Natively and pot is a production of iHeartRadio in partnership with Resent Choice Media. Welcome Welcome, Welcome, Welcome, Welcome, Welcome. At six two Sea's face a slew of chargers for Friday night shooting right near Howard University during homecoming weekend. Five people were injured, including a thirteen year old boy. We're told all the victims are expected to recover. DC police have arrested nineteen year old has Seen Parker and
nineteen year old Julie Suburr On Friday. Howard says, nobody from the university was involved in that shooting.
And what you just saw was a clip from one of the most recent HBCU shootings that we've had. And this is my first mini pod here on Native Land. Congratulations man, and I'm glad you took my call this week.
Hey, listen, you know you're already doing better than me. You actually got this, guesshe many came in. No.
I just had this idea because you were an SGA president. I was an SJA president, but you have this experience of being a mayor. I was in the state legislature. So what I wanted to talk talk about. It's just recently at Alcorn State, most recently at Howard University, at Jackson State, at South Carolina State, right near my home. We've had this rash of violence surrounding you know, our our culminating events, for lack of a better term, our homecomings.
You know, you have Howard's Homecoming, you have GHO, you have spell House.
You have whatever you got. You don't try it. But whatever whatever you are, don't try it anyway.
But but I wanted to talk about how we make sure that because I want my kids one day to go to an HPCA, and you know, how do we make sure that those institutions are safe? How do we
control the media narrative around these shootings? And Uh, the other thing is the only one of the things, not the only thing, but one of the things that can be most devastating to historically black colleges is if this becomes this perception becomes a reality in people's minds, and then it becomes a din in there enrollment.
Yeah no, that's that's for real. And I asked you, but Carr believe that that latter piece you just pay up on impacting the enrollment of these institutions for some people, that is the plan right to make the image such that people associate with an HBCU violence, not academic achievement
and chain breaking and upput mobility. I got to say, I'm really of two minds about these events, particularly the ones that we hear broadcasts out local, state, nationwide, when it has to do with a historically black college and university. The reason I moved with two Minsbaccard is because I
was an SJA president. I remember as an SJA president having to negotiate with the local law enforcement around what would law enforcement presidents look like at the mall, what is the exit plan after the game?
And are all.
Streets going to be closed down? Or what we have some conveniences like Florida State University does when it has its games four five times larger in population than ours. So I remember as a student activist trying to negotiate that space. Then I became mayor and people were discussing
and negotiating that space with me. From my standpoint at that point, my only goal is safety, security, that people move in this space without feeling threatened to their life, to their bodies, to themselves, to their family, their loved ones.
And I got to.
Tell you my biggest frustration, particularly as mayor, was anytime there was a violent event that occurred during fam Use homecoming in the city near the campus or away from it was always broadcast as during fam Use homecoming it was a stabbing during fam Use homecoming. Now, if a similar event happened and I had the ability to have a PWI in an HBCU both state schools in the same city, if an incident happened that was violent during a Florida State game or Florida State homecoming, it was
never introduced into the news. As there was a violent event at Florida State University's football game this weekend. So there's deliberate intention in my opinion, and then there's what's real, and I think we have.
To deal with both.
Yeah, and the way I look at it is from an SGA perspective, because hopefully some SJA presidents and people who want to be in student body are watching this as well. You have to make sure you have to begin to think of both minds as well, because one of your number one priorities is not just having the best homecoming people remember or the best step show is.
Right now, you have to make sure people are safe and one of the things that I've learned from examining each of these incidents, as much of the activity comes from people who are not students, of course, and not alums of course. Not right, And you know, it kind of goes back to this age o adage that most HBCUs, you hear it all the time, most HBCUs are in some of our forsaken areas in the black communities, right save for Hampton by design, save for Hampton University. But
I do think we have to think about that. And I think that it takes people having some foresight envision college presidents because sometimes they want to think they're on their own SGA presidents, mayors of your local cities, and law enforcement officers. Somebody who did it right recently, although it wasn't necessarily in HBCU in their city was Randall Woofin Rando had the Magic City Classic in Birmingham, went off without a hitch. He has a great police chief.
He worked with both college presidents, both school's campus police, and then went off without a hitch. And so the question is, I mean, do you so I oppose it to you? Do you as do you make sure that others can't access your campus. Do you do you fortify your campus? Do you increase law enforcement? You know, I'm of the mind that I think that there has to be some process whereby only those people that are participating in homecoming events or football games can come into those
spaces those people who want to tailgate. I don't know if it's a ticketing process, and I'm not I don't know how I feel about an increased police presence. However, I do think the state state law enforcement. You know, in South Carolina, we have our South Carolina State Troopers. They do the same thing at Clemson and South Carolina State. I mean, excuse me, Clemson at Universe South Carolina on game days need to be monitoring traffic and making sure
there's no standstill. And I think that we need the same resources that they distribute to the pwis at our HBCUs.
So I would say beca the first. Let me say HBCUs in most places are the one center of higher education learning where whether if you attended or you didn't correct as a young black person growing up in that state, or in that city or in that community. I know for us in Florida, family was everything.
I mean, I used to break into the gym before he's college and there you go there.
So these are the fabled institutions where all people could gather, whoever you were, wherever you came from, which your family did, which your mom and daddy.
Did, so on and so forth.
