SALGADO: Separate And Unequal: ‘Black Graduation Ceremonies’ Are The New Segregation

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“Everybody has asked the question. . .‘What shall we do with the Negro?’ I have had but one answer from the beginning. Do nothing with us! Your doing with us has already played the mischief with us. Do nothing with us! If the apples will not remain on the tree of their own strength, if they are wormeaten at the core, if they are early ripe and disposed to fall, let them fall! I am not for tying or fastening them on the tree in any way, except by nature’s plan, and if they will not stay there, let them fall. And if the Negro cannot stand on his own legs, let him fall also. All I ask is, give him a chance to stand on his own legs! Let him alone!” — Frederick Douglass, former slave, orator, and civil rights advocate

At one time, racists in America tried to perpetuate racism while disguising it as justice with the philosophy of “separate but equal.” The idea was that black and white Americans should be separated in public, but somehow that wouldn’t harm their rights at all. Unfortunately, that pernicious racism has reappeared—and one result is that some schools are holding separate graduations for black students.

The University of California-Berkeley’s African American Studies Department is one place that just hosted a “Black Graduation” ceremony. Any American with common sense, black or white, would find this insulting. And UC Berkeley certainly isn’t alone. As of 2019, over 75 colleges were hosting black-only graduations. By 2022, the number of universities hosting segregated ceremonies was increasing.

The whole point of the Civil Rights movement was that people should not be judged by their skin color—most especially in America, which is founded on the principle that “all men are created equal.” What happened to MLK’s dream that people “will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character?”