So Hampton University’s 2009-10 Homecoming Queen is a white chick named Nikole Churchill. One time for the white chick with the black-spelled first name.
You don’t have to be an expert in African-American studies to know that this probably didn’t sit too well with a lot of ninjas, both at Hampton and nationwide. Most folks probably don’t know or don’t care but it hit a nerve with some folks. For some reason, on the list of improbable things, this just doesn’t seem so…out there, to me.
The fact that a white chick, even if she is from Hawaii, ended up at Hampton (and the Virginia Beach campus to boot) of all places is what surprises me. Not that she can’t go there, she’s more than entitled, I’m just surprised a school like Hampton showed up on her list of schools to send her SAT scores to. When I was at Morehouse, many many moons ago, we had a white cat from Indianapolis there and it baffled me then because this dude was a real “white” white dude. His name was Barry and he wore tennis shoes made of tennis balls. He was kind of nerdy and totally not the kind of cat you’d expect to see at an HBCU, but he was there. Then of course, we had our most famous white alumni, the white valedictorian, Joshua Packwood (as white a name as you’re gonna get, kind of like Jimmy Chitwood from Hoosiers).
Well back to the lecture at hand – a white chick is the homecoming queen at one our prized HBCUs. My question is, who are people really mad at here? And what does it really mean, if anything? I never went to Hampton but I assume that its a vote-in process. Somehow, someway, this chick (assuming its a vote in) won more votes than the other 9 chicks. She’s not exactly the most beautiful white chick I’ve ever seen so her personality must have done wonders for folks. I know at my school, hardly anybody voted. For the most part, we didn’t care. Maybe that came into play here too, me no know. Either way, it ain’t like she gave the award to herself. This is the same argument folks are making about Obama and his Nobel Prize. He didn’t give it to himself via the Democratic party. The freakin’ committee decided it was for him to win. Whatever their reasons, they made their decision.
Sadatay.
To me this seems like one of those non-starter stories that somehow will end up with way more press than is possibly necessary. I felt the same way about the Skip Gates f*ckfest from a few months back. It seemed like people were trying to find the huge story there when it was really a pissed off old Black man arguing with a pissed off police officer white man and it devolved into handcuffs. Now, this situation isn’t exactly going to make Time.com or anything, but I’ve heard enough opinions about this today to at least make me think folks feel some kind of way about it.
I really don’t though. While I recognize the oddity of a white girl at a school of 5,000, running against 9 Black women, winning the role of homecoming queen at what amounts to one of the Black Ivy’s, I have to wonder how it even came to that point. Were the other chicks SO un-liked that they couldn’t win? All that Black beauty and they still couldn’t pull it off? AND…there’s more women there than men. Perhaps it was divide and conquer. All those chicks hated each other and each other’s friends hated each other so they all voted for the white girl out of spite and it backfired like a mug.
As Black people, we tend to be really protective of our HBCUs (for the most part). They’re “ours” so it feels odd when other folks come in and basically become larger than the very Black folks who gain the most out of being there (I actually think that white folks stand to gain more from going to an HBCU than Black folks do). But ultimately, this chick showed up and completed the process to compete like other students, and as a student, she was well within her rights to do so. It ain’t her fault she won. Hell, she was probably surprised too.
Like I said, non-starter to me, but good people of VSB, what are your thoughts, if any? Does it make HBCU’s look bad? Does anybody care? Does it have bigger implications than I’m giving it credit for?
Is this really a big deal, at all?
-VSB P aka THE ARSONIST aka TANGLE JIG P aka GIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIRL, HE A 3
**Now, I do think she’s full of sh*t with her letter to Obama and asking him to come and assuage racial tension. So basically, she wins and the Black folks are ready to revolt? Yeah, no. Probably weren’t happy, but not on mass march levels. She definitely over stepped there and Hampton issued a press release from her today kind of clearing that up.***
I go to Hampton and I don’t really care either way there are tons of white folks running around the main campus, I have no idea about the VA Beach campus though… I think the media is taking the opinions of a few individuals and blowing things out of proportion
@You’re how old?, that damn media is always up to something, aint it?
@You’re how old?, wowsers, i never even knew there was a va. beach campus! (and i’m from the area AND went to pre-college)
…learn something new everyday
@You’re how old?, Wow if some of the comments of this editorial had been uttered a mere 20 years ago by a white guy about a white college all hell would have broken out. Welcome to equality my brotha….and welcome to being predjudicial!
The look on the face of the chick in the white dress is priceless.
@V.E.G.,
LMAO that was the comment EYE was gonna make. and even the girl in the black dress is like — “hurry up and get me off the same stage as her! 2520 bish.”
@Gem of the Ocean,
Yeah the two chicks on the left are side-eying that chick…extra hard.
LMAO
@V.E.G.,
It was the first thing I noticed. Yeah, she mad. But, she’s mad about the wrong thing. She should be mad at whomever did her hair and threw that $10 weave piece in her head. Seriously.
