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The University of California Berkeley has found itself at the center of accusations that it has set Civil Rights back 60 years after hosting a black-only graduation service this month.
The school had announced in March that it was planning the segregated, black-only graduation event for this month which was “open to all majors,” but not to all races.
“The Department of African American Studies plans on hosting our annual Black Graduation ceremony, which is open to all majors and degree programs across the campus,” the school’s announcement read.
The ceremony was held last Saturday, on May 20 at Zellerbach Hall.
On the livestreamed video for the event, a description read, “Black Graduation is an annual, campus-wide ceremony that celebrates all Black/African/African American identifying students upon completion of their undergraduate, master’s, Ph.D., J.D., and/or professional degree programs.”
You can watch the event below:
Campus Reform told readers that Berkeley has been holding its black-only graduation events since 2013.
But at least one Berkeley student criticized the segregated graduation practice.
UC-Berkeley sophomore Megan Wang slammed the segregated event, calling it the “21st century equivalent of separate but equal,” alluding to the 1960s slogan used by racists who opposed school integration and who wanted to keep black people out of whites-only schools.
Wang added that black-only graduation services tells students that “their race fundamentally differentiates them from other students.”
California College Republicans Communications Director Dylan Martin also excoriated Berkeley saying that its segregated graduation event “furthers the division.”
“We’re disheartened to see universities like Columbia and now Berkeley veer so far to the left that they’re resurrecting Democrats’ segregationist history,” Martin said.
“Encouraging our separation into groups – saying there should be something separate and special for different races – furthers the division in this country. The solution to racism is not segregation. CCR is happy to represent all College Republicans in the state in condemning these segregationist actions,” Martin told Campus Reform.
Unsurprisingly, the racist event brought condemnation on social media, as well.
Twitter users blasted the event as everything from “sad” to “state funded segregation”:
The University of California Berkeley proudly hosts a “black only graduation ceremony,” where participation is based on race, contradicting the very laws established during the Civil Rights movement, which vehemently outlawed racial segregation.pic.twitter.com/icfiwCIgcC
— KanekoaTheGreat (@KanekoaTheGreat) May 21, 2023
The University of California Berkeley proudly hosts a “black-only graduation ceremony.”
This is STATE FUNDED SEGREGATION!!!! pic.twitter.com/dADTh7ggYH
— Graham Allen (@GrahamAllen_1) May 25, 2023
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