Across the United States, campuses of historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs) have been threatened by violence. North Carolina Central University (NCCU) was a victim of these threats on Jan. 4, 2022.
In an interview with PBS, Michelle Cooper from the U.S. Department of Education said “the timing of these threats to coincide with Black History Month was a likely attempt to exploit tensions among some factions of our society.” The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has been involved in finding out the source of these threats and how to target them so they do not continue. In an official statement, the FBI said, “These threats are being investigated as racially or ethnically motivated violent extremism and hate crimes.”
NCCU, the eighth largest HBCU in the United States by enrollment, has been a victim of bomb threats on campus. According to WRAL, “all campus buildings were under lockdown for several hours as law enforcement investigated.” Six other universities and colleges—Xavier University in Louisiana, Texas Southern University, Prairie View A&M University in Texas, Howard University in Washington, D.C. and Norfolk State University in Virginia—were all also placed on lockdown on the same day as NCCU.
By Freya Dahlgren, Opinion Editor