So our HBCU homecomings have real special definition, and I think differently than pwis or any really other right, So because of that, it is the center of gravity. It is where people come to gather from Miami to Jacksonville to Atlanta. If you were in driving distancing, you know fun is about to be had. You're about to see some stuff you ain't seen before, running into some type of people you don't usually run with. It attracts people. But guess what most of our cities want to attract
people to them. The difference is is that we then apply a whole entirely new and different to what safety and security looks like once we get those folks coming into our communities. So what I would say this is when you're talking about a traffic plant management plan you know run by the city, or you're talking about surveillance around the stadium, or you're talking about your local attractions.
Like the mall and what that would look like.
At some point it became pretty obvious that a decision was made not to treat people coming into our communities for homecomings and for big games like that as normal, you know, fun loving, family oriented people who just want to have a good time and have something to do. We started erecting big as barricades at the malls so the first floor and the second floor couldn't see each other, you couldn't throw anything over, or god forbid, you couldn't
look over and make a sound. So instead of looking like a welcoming retail establishment, it looks like, you know, some sort of mild capacity detention center.
But what do you tell to them?
Like, I'm in this kind of both worlds because I have a twenty year old that goes to Howard University. Yeah, and you just had a rash of shootings at Howard that didn't necessarily around Howard, But it's to your first point, it's attributed to So how do you how do you what do we tell parents that that can help ensure them or give them confidence which I will be safe.
I will just say this.
Most at one interrogate whether or not it's a real thing that your chism dangerous way by attending the game or being at that university.
Period and nine times out of ten, actually ten times out attend. The answer is not, yeah, this happens when the sun goes down.
What I say I.
Learned both as a stually president of student activist, but mostly as the mayor, was the instances that were occurring weren't random incidences of violence. They largely were associated. For instance, we have somebody come up to famous homecoming, Oh come up to the Miami game and shot somebody at the exit the first exit entering the city that they had
clearly exited the highway. It was a targeted shooting. I read in the paper immediately like, Okay, clearly this nobody didn't come here and just randomly decides to shoot someone off the exit ramp. No, this is a target.
It hit.
And so my argument will be in most these situations, these are people who have trafficked to a place to probably again traffic in illegal activity in the bullshit exactly, And what happens if they run up on their score opponent where they from and now nobody have their squad, but you have an opportunity.
And the other thing that's separate that that differentiates, to your point, kind of gives credits to your point, HBCUs, particularly the ones we went to from some of these institutions of pwis that don't get the same glare or lens is that we're dry campuses for the most part. A true, and so you don't have the free flow of alcohol people are drinking at their tailgate, but it's nowhere near I don't know if anybody's ever been to a universe South Carolina University of Georgia tailgate.
The most unsafe I've ever felt have been at some of those tailgates, except that the law enforcement who's patrolling a lot of those places share a lot.
But I do think let me just say, but I will this goes back to my other point, and I think we have a little bit of a of a of a disagreement here, if not just a little rub. There is a heavy law enforcement present out presence out there, and I think, to your credit and to your point, if if those law enforcement officers are willing to treat HBCU homecoming participants with the same dignity that they treat the participants that these pwi's, then I think that increased law.
Enforcements this argument, I would would necessarily, if you were designing the road traffic plan, consider that you might be one of the people who attended the game and maybe just trying to get back to your hotel. Correct, But when you've rerouted us an hour out of the way just to make sure that the left and the right going traffic now or in a sex that doesn't make sense.
It doesn't make any sense, and it also is highly inconvenient and can create I think hot tempers, right, because when I leave FSU's game or whatever the artists, it seems like it's built for us to just move traffic and to do so to get these folks out of there as quickly as possible. So so what I would suggest for the law enforcement for those communities treat them
as if you were one of the patrons yourself. Treat it as if you were going to be Then what kind of experience with you like, because that's really what people want. If you're a student activist, know that the people who are coming there, they want to feel safe too. They don't want to get jacked, they don't want to see, you know, gun violence.
At the end of the day, and that's not what we know that's not what.
Isn't what we know in it outright undermines And I think devalues the experience of the students and the family who are working. You know, you know seven out of you know, seven out of seven days are trying to get their degree. We give some grace there, we both have been there, right, but generally they're there for a reason, get your degree, get out, make it better for somebody else.
So when we devalue these experiences, and when you devalue these institutions by associating violence that occurs while an event, another unrelated event is going on and making the two to one is one not good journalism, but two, it does a tremendous disservice to these institutions. And then finally, I'll just say on this Bikari, I think when you treat people like they are a caged bird, and a bird has only known freedom, they're going to want to
feel free. So if you pull a military style lockdown on a place during a festive event, know that you are going counter to what people are expecting when they spend money.
And these institutions look to these homecoming events as an economic as an economic.
Catalyst, so to the cities by the way, Oh that's true.
And so I don't think we want to say them down on anything.
That's right, but I do want to give a condolence to I know there's one student at least who lost their lives that was at South Carolina State. I think other individuals who may have lost their lives were not students, but still deserve the same respect. I hope Alcorn and Jackson and State and Howard, and I believe Lincoln University can all bounce back.
I hope their presidents are clear out about it. Yeah.
I hope they think through it, and I hope that they work with their local officials and mayors and chiefs of police to ensure that you can have that that fun for lack of a better term, and make sure everybody feel safe.
Well, I think they can do it, so long as we see each other's humanity right and see what we hear.
We have in comment. I've go to a football game.
I want to have a good time. Don't want the law to be uphill, but but I'm not arresting everybody who I see drinking in public because everybody would be in jail.
Correct, Yeah, Yeah, so thank you.
I just this was on my heart for about twenty minutes, so I wanted to make sure we can have this conversation.
We have twenty minutes worth. Come home. Welcome Home.
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