The FBI has said a series of hoax bomb threats targeting US historically Black colleges and universities, or HBCUs, are being investigated as racially motivated hate crimes.
“In a statement, Damon Hewitt, president and executive director of the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, called the bomb threats “a fresh reminder of the ongoing threats to Black life and opportunity, and the continued presence of racist hate … designed to undermine the mission of HBCUs and to strike at the heart of the sense of pride they instill in the Black community”.
Hewitt also tied the threats to political controversies over the place of race in US education, particularly the teaching of history and in college admissions, and attacks on voting rights.
“These forces,” he said, “are all connected to the purpose of racism and white supremacy, to degrade, humiliate, and intimidate Black people at every possible turn, to the point where no place and no institution is safe”.”
