Black People Don't Get Free College

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Last night, around 9:30 p.m., I tweeted a story about my experience meeting a group of white people who thought Black people went to college for free. An article from the New York Times about the United States Department of Justice's intention to "investigate colleges for discriminating against white applicants" had reminded me of the conversation, now 12 summers old. I was having dinner with a group of my all-white coworkers, and I had just told the table that I was planning to attend college that fall. One of the men nonchalantly revealed that he hadn't applied because for him "it wouldn't be free" like it would be for me. I was startled. So were the 22,000 people who retweeted my story since I shared it.

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People really believe this mess https://t.co/g0VXOcPSUw
— Ashley C. Ford (@iSmashFizzle) August 2, 2017

The replies I received were also revelatory: Black folks who had had similar experiences; white folks who didn't believe my story; and Native Americans who hear the same about themselves. There were many people who were shocked to hear anyone could believe Black people got to go to college for free, and others who insisted we actually do. There were also the white folks who were taught the same things as the people I had that conversation with years ago, folks who were ashamed when they found out just how misguided they'd been.

I would absolutely say this is true. Because I know people in my family who believed it, and probably still do. https://t.co/zM3q1deah7
— Ashley C. Ford (@iSmashFizzle) August 2, 2017

The conversation exploded well beyond me, and that's honestly the best part. I write personal essay and tweet stories from my life because I believe in the power of personal storytelling to reveal the greater truths of humanity. When people from all walks of life respond to my story with stories and beliefs of their own, the bigger picture is impossible to ignore.

RT if you got a scholarship for college and college still wasn't free https://t.co/xSHtqAToVo
— Ashley C. Ford (@iSmashFizzle) August 2, 2017

Do I believe that all white people think Black people get to go to college for free? Nope. Do I think we should be talking about the ones who do, and how that belief feeds the enduring narrative of economic anxiety in some white families and communities? Absolutely. And until we start having those conversations, uncomfortable as they might be, the cycle of ignorant racism will only continue.

Do you know how many white people truly and genuinely believe that black people get to go to college for free?
— Ashley C. Ford (@iSmashFizzle) August 2, 2017

I spent the summer between my senior year of high school and freshmen year of college teaching wilderness survival at a boy scout camp.
— Ashley C. Ford (@iSmashFizzle) August 2, 2017

I was SO excited about going to college in the fall I literally carried around my course catalog, so I could read all the class options.
— Ashley C. Ford (@iSmashFizzle) August 2, 2017

I was the only black person working at the camp & the only black person to ever work there that anyone could recall. It was a weird summer.
— Ashley C. Ford (@iSmashFizzle) August 2, 2017

Anyway, one day I'm sitting at the lunch table taking notes in my course catalog, and one of my fellow counselors asks me what I'm doing.
— Ashley C. Ford (@iSmashFizzle) August 2, 2017

I tell him that I'm trying to figure out which classes I want to take in the fall. He says, "Yeah, I didn't even apply for college."
— Ashley C. Ford (@iSmashFizzle) August 2, 2017

I'm like, "Why?", and he literally says, "Can't afford it. I'm white, so you know, it isn't free for me." Y'all I just stared at him.
— Ashley C. Ford (@iSmashFizzle) August 2, 2017

What messed me up was he didn't say it in a snarky or accusatory way. He said it like we were just talking about water being wet.
— Ashley C. Ford (@iSmashFizzle) August 2, 2017

After a minute, I say, "Um, I'm not going to college for free." And no shit, he says, "Oh, do you pay up front & get it back later?"
— Ashley C. Ford (@iSmashFizzle) August 2, 2017

Y'all he was dead serious. No malice intended. And the rest of the dudes at the table were like, "That's not how it works?" And I'm like ???
— Ashley C. Ford (@iSmashFizzle) August 2, 2017

At this point, I'm confused AND curious. I say, "Who told y'all black people go to college for free?" They all cited parents, friends, etc.
— Ashley C. Ford (@iSmashFizzle) August 2, 2017

Understand I came from a school system that was 96% black. I'd never been around this many white folks in my life. I had a lot of questions.
— Ashley C. Ford (@iSmashFizzle) August 2, 2017

They had all these stories about white people they knew getting passed over for jobs and promotions in favor of less qualified black folks.
— Ashley C. Ford (@iSmashFizzle) August 2, 2017

I asked how they knew the black folks were unqualified, and they all got quiet and then said stuff like, "Well my uncle/grandpa/dad said..."
— Ashley C. Ford (@iSmashFizzle) August 2, 2017

Most of them came from areas where you had stuff like Drive Your Tractor To School Day, and spent little to no time around POC period.
— Ashley C. Ford (@iSmashFizzle) August 2, 2017

Telling them I wasn't going to college for free kinda blew their minds. They didn't know any POC but were SURE they knew what we were like.
— Ashley C. Ford (@iSmashFizzle) August 2, 2017

They thought we got all kinds of stuff for free: jobs, housing, food, and apparently, whole ass college educations. Genuinely believed it.
— Ashley C. Ford (@iSmashFizzle) August 2, 2017

Anyway, I ended up leaving camp early that summer because I simply couldn't take it. The woods I got used to, but the people, I couldn't.
— Ashley C. Ford (@iSmashFizzle) August 2, 2017

Before that summer I thought racism was something people did, not something they believed. I was naive af. But hey! We all gotta learn.
— Ashley C. Ford (@iSmashFizzle) August 2, 2017

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