"College Hill" Is a Dose of Reality

Gabrielle Maple

The long-awaited premiere of Black Entertainment Television’s "College Hill" has left many students, faculty and alumni at Southern University and other historically black colleges and universities with a sour taste.

The show was touted as the "first black reality show," and many were not satisfied with the image it bestowed upon the university or its students.

The characters, representing different social, economic and cultural backgrounds, paint a picture of our reality as black people.

We have been conditioned to believe that the white way is the right way. Everybody has been waiting for the day that someone would give us our own MTV's "The Real World," but when someone provides such a medium, we cry foul and push for the show to be canceled. We are ashamed because the show presents a direct reflection of our "real world."

The cast members should not have to put on a front for anybody.

They should continue to be themselves and show how some of us black people really act in our communities, around other people and in our institutions of higher learning.

We are complaining that they are portraying black students in a negative light. But I ask, what are you doing to break those stereotypes?

Those cast members were picked to represent a wide variety of people who actually go to school here. They aren’t a small population among a student body of "astute scholars in pursuit of a higher education." Let’s get real! Those stereotypes wouldn’t exist if we didn’t perpetuate those images on HBCU campuses across the country.

We are so busy trying to put on airs, as though we are so high and so far removed, that we forget that at one time or another, all of us fell into one of those categories.

Who hasn’t attempted to sneak into the boys/girls dorm? What guy hasn’t played two or three girls? Which of us hasn’t believed we were a little bit better than someone else because we lived in a nice home with rich parents? Who hasn’t professed to be a Bible-toting, in-church- every-Sunday, born-again Christian -- while doing God knows what during the week!

After we graduate from these institutions, what are we doing to give back? Maybe if there were more alumni mentors, many undergrads wouldn’t make a lot of poor decisions.

We need more reality shows portraying our "real world." How about "Where’s My Money Really Going? The Tales of Financial Corruption at HBCUs," "Black Men: An Endangered Species" and "Mommy -- Who’s My Daddy?"

Maybe we will realize the problems that plague our community if someone produces a 30-minute pilot for the world to see.

Let's not let the negative aspects overshadow the positive ones. Life hasn’t been a crystal stair for everyone, and the personal struggles of some of the cast members were reflected in the show.

All the cast members are actively involved in student activities, which requires a certain grade-point average. They have made it this far and have made a decision to pursue a higher education.

That should count for something.

However, until we, educated black people, wake up and realize that this is what we are producing in our communities, homes and churches, and do something about it, our reality show will continue to paint the ugly truth.

Gabrielle Maple, a student at Southern University, is editor-in-chief of The Southern Digest.

Posted Feb. 2, 2004