Historically Black colleges and universities around the country have been rallying around one of their own in support of Morgan State University following a mass shooting on campus this week as its annual homecoming festivities were getting underway.
It was at once a proud display of Black unity and solidarity among HBCUs as well as an expression of compassion at a time when it would appear that the nation’s Black colleges are facing multiple threats to their security.
The gun violence at Morgan State broke out Tuesday night near a dormitory building for freshmen and left at least five people were injured with non-life-threatening conditions. On Wednesday, Morgan State President Dr. David Wilson announced that the Baltimore-based HBCU will cancel or postpone all of its homecoming activities, a beloved and sacred tradition particularly at Black colleges, underscoring the gravity of the situation. Meanwhile, law enforcement still had not identified any suspects and no arrests had been made as of Thursday morning.
The campus shooting in Baltimore doesn’t only affect Morgan State and its wider community of students, faculty, employees and alumni. It also has vast ramifications for its fellow HBCUs which – like Morgan State – have been faced with a series of bomb threats last year and other incidents that posed safety threats.
It was in that context that Coppin State University, an HBCU located just five miles west of Morgan State, held a prayer walk in Baltimore Wednesday night, according to the Baltimore Sun, which ran a headline that included the quote: “At HBCUs, we’re all family.”
Across county lines in suburban Washington, D.C., Bowie State University President Dr. Aminta H. Breaux was empathic while also urgent.
“Not just another day, nor should it be,” Breax wrote in a statement on social media. “The @BowieState campus community has @MorganStateU in our thoughts with hope for peace & healing for those injured in the…
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