:16):
I know somebody might slip through the cracks I'm
away for it, but I mean, all inall, I think we, you know, we
had a great conversation abouthow we felt about our HBCUs and
definitely want to Thank theladies for coming on.
I like to aim my shows with amessage, so I'm gonna ask you
guys to leave a message toeither your younger self about
(30:36):
Whether they want to attend anHBCU, or the next child that I'm
looking to decide, to the nextblack child, to decide if they
want to go to an HBCU or notokay, keanu, you can do it, you
did it.
Speaker 3 (30:50):
And when you get here You're gonna cry.
It's gonna be some childhoodrelations, but stick it through,
keep going and nothing is gonnahold you back, and I'm so proud
of you.
Speaker 2 (31:04):
Ali, you know yourself, you know who you are,
trust in everything that God hasgiven you and preparing you for
You're going to love everyexperience about being around
your own people, learning othercultures we did not talk about
that, but learning othercultures at this, at at Howard,
(31:24):
at an HBCU, is going to help youunderstand the world around you
, to be an advocate.
It's gonna help you toconceptualize what it means to
be a black person, and I loveyou.
Speaker 1 (31:38):
Yes.
Well, there you have it, y'all.
If y'all have any questions oranything that you want to talk
about.
As far as the top is concerned,again I'm gonna say go.
If you're a black child andyou're deciding whether to go to
this one or that one, go to theone where your people are going
to be, go to the one where yourheart is gonna tell you and go
to the one where you're gonna beseen and celebrated at all
(32:00):
Times.
Yes, if you have any questionsor comments concerned, don't
hesitate to drop a line on us orjust join the conversation Like
subscribe, share, do all thethings and that's it.
That's all.
That's it.
That's all.
Is written by me, kc carnage,and produced by myself and Rick
(32:20):
barrio dill.
Associate producer, Brie Corrie, assistant producer, larissa
Donna, audio and videoengineering and studio
facilities provided by slapstudios LA, with distribution
through our collective forsocial progress and cultural
expression, slap the network.
If you have any ideas for ashow you want to hear or see,
(32:41):
please email us at info at slapthe power.
Calm and, as always, go to.
That's it, that's all.
Calm and sign up there to makesure you will never miss a thing
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