Locked Down but Not Silenced: Why Threats Against Black College Students Demand Our Full Attention
6 min read
The Lockdown Heard Across Campuses
#TheVillage
On the morning of September 11, 2025, students at several historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs) received alarming news. Campuses were under lockdown after administrators were alerted to what federal officials later called “terroristic threats.” Classes were canceled, dorms sealed, and anxious families flooded phone lines.
By afternoon, national outlets like The Washington Post, Axios, and AP News carried headlines about the events. The FBI was called in to investigate. By the next day, those stories slipped from the spotlight, eclipsed by the relentless churn of the news cycle.
For the students whose education was disrupted, the story did not fade. It lingers in sleepless nights, missed assignments, and the reminder that in 2025 Black learning is still treated as a danger to someone.
This is where The Village must step in.
A Pattern, Not an Accident
The September 11 lockdowns did not come out of nowhere. They belong to a lineage of intimidation that has shadowed Black education for centuries.
- Reconstruction era: Freedmen’s schools were burned by white supremacists determined to keep formerly enslaved people illiterate.
- Civil Rights era: The Little Rock Nine walked through mobs of hate to enter Central High School in 1957.
- Modern era: Between 2022 and 2023, dozens of HBCUs reported bomb threats that forced evacuations and disrupted student life.
Each wave of intimidation is described as “unprecedented.” The truth is that it is not unprecedented at all. Whenever Black education expands, fearmongers try to shrink it with threats.
The September 11 incidents may have been hoaxes. No bombs were found, no guns fired. But that does not mean they were not real. The disruption was real. The fear was real. The reminder that safety is conditional was painfully real.
And that is the point of terrorism. The goal is not only destruction. Sometimes it is the shadow left behind.
What the Media Covered and What It Did Not
Mainstream media reported the lockdowns. But the framing often flattened the story into a simple timeline: threats received, FBI investigates, no one hurt.
What got lost in the rush to move on were the deeper dimensions.
- Historical continuity: Threats to Black education are not isolated events. They are part of America’s long history of racial intimidation.
- Systemic inequities: HBCUs are already underfunded compared to predominantly white institutions. Every canceled class or disrupted semester magnifies that imbalance.
- Psychological toll: Headlines often state, “no physical injuries reported.” But the mental scars of repeated threats, the anxiety, the erosion of trust in safety, never make the front page.
When stories are treated as one-day news items, the message to Black students is chilling. Your fear is yesterday’s problem.
Sidebar: Campus Statement vs. Community Impact — Hampton University’s Response
On September 12, 2025, Hampton University released the following update after FBI officials described the threats as “not credible”:
“While we have no information to indicate a credible threat, we will continue to work with our local, state, and federal law enforcement partners to gather, share, and act upon threat information as it comes to our attention… Phase I is a partial reopening of campus… Phase II will represent a complete return to normal activity, which we anticipate to occur by Monday, September 15, 2025.”
What Hampton Promised
- Classes canceled for the day
- Off-campus students permitted to return
- Dining hall, library, and student center reopened
- Faculty still off campus, essential staff only
- Athletic activities resumed
- Heightened security and campus police presence
- Phase II: full reopening by September 15
What This Signals
Hampton’s “phased return” sought to reassure families and project stability. By opening student spaces while keeping faculty away, the administration balanced caution with continuity.
What the Village Must Notice
- “Not credible” does not mean not traumatic. Hoaxes still disrupt lives and echo a long history of intimidation at Black schools.
- Priorities matter. Athletics resumed even as faculty stayed home, raising questions about what universities value most.
- Emotional recovery is missing. The plan emphasized logistics but said little about mental health support for students processing fear.
- Burden shifts to students. The “see something, say something” directive pushes responsibility onto the community without addressing systemic prevention.
For students, the partial reopening may have felt less like relief and more like a signal to carry on while still carrying fear. The Village must hold space for both resilience and recovery.
The Village Response: Why We Cannot Stay Silent
If national media will not sustain this story, then community media, cultural organizations, and grassroots voices must. That is what The Village exists for.
- Amplify student voices: Too often stories quote law enforcement before they quote students. We need to hear from the young people who lived through the lockdowns.
- Hold institutions accountable: Universities must do more than issue press releases. They need concrete safety measures, mental health support, and clear communication with students and families.
- Preserve memory: These threats must be documented as part of the ongoing struggle for Black education so they are not dismissed as isolated hoaxes.
Silence is complicity. If we do not bear witness, we allow the pattern to repeat unchecked.
Education as Resistance
To understand why these threats keep coming, we must remember what Black education represents. From the beginning, learning has been an act of rebellion.
- Enslaved Africans risked punishment to read in secret.
- Black teachers built schools in church basements and kitchens when formal institutions denied them.
- HBCUs became sanctuaries of excellence, producing leaders who reshaped law, art, science, and politics.
Every time a Black student sits in a lecture hall, every time a Black graduate walks across a stage, it is proof that resistance works. That is what these threats are designed to disrupt.
But history shows another truth. Intimidation can slow progress but it cannot erase it. Each generation has found ways to outlast and outlearn hate.
Beyond Headlines: The Daily Reality
Even when threats do not make the news, African American students still face challenges that feel like constant alarms.
- Campus climate: Students report experiencing microaggressions, isolation in classrooms, and bias in grading.
- Resource gaps: Many HBCUs operate with smaller endowments and fewer facilities than elite institutions.
- Mental health: The compounded stress of racism, financial pressure, and safety concerns leaves many students without adequate support.
These issues rarely get front-page coverage. Yet they are as threatening to educational success as any hoax call.
The Village Blueprint: What We Can Do
This is not just a call for outrage. It is a call for action. The Village must respond with intention.
- Support HBCUs financially. Donate, fundraise, and advocate for equitable funding. Every dollar makes campuses safer and stronger.
- Create mental health safety nets. Push for expanded counseling services and culturally competent care.
- Challenge media narratives. Write op-eds, share stories, and demand sustained coverage that provides context.
- Protect memory. Archivists, journalists, and community organizations must preserve records of these threats.
- Empower students. Teach them the history of these struggles so they know they are part of a legacy of resilience.
Refusing Silence
The September 11 threats were not the end of the story. They were a reminder that Black students still walk through a world that fears their presence in classrooms.
But if history has taught us anything, it is this: the attempt to silence us sharpens our resolve to speak. The effort to lock us down strengthens our determination to break through.
Our students deserve not just protection but peace. They deserve classrooms free of fear and futures free of intimidation.
The Village cannot leave them standing alone.
Question for Readers: How can we, as a community, move from awareness to action in ensuring that threats against Black students are not just reported but resisted?
