The Atlantic

What the Right Doesn’t Understand About Black Colleges

Historically African American institutions serve a vital purpose, and it’s not segregationist to urge black athletes to attend them.
Source: Eric Thayer / Reuters

In a recent piece in The Atlantic, I urged top black athletic recruits to attend historically black colleges. One of the more absurd criticisms I received afterward was that Martin Luther King Jr.—a graduate of Morehouse College—wouldn’t approve of such a suggestion.

Bad enough that I was called a. . Even —whatever that is. Worse still, by daring to challenge black athletes to redirect their talents to historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs), I was somehow betraying King, along with the color-blind vision he supposedly laid out in his famous “I Have a Dream” speech. One reader sent me a screenshot of that speech, insisting that I read it and take notes.

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