Four Years Later (and I still hate this picture)
Monday, February 27, 2017.
I should have been in New York speaking for the College Board. It was UNCF week and since 2005 I have spent a full week in the city. Since the UNCF meetings didn’t start until Tuesday, and I had my Black College Fund of the United Methodist Church meeting Monday afternoon, I could meet with the College Board Monday morning.
That was the plan.
Then in January we learned that Senator Tim Scott and Rep. Mark Walker were going to host the first HBCU Fly In on Tuesday, February 28th. OK. So I’ll fly to DC Monday night, then come back to NYC Tuesday night. All good.
But on February 3rd I received an e-mail from UNCF saying:
White House officials have confirmed with UNCF that the White House will host a convening with HBCU presidents on Monday, February 27th, in the 1pm-5pm timeframe and that senior White House officials will likely participate.
February 17th.
UNCF lets us know the White House is still planning the February 27th event, but there are no details. Official invites still had not been sent. No agenda. So I’m like, I am going to NYC and sticking with my original plan.
But the Friday before on a UNCF conference call, I was selected as one of 8 UNCF presidents who would give remarks in our meeting with new secretary of education Betsy DeVos. I moved my engagement with the College Board to April, and went to DC instead.
This was the day before the joint address to Congress so no one expected we would see Trump. But this was a photo opp too good for him to pass up, so we abruptly stopped the reason for going there, spent a half an hour detour for a picture, and then rushed through the rest of the day.
Immediately, we knew it was bad. Folks cell phones rang as the live feeds carried the shot of us there. As soon as I got out of there, I went to clear my head and then document why I was there. In fact, this Medium piece I wrote that night is my most read.
There we were on the last day of Black History Month, February 28, 2017. On the front page of the Wall Street Journal. This image was everywhere!
I got a call from CNN. They wanted the tea. They got it.
No one saw much good from the visit, and a number of presidents faced criticism from their students and alums. It would only be a few months later before this photo opp was thrown back at us, as 45 could not suppress his true nature.
The picture became a staple for news stories about Black people in general, especially bad news. But for the red hat devotees, it started a movement to always mention HBCUs when their leader was called on his racism. They gave him credit for every increase in funding, although he NEVER asked for it in his budgets. He allowed a 10 year funding program to expire, and when Rep. Alma Adams wrote the new 10 year funding which was passed with veto proof majorities in both chambers, they gave him all the glory.
This picture helped build an image of someone who could not be racist, because he was surrounded by all these Black folks (most looking bewildered at what was happening at that time). Meanwhile he continued to attack Black athletes for kneeling. He attacked Black journalists repeatedly. He called some African nations shithole countries. He denigrated the 1619 Project. He called the Black Lives Matter movement terrorism.
And it became of the the iconic pictures of the year for 2017. But not because of the historic nature of the moment — there were about 60 HBCU presidents in the Oval Office.
It was one of the pictures of the year because your girl, Ms. Alternative Facts, Kellyanne Conway, decided to hang out on the couch like she’s at some sleepover. So even when they tried to do something “historic,” the optics still got messed up.
Saturday, February 27, 2021.
I still hate this picture. And I am glad that 99% of the time that you see some version of it, you will NOT see me!
Because if I can’t see the camera, the camera can’t see me.
The Prez
