A white student at Spelman College sparked a social debate after announcing her excitement to be attending the Historically Black College.
What We Know:
- The student posted a photo of herself wearing a big smile while sporting a “Spelhouse” sweater on her Instagram. The user @_camillarose supported the photo with a lengthy caption expressing her “dream for almost two years now” to attend a Historically Black College or University. She wrote, “I could never have genuinely imagined I’d be transferring to the #1 HBCU in the country, Spelman College. The home of Black girl magic. I feel beyond grateful for every facet of my journey & for this IMMENSE privilege.”
How y’all feel about this 🌚 pic.twitter.com/pFKNE7u7J5
— milan (@_xmilan) December 6, 2020
- The photo and caption were screenshotted and shared to Twitter, where user @_xmilan posed a question to her followers: “How y’all feel about this” she asked. Thousands of users chimed in with quote tweets of their take on the situation. While some were bothered by her presence at the school altogether, others were more taken back by the tone of her caption. Many felt her words were cloaked in fetishism for the HBCU experience and black culture. In the opinion of most of her critics, the nature of the caption spoke to the student’s own white savior complex.
- Although the post received plenty of backlashes, not everyone believed the student intended to be harmful. In the caption, she also acknowledged the privilege she holds as a white woman in America. “I choose to wake up everyday using this privilege to create a more equitable and healed world,” she wrote. Other participants of the debate argued her enrollment at Spelman would not be the first time a non-black person attended an HBCU and would certainly not be the last. According to the National Center for Education Statistics, “in 2018, non-Black students made up 24 percent of enrollment at HBCUs, compared with 15 percent in 1976.”
- Schools like Spelman were created as spaces specifically for Black people to learn and grow in. They once stood as the only path towards education for Black students who were not allowed to attend predominately white institutions. Fundamentally, non-Black students enter these Black spaces as true allies and not appropriators.
- The page can no longer be found, but before its disappearance, @_camillarose posted an apology. “I understand White Saviorism is a very huge issue and my post literally wreaked of White Saviorism. That is wrong,” she wrote adding, “I understand that there is so much more that was problematic with my post. I apologize.”
As she noted in her apology, “using phrases like ‘Black Girl Magic’ is not an aesthetic.” Black Girl Magic sits at the foundation of Spelman’s history and has propelled the institution to the success it has today.
