Shirts For Sale Promote The University Of Colorado’s ‘HBCU State Of Mind’

In today’s episode of Ok, Here’s What We Not Gon’ Do, it appears that fans and merch creators of the University of Colorado have lost every last bit of their minds since NFL legend Deion Sanders left Jackson State University (JSU) to become UC’s head football coach. As we all know, the move has caused a lot of controversy. Some have argued that Sanders abandoned Black people by taking a much higher-paying job at a Power Five PWI (predominantly WHITE institution—the all caps on “white” will be explained in a second.) Some have accused him of using JSU as a career stepping stone. Others have largely defended Sanders. There have also been nuanced takes. Regardless of how one feels, there is one fact that should not be up for debate:

The University of Colorado is not an HBCU (Historically BLACK College/University).

That’s a weird thing to even have to declare, right?

It shouldn’t have to be said that a college with a student body that is more than 65% white and less than 10% Black is, by definition, a PWI.

And yet…

But whatever, these are just random people saying random things that are probably not meant to be taken seriously. But now, we have folks on these internet streets selling shirts for UC fans that read “HBCU state of mind.”

Now, this doesn’t appear to be a licensed manufacturer, but shirts with a design that shows an “HB” added to the “CU” printed over the Buffaloes logo can be purchased from sellers online. In fact, one can Google “HBCU state of mind” and even find white people modeling the shirt, which is likely just stock internet shenanigans, but it’s still indicative of a larger issue: This is some real “Everybody’s invited to the cookout” nonsense right here.

I mean, the Proud Boys were also led by a Black person, but no one is going to attribute that to a “Black Panther Party state of mind,” and they certainly won’t create purchasable merchandise to that effect. (Yeah, I know Enrique Tarrio was, at one point, selling Black Lives Matter t-shirts, but that was because the Proud Boys were suffering from a broke boy state of mind.)

Anyway, this is dumb, and probably not worth paying any attention to, but in a country that practices cultural appropriation just as casually and persistently as it practices systemic racism and pathological anti-Blackness, it’s difficult to let this slide. And that’s why Black people on social media are sounding off, while some of our more tragic skin folks who may or may not be kinfolk are defending it.

Listen: If you want to dismiss this as harmless trolling or gaslighting that people are better off ignoring, that’s fine, and you’re probably right. But don’t try to defend this because it’s only pointing to a “state of mind” and not actually calling UC an HBCU. If Black people are co-signing this white or white-influenced nonsense at all, they’re suffering from a sunken place state of mind.

But that’s another post for another day.

SEE ALSO:

UNC Homecoming Shirts Accused Of Culturally Appropriating HBCU Culture

Viral Video Of USC ‘Majorette Team’ Renews Debate About HBCU Culture At PWIs