Bonnets & Durags: Who Gets to Define What Respectable Black Culture Looks Like?
By Don Allen The uproar over dress codes at historically Black colleges and universities is not really about bonnets, durags, bedroom shoes, suits, or hemlines. Those items have become symbols in a much larger argument about Black identity, respectability, professionalism and, ultimately, who gets to define what respectable Black culture looks like. While universities have every right to establish reasonable standards for students, the debate becomes much more complicated when those standards begin to suggest that certain forms of Black cultural expression are inherently incompatible with professionalism. There is a legitimate argument for standards. Colleges and universities have a responsibility to prepare students for professional environments, and that preparation includes understanding that different settings carry different expectations. HBCUs have historically understood this tension better than almost any other educational institution because generations of Black students enter...