{"id":13138,"date":"2025-09-11T21:17:15","date_gmt":"2025-09-11T21:17:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/congressional-black-caucus-calls-for-investigation-into-hbcu-threats\/"},"modified":"2025-09-11T21:17:15","modified_gmt":"2025-09-11T21:17:15","slug":"congressional-black-caucus-calls-for-investigation-into-hbcu-threats","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/congressional-black-caucus-calls-for-investigation-into-hbcu-threats\/","title":{"rendered":"Congressional Black Caucus calls for investigation into HBCU threats"},"content":{"rendered":"
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The Congressional Black Caucus demanded that the Department of Justice and FBI \u201cswiftly\u201d investigate a series of threats that were made to historically Black colleges and universities across the country on Thursday.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe threats made against several Historically Black Colleges and Universities are not only vile \u2014 they are a chilling reminder of the relentless racism and extremism that continues to target and terrorize Black communities in this country,\u201d Rep. Yvette Clarke<\/a> (D-N.Y.), chair of the caucus, said in a statement.<\/p>\n

At least six HBCUs \u2014 including Alabama State University, Hampton University and Virginia State University \u2014 canceled classes, locked down campuses and told students and staff to shelter in place after receiving threats on Thursday.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe safety and well-being of our students, faculty, staff and visitors remain our highest priority,\u201d Hampton University said in a statement announcing the cancellation of classes both Thursday and Friday.<\/p>\n

Other universities that did not receive threats \u2014 such as Howard University in Washington \u2014 locked down campuses out of an abundance of caution.<\/p>\n

The threats came amid a spate of high-profile violence in America, coming one day after conservative activist Charlie Kirk was shot and killed at an event at Utah Valley University, and two students were injured<\/a> \u2014 and the suspected gunman dead \u2014 at a high school in Colorado.<\/p>\n

The FBI labeled the threats toward the HBCUs as \u201choaxes\u201d but said it takes \u201cthese threats very seriously because it puts innocent people at risk.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWhile 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,\u201d an FBI spokesperson said in a statement. \u201cWe urge the public to remain vigilant, and report any and all suspicious activity and\/or individuals to law enforcement immediately.\u201d<\/p>\n

Black lawmakers also individually condemned the threats, with House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries<\/a> calling the threats \u201cdespicable.\u201d<\/p>\n

The CBC said it stands in full support with students, faculty and staff at HBCUs around the country as it called on the DOJ and FBI to \u201cpursue the appropriate legal action against those responsible.\u201d <\/p>\n

\u201cThese terroristic threats, designed to intimidate and foment hatred against everyday Americans \u2014 in this case, Black institutions of higher learning \u2014 cannot go unchallenged and must not be swept aside,\u201d Clarke said. \u201cBlack students and HBCU communities deserve to be protected.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Congressional Black Caucus demanded that the Department of Justice and FBI \u201cswiftly\u201d investigate a series of threats that were made to historically Black colleges and universities across the country on Thursday. \u201cThe threats made against several Historically Black Colleges and Universities are not only vile \u2014 they are a chilling reminder of the relentless […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-13138","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-congress"],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13138","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13138"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13138\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13138"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13138"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13138"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}