Avoiding Bad Checks for Racial Justice During Black History Month

Black History Month at predominantly white institutions (PWIs) of higher education can be a peculiar time. Customized Black History Month-inspired Canva templates find themselves affixed to emails on listservs where race is rarely mentioned. Web designers update university web pages with stories about and pictures of Black staff, students, and faculty. In different ways, universities rush to show support for Black communities. Unfortunately, such support often rings hollow. Empty shows of support for Black communities are what Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. might call “bad checks.”

At the beginning of his “I Have a Dream Speech,” Dr. King argued that the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence served as a promise of equal rights for all Americans. For Black people, however, these promissory notes of equality were a “bad check, a check which has come back marked ‘insufficient funds.'” The words of these sacred documents were only symbolic, carrying little weight for the rights of Black people.

Institutional leaders need to avoid giving “bad checks” of support to their Black community members. Of course, institutions should never offer bad checks for racial justice, but the temptation to offer bad checks is very high during Black History Month, especially.

Black History Month is an essential period of deep reflection and study, as well as a celebration of Black life and Black history. For some PWIs, however, Black History Month is reduced to an annual bad check of support for Black communities — a time of empty gestures, unintentional programming, and one-off events. In what follows, I offer three “bad checks” for racial justice that institutions should avoid, especially during Black History Month.

1. The “We hear you, we see you, and we won’t do anything.”

Universities are good for a statement of support. In response to racial tragedies or student activism, leaders are quick to reply in an email stating, “We hear you, and we see you.” Absent in many statements are thoughtful plans of how to address racialized issues. The same goes for Black History Month. Statements from a university commemorating and celebrating Black History Month can be meaningful. Yet, statements from leaders at universities that are not materially supporting Black campus communities throughout the year will always be suspect.

Following the summer of 2020, countless organizations made pledges to racial justice and Black communities that remain unfulfilled. Universities similarly made commitments. Institutional leaders might return to what was written in 2020 and see if those pledges were bad checks.

Penn State announced that they will not open a center for racial justice that leaders initially committed to in 2020. This is a bad check for racial justice. In the wake of such unfulfilled promises, university leaders might reflect upon how they are investing in Black communities before sending out statements commemorating Black History Month. Universities with unfulfilled commitments to Black communities that are quick to send an email in celebration of Black life will always look funny in the light.

2. The “Diversity Shot”

Black students and other community members notice university media practices. As a student and now as a professor, I often chuckle with friends about how universities use pictures of students who have graduated already to likenesses of Black students being rotated on different university websites. These “diversity shots,” however, are sometimes bad checks.

Researchers have found that PWIs often use images with many students of color, and Black students in particular, even when student demographics were far from the pictured diversity. A false advertisement of diversity and Black representation, in particular, is another bad check for racial justice.

Black History Month offers an opportunity for institutional leaders to reflect upon how they represent themselves on websites and social media. How might a Black student at a university with a very marginal Black student population interpret a February influx of pictures of Black people on university websites? Such questions are worth asking. University marketing and social media, for example, can be more thoughtful about when and how Black people are featured on their accounts. If universities spotlight Black community members throughout the year, for example, then features during February might feel less jarring.

3. The “Office of One”

Institutions of higher education, broadly speaking, have a burnout problem. Relatedly, higher education professionals focused on diversity-related work are leaving positions because of a lack of institutional support. The existence of offices or positions focused on diversity, or specifically on Black campus communities, are sometimes bad checks for racial justice as well.

Universities might be able to point to a Black cultural center or office for diversity, equity, and inclusion as an example of support for Black communities. If these offices are not well supported by the institution, however, then they are bad checks. I have seen too many cultural centers and diversity offices with overworked employees in understaffed offices cultivating positive experiences for Black students.

Rather than rely on the campus “office of one” to put on Black History Month events in concert with students, universities might provide more infrastructure and support to offices doing this meaningful work.

Am I saying universities should not send out statements, picture Black students on their websites, or have offices to support Black campus communities? Certainly not. My point is that such gestures ring hollow if they are not coupled with institutionalized programs and material investment geared to support Black communities.