@SexyCool,
She should be mad at whomever did her hair and threw that $10 weave piece in her head. .
You mean that microwave ponytail??
@V Renee,
“You mean that microwave ponytail??”
Okay?!!?!?
*snickering*
@V Renee,
*cracking all the way up* @ “microwave ponytail”.
I can’t take ya’ll today. Her frozen dinner arse hairdo.
@V Renee, *dead* I haven’t microwaved a ponytail since 95, but I hollered all the same. #dontjudgeme
@Reecie,
Shooo she brought back memories with that. All you need is some Lottabody and a microwave!!!
@SexyCool,
lmao fa. real.
@V.E.G., thats why i used this particular picture. it says so much more than a thousand words.
@V.E.G.,
Chick in White Dress: Dis sum bullsh*t.
If people were all up in arms about a black female winning homecoming in a mostly all white school, we’d all think they were being ridiculous, why should this situation be any different? I’m just sayin.
@SaneN85,
Cuz it is. lol.
Black folks go to HBCUs for many reasons, one of them being they want to be immersed in black culture and be in an environment where they can ‘celebrate’ their ‘blackness’.
So, to have a white girl jack, lol, homecoming from NINE sistas is just…wow.
It’s not a reason to call a race summit or to even write a letter to the school paper.
But it is a reason to side eye for a week. o_O
@SaneN85, yeah, it is kind of different. now, i dont know that folks should be up in arms, but let’s be real. if a black chick wins at a white school, you KNOW she had to be bomb as hell to withstand all challengers and ultimately rise to the top.
you ALSO know that in the Black community, sometimes a chick just got to be white to get love.
@Panama Jackson,
sooooo sooooo true!!
@Panama Jackson,
You know what’s crazy? Students don’t vote on HU’s queen, a panel of judges do, mostly who are trying to get Miss Hampton to win the Miss VA pageant (which never happens) and that pageant feeds into the Miss America pageant. As an alumni, I dont really care, but it sure as hell will make Homecoming exciting this year! LOL.
As it was told to me, there is no longer a student body vote. The winner is chosen by a committee. Further, according to what I was told (maw I didn’t research it), she isn’t even active on either campus.
Maybe it was a publicity stunt.
But the real question is: Was the Black cosmotology world outraged when Weavin’ Steven came on the scene & started winning hair shows? Was the Black community up in arms? If so, I must’ve been out of the country.
@Ms. Smart,
I thought at my school, your GPA was taken into consideration. I’m just tryna figure out how she can pen and release a letter using the phrase “I deeply apologize” (huh?) and still take the crown. Hampton U got some ‘splainin’ to do.
@Ms. Smart, based on the rest of the comments, i see it isnt done by popular student vote in which case…she wowed somebody’s ass.
and who the hell is Weavin’ Steven?
@Panama Jackson, He’s this white guy who does Black hair and wins all sorts of awards. I’m not sure if that was him in the Good Hair movie. But my point is, people are selective about what white folks can have. They can’t have Hampton, but they can have the hair show. They can’t have Harvard educated Dr. Brown, but they can have Cleaphius Brown from the hood.
It’s too bad to hear that the student body doesn’t get involved in the voting – they should have the biggest say in the results.
As far as the white dude, Weaven Steven, getting popular within the hair circuit, he came into the black hair industry and earned his stripes. He hasn’t won anything, because Hair Wars is not a contest – it’s a showcase – and it took him years of traveling throughout the U.S. and years of perfecting his craft to get to where he’s at. He invested more money and has done more shows than most of the black stylists in the U.S. We really forget he’s white until someone mentions it. It’s really not a color thing with us, and it may not be with the white girl at Hampton. Only the committee knows.
Hump The Grinder, producer of Hair Wars U.S. Tour
If a black woman can’t have the homecoming queen crown at an HBCU, what can she have? I’m just saying. Dang.
@V.E.G.,
well… its black folk, ultimately, who are makin the decision. whether its the student body (vast majority black) or some homecoming committee (likely ALL black), its the coloreds who said “she should represent us”.
@V.E.G., hmmm…I know this one…she can become the First Lady… and I might get eshot for this one…as much as I don’t like what she stood for, Condi Rice is a role model.
Add to that, Ursula Burns became the first Black woman to head a fortune 500 company earlier this year so… I think I’d be ok with those achievements versus one homecoming queen crown…but that’s one man’s humble opinion.
@HabitualLineCrossa,
hmph.
Why can’t a sista have her HBCU crown and be Chelly O/Condi R. Huh? Huh?
@V.E.G., see Gem of the Ocean’s post up top…I have arrived at the same conclusion that those that voted for her look like u and me.
Secondly, as I understand this, it isn’t an epidemic but rather one isolated incident. This means, Sistas in other EVERY OTHER HBCU are still holding the crown. So yeah, Sistas still got 99% of the crowns and we still have the Chelly O/Condi R./Oprahs etc of the world.
