Black Colleges Profiled as Suspected Havens for “Extremists”

A Black Agenda Radio commentary by Glen Ford

“The Fusion Center appears to believe that Black colleges are by definition hotbeds of militancy and rebellion.”

Those deep thinkers in the Homeland Security Department are paying good money for some very bad advice on what constitutes a threat to American society. An inkling of the kind of madness that passes for research at Homeland Security, is provided by a recent report to the Virginia State Police. The report, which emanates from the basement offices of something called the Virginia Fusion Center, claims that “a wide variety of terror or extremist groups" have ties to the Hampton Roads region of the state. Specifically, the report claims that the area’s two historically Black universities are virtual magnets for terrorists and “extremists” – as are the two Black universities in the Richmond area.

For those who are familiar with the four schools – Norfolk State University, Hampton University, Virginia State University in Petersburg and Virginia Union University in Richmond – the very thought of them as havens for “extremist” politics is laughable. Political action is not what these schools are known for. And that’s too bad. But the Fusion Center, whoever they are, appears to believe that Black colleges are by definition hotbeds of militancy and rebellion. I wish that were true, but it’s not. It appears the researchers at Virginia’s Fusion Center believe that Black institutions are inherently suspect. The Homeland Security Department is paying these guys millions of dollars a year to give vent to their own racist paranoia – and to sic the political bloodhounds on a bunch of apolitical Black students.

“The presumption seems to be that dangerous people are not white, and white people are not dangerous.”

The creeps at the Fusion Center see security dangers in diversity, which they believe creates special national security perils. The Hampton Roads region of Virginia has attracted a wide diversity of population from all parts of the globe. The Fusion Center report says, “While the vast majority of these individuals are law-abiding, this ethnic diversity also affords terrorist operatives the opportunity to assimilate easily into society, without arousing suspicion." The statement reveals the screaming racist posing as a researcher. Clearly the report’s authors believe that the safest communities, national security-wise, are those that are uniformly white and English-speaking. Presumably, in such surroundings it’s hard for the “dangerous” people to hide in a crowd. The presumption seems to be that dangerous people are not white, and white people are not dangerous. White communities are the ones that need protecting, while the non-white or diverse communities represent some degree of danger.

This is pure racist crap, and dangerous stuff to have circulating among the police. The logic of the Fusion Report, if taken seriously, would lead the State to aggressively infiltrate the student ranks at Black colleges. They wouldn’t discover much in the way of subversive anything, but it is in the nature of the spy to invent what he can’t find.

Virginia’s crackpot Fusion Center is one of at least 58 such idiot-tanks that have sprung up around the country since 9/11, at a cost of $250 million dollars in public funds. That quarter billion dollar investment has led to the discovery of a single fact: Some white people are not comfortable, in general, with diversity, and are still nervous as hell around Black people.

For Black Agenda Radio, I’m Glen Ford. On the web, go to www.BlackAgendaReport.com.

BAR executive editor Glen Ford can be contacted at Glen.Ford@BlackAgendaReport.com.

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