The Critical Need for Gender Equity and Gender Justice at HBCUs
Activist and organizer, Eva Dickerson. Photo courtesy of Eva Dickerson.
By Jaimee A. Swift
Genderqueer activist and organizer Eva Dickerson (they/theirs/she/hers) wants more than just LGBTQ+ representation at HBCUs––they want gender equity and gender justice.
Eva Dickerson’s interview is a part of ‘Voices in Movement’ February 2020 theme, #MakingBlackQueerHistory: Black LGBTQ+ Women and Non-Binary Student Activism at HBCUs. To read the descriptor, please click here.
Eva Dickerson believes gender equity and gender justice are needed, in both theory and praxis, to address structural injustices which impact LGBTQ+ students at HBCUs. A graduate of Spelman College, a historically Black liberal arts college for women in Atlanta, Georgia, Dickerson, as a student leader and activist, organized around social issues such as gentrification, sexual assault, housing disparities, food justice, food garden education, and more. They were also Miss Spelman (2018-2019) and were the first openly queer Miss Spelman at the college.
Despite their representation as the first openly queer Miss Spelman, Dickerson, in their interview with Black Women Radicals, notes that representation is simply not enough. In order for true institutional transformation to happen at HBCUs, Dickerson thinks it is a critical imperative that HBCUs not only address and contend with their historical formations but also with the complexities of gender under capitalism and its impacts on LGBTQ+ students on campus.
Dickerson spoke with me about their experience as Miss Spelman; why they hope in the future Spelman and other HBCUs will operate as freedom schools; why HBCUs should explicitly state LGBTQ+ students are welcome, are safe, and have a home on campus; and what a Black Woman Radical means to them.
What was your experience like navigating Spelman College? Do you think Spelman is LGBTQ+ inclusive?
Eva Dickerson (ED): “I think Spelman College is growing to be more queer inclusive. While I am a genderqueer woman, I still also identify as cisgender but I am also realizing that cissexuality is something I am moving away from as I deeply interrogate gender and my understanding of self in relation to gender. I think what made Spelman somewhat enjoyable and easy for me was that I still present in a way most 22-year old women would present. For the most part, I could pass as ‘the straight’ college student while I was there. That made life pretty much easy because it wasn’t like you could clock me and know that I was queer and that I had a queer politic. I think the thing that helped was I had a lot of queer friends at Spelman. I think most of my community was queer because a lot of straight girls spent their time with Morehouse students. I was quickly learning when I moved to Atlanta and found a queer community that I was not really interested in being near cis men anymore. It was really easy to build queer community around the idea that cis men suck and we don’t want to be around them anymore.”
What activities, initiatives and organizations were you involved with in terms of LGBTQ+ organizing on campus?
ED: “I actually didn’t do a lot of queer organizing as a student. Because I still identity as cisgender, I felt pretty safe on campus as a queer college student. I think the biggest thing that anyone could say I did was run for Miss Spelman as an out, queer student and do my best to queer the space while I was in it––although in many ways I feel like I failed at queering that space.”
“I would ask if I could wear pants to an event and my chief-of-staff would cuss me out over my desire to wear pants. There were so many small things that made me feel like, ‘Okay, I should give up and start conforming to what people think Miss Spelman should look like.”
Do you mind me asking why you feel like you failed?
ED: “I think when I joined Miss Spelman I had a really big idea of what I would accomplish and all the ways I would do to make this institution––Miss Spelman––more accessible to more students but I just got hit by so many roadblocks over little things. I would ask if I could wear pants to an event and my chief-of-staff would cuss me out over my desire to wear pants. There were so many small things that made me feel like, ‘Okay, I should give up and start conforming to what people think Miss Spelman should look like.’ At the end, I felt really miserable and I felt like I did not do the things I set out to do, which was to make everyone on Spelman’s campus feel accessible. I continued to be myself and spoke openly about the flaws in [Spelman’s] attempts to build out a gender policy on campus.”
What can Spelman College do to ensure LGBTQ+ inclusivity?