I just think there are more important issues to focus on.
@HabitualLineCrossa,
“there are more important issues to focus on”
Yes, there are. But there is a side eye moment built into this situation. We should milk it. We don’t get too many of them these days.
@HabitualLineCrossa,
“I just think there are more important issues to focus on.”
There are always gonna be more important issues to focus on. We can’t multi-task in this piece?
@Cheekie,
lmao @ We can’t multi-task in this piece?
@V.E.G., first the fat boys break up…now this…
@Panama Jackson,
theres nothin to believe in anymore…
@Gem of the Ocean, i felt like that when D*stroy aka Dpain stopped commenting.
@overit,
ihateu.
i didnt think anything of girlfriend (who i half expected to be blonde — that woulda added some flare to the story) until i read the letter she wrote to Obama. i was like “she.cant.be.serious… seriously.” im pretty sure the only ppl REALLY upset were the girls on stage (see: Runner Up White Dress and By The Skin of Her Teeth Black Dress) and their cliques in the audience. even then, im not entirely sure they mad they lost to a WHITE girl — prob more heated they got passed up for a flat-chested amazonian with a hideous dress.
@Gem of the Ocean,
“prob more heated they got passed up for a flat-chested amazonian with a hideous dress.”
Yes. This is what upsets me. lol.
@Gem of the Ocean,
that dress is hideous…o_O
@Gem of the Ocean,
Right! and wait….that’s how tall she really is? i thought she was standing on a soapbox or something. uh uh….i’m not seeing the cuteness of her. she must have won on some “God bless us everyone,” stuff. Plus–and I hate to say this, but–she should have stuffed her bra.
@charli skipp,
and a spray tan.
@Gem of the Ocean,
“who i half expected to be blonde — that woulda added some flare to the story”
Yeah, I’m also disappointed in the level of whiteness. When I first saw the pic I thought she was just light-skinned.
@Me fail english?,
LOL–you thought she was gonna be straight up Nordic didn’t you?
@Me fail english?,
LOL yeah she has a bit of ethnic ambiguity about her. i needed her to be a BECKY. not a niKole.
@Me fail english?, i can’t lie, when i first heard, i was PRAYING she had blonde hair and blue eyes. that would have made CNN. this chick barely made VSB.
@Panama Jackson,
Ummm, this story was actually on CNN yesterday. LOL!! (American Morning)
@Right Her, really? when i googled this stuff it didnt show up nearly anywhere worthy of note, in print, anyway…yay.
I’m tired of giving a chit about this already, and the story’s not evem that old. Dang.
Serve the girl a black taco and wash it down with some 44 Hennessey while y’all watch Obama win his Nobel Prize right before Al Sharpton kills Rush Limbaugh.
I wouldn’t have sex with that woman as readily as I would some others. That is all.
@Dante_Alexander,
LMFAO @ a “black taco”. I just saw that hot mess Taco Bell commercial yesterday. Blackjack Taco. o_O. I half-expected them to say, “Blackjack Taco…it’s the new black”. Thankfully, they didn’t go that far. But, I wouldn’t have put it past ‘em.
@Cheekie,
I’m disturbed by the black taco. I mean, why is black? Is it moldy? Ewww.
Plus, my mind went immediately into dirty territory anyway.
*snickering*
@Cheekie, the black taco commercial really made me feel some kinda way. and glad I no longer eat at taco bell. they’ve clearly ran outta ideas. lol
@Reecie,
….ever since the chihuahua died…..LOL
I came to this post expecting it to be about something totally different. I’m actually relieved. To me this gets an ‘ehh’ shrug, not even a o_0. This doesn’t suprise me that much–especially not in Va Beach.
@kidSistah, what did you expect it to be about?
@Panama Jackson,
I thought it was going to be something along the lines of The “Trade-Up”: A Hampton Epidemic…something to that nature.
Not that I know it’s an epidemic there or anything. Just a conversation I’ve been a part of more than I ever cared to in the last month.
So needless to say, with this, I breathed a sigh of relief.
I’m a proud Hampton University Student no matter who Miss. Hampton is. Honestly, I didn’t go to the pageant and I don’t give a
d–n who wins.
With all the press that this matter is getting, there seem to be a few things that people aren’t mentioning, that I feel are important.
– Mr. Pirate 2009 – 2010 is asian and black, his reception on campus was quite different, partly because he attends HU on the Hampton, VA campus, he’s active at school and he’s also a Sigma.
- HU Students have no vote/say in the selection of Miss Hampton, partly because whoever is selected as Miss. Hampton is automatically entered into the Miss. Virginia competition and their rules prevent us from participating, or something like that.
and finally,
-Until you can agree on the purpose of Miss. Hampton, (ie., is she there to represent the campus, is she there to be a representation of the campus, is she there to be a qualified and more likely to win participant in Miss. VA and Miss. USA who originated from HU?) there will never be an agreement on who she should be.
But as far as her letter to “Mr. Obama” the other