Donald Trump To Sign Executive Order To Help HBCUs
In a surprising move, President Donald Trump is planning to sign an executive order to help historically Black colleges and universities across the country.
While details on the actual plan are still sparse, Buzzfeed reports that it is being written by Omarosa Manigault, a close associate of Trump going back to her time on The Apprentice and a Howard University alumna.
Trump’s interest in supporting HBCU’s was reportedly piqued during a “listening session” held last Wednesday to discuss ways to commemorate Black History Month.
It isn’t clear exactly how the executive order could help HBCU’s, but the move is absolutely strategic. For starters, Trump is hopefully aware that there is major work to be done with winning over the Black community. Given that President Obama was often criticized for not supporting HBCU’s during his presidency, this could be a golden opportunity to do just that.
“He was shocked and upset to learn what happened under the previous administration,”said Paris Dennard, a Black political commentator the President has grown quite fond of.
Dennard is likely referring to a drop of enrollment at HBCUs in recent years connected to changes in federal loan programs that would otherwise help low income students attend collegiate institutions.
When Buzzfeed reached out to Manigault for comment on what the executive order would include, she couldn’t comment.
“I can however reinforce the president’s commitment to support historically black colleges and universities, as well as school choice as he stated throughout the campaign,” she added.
What does this executive order mean in regards to the public’s perception of Donald Trump? Does the same man who may think Frederick Douglass is still alive and threatened to throw federal agents at Chicago’s gun violence have the true interests of Black people in mind?
Or is he simply taking advantage of a softball pitch that would give him something to later call back on to discourage Black people from holding him accountable for his otherwise problematic policies down the road?
Don’t fall for the okie-doke, folks. The help would surely be appreciated, but it would likely come at a hefty price.
Photo Credit: Wiki Commons
Is anyone considering that he actually may care? So far, he’s kept his promises made to the extent it has not required Congress to do anything (which they are not good at doing). What did, in fact Obama do for HBCUs after all?
Oh, and federal support would most certainly help in Chicago and many other places. Use of a handgun during a felony is punishable by 5 FEDERAL years, not wink-wink State time with probation. Felon-in-possession can be prosecuted FEDERALLY. No parole. Time is time. Now that a lot of nonviolent drug offenders have been commuted, and more should be, fill those spaces up with firearm offenders. A few federalized Illinois National Guard troops spread around the south side would go a long way to letting innocent residents there feel safe.
I’m willing to consider it, though I think it’s likely a political move. If the EO actually helps HBCUs then I really don’t care what his motivation was.
Wondering though about blaming Obama for the cuts in federal loan programs – didn’t that come from Congress? Wasn’t that part of the budget? The President doesn’t have a line item veto, and I’m wondering what an EO would do in that regard? Would the loans only apply to HBCUs? What about low income people overall?
I have mixed feelings….AA have wealth enough to sustain HBCU. I don’t care if he cares, it’s enough hateful people on the street everyday so Trump being in the White house is the least of my troubles. At the inception of the HBCU they were not funded by the American government. If we as a group want to save those colleges then we have to take care of them ourselves…period… Frankly, no one in Chicago seems to be able to come up with anything that will stem the violence, most of which is committed with unregistered and illegally obtained firearms. I don’t really care about Trump and his political moves, we had better get some moves on, so that he doesn’t sit in that seat another 4 years. I have no problem with him him ordering the the National Guard or any other policing agency to disarmed a menacing society. When you continue to allow these people to kill children, it is a desperate time and calls for desperate measures. If you are going to just drive by and spray people with bullets, you deserve swift and quick judgement. Somebody has got to get these illegal guns off the street and ban these assault rifles for all the other idiots that want to go into theatres and schools, airports and terrorize and kill American citizens…enough is enough already.
So, what is the name of your organization that helps HBCUs?