ED: “There are a few things. One, queer faculty and staff need to feel like they are celebrated, protected, and feel like they have a home on campus. Some of what that looks like is hiring more queer faculty and staff and creating specific job protections, which of course Spelman has. Another element is that queer students––specifically transgender, gender non-conforming, and non-binary students––need to be celebrated and welcomed on campus. Part of that includes letting people who have already done this work, lead that work and more specifically, letting trans and queer folk lead the work. Moreover, trans and queer students need to be resourced on campus and that might mean community housing, special scholarships. Spelman has already done a lot of work towards this but can do a lot more in terms of special support for trans, gender non-conforming and non-binary faculty, students, and mentorship.”
“Part of keeping students safe is they need to educate the student body and staff on the intricacies of gender under capitalism because gender is not that intricate and sexuality is not that intricate, but capitalism has warped it. ”
“Moreover, Spelman itself needs to take an outward stance; an outward, unmistakeable, clear direct stance and say ‘Spelman is a home for trans, queer, and gender non-conforming students. You have a home here. You will be safe here and we will do everything in our power to keep you safe.’ Part of keeping students safe is they need to educate the student body and staff on the intricacies of gender under capitalism because gender is not that intricate and sexuality is not that intricate, but capitalism has warped it. We live under capitalism, so now it feels like it is impossible to understand gender and sexuality and we need these deep degrees to understand. No, what we really need these degrees for is to understand sexuality and gender as we’ve had to function with it under capitalism.”
Why do you think LGBTQ+ student representation is important?
ED: “I don’t know if I’d say representation is important at all, especially because people get shallow representation and those who are ‘giving representation’ are like, ‘Okay, our job is done.’ I think gender equity and gender justice is vital on campus if Spelman and HBCUs wants to make it into the next century. That is simply because this side of the world is changing and I believe that my side is going to win. When I say ‘my side’, I am not just referring to queer people but I am referring to people who believe in the end of oppression all over the world. Representation? I was queer representation on campus but did I get anyone student housing? Did I get anyone a scholarship? No. Did anyone feel safer on campus because I was there? Maybe––maybe other cis queer students did. I don’t know if trans students did. We can’t just stop at representation because at the end of the day representation is incredibly shallow and I really think the goal and the benchmark should be justice.”
“Representation? I was queer representation on campus but did I get anyone student housing? Did I get anyone a scholarship? No. Did anyone feel safer on campus because I was there? ”
What are your hopes for the future of HBCUs in regards to gender justice?
ED: “I was actually thinking about HBCUs over the holiday. I was reading Carter G. Woodson’s “The Miseducation of the Negro” and at some point he speaks about how people compare HBCUs to being the ‘Harvard’s of the South’ and the ‘Yale’s of the South’ and the ‘Princeton’s of the South.’One thing we know about the elite institutions of the United States is that they are sites of colonial reproduction. They were able to make their wealth and endowments off the backs of our ancestors. So when I think about Spelman and HBCUs, I hope they can undergo a radical transformation which roots them in an identity as a freedom school. I read this tweet the other day––it was specifically speaking to Howard but I think it applies to all HBCUs––but it stated that they are reproducing capitalists on purpose and revolutionaries by accident. I was like, ‘Damn, that is absolutely right’ because if we are seeing ourselves as being the ‘Harvards of the South’ but then Harvard was founded by slave financiers, then really who and what are we producing? And so, this encompasses gender but I really think HBCUs need to realize that Black people don’t need a ‘Harvard of the South’––we need a Spelman that operates as a freedom school. We need a Spelman that is rooted in its identity that it was started to educate freed slaves.”
“One thing we know about the elite institutions of the United States is that they are sites of colonial reproduction. They were able to make their wealth and endowments off the backs of our ancestors. So when I think about Spelman and HBCUs, I hope they can undergo a radical transformation which roots them in an identity as a freedom school.”
What does a ‘Black Woman Radical’ mean to you?
ED: “A Black Woman Radical brings to mind people who had a vision of the world beyond the one we live in. I really think about Angela Davis, Assata Shakur, and adrienne maree brown. For those who identify as radical, it is kind of a weird identifier because the things you are envisioning––a world where the water is clean, children get education, and healthcare is a human right, food is free, and when we interact with each other, our interactions are rooted in love and respect and mutual benefits––that does not feel radical to me because it feels like this is what is supposed to happen. That feels like the bare minimum. It is really weird to think about the term ‘Black Woman Radical’ because for so long Black women have had this vision of a world that is so much more free and loving than the one we are in but to them that vision wasn’t radical, it was just the way things are supposed to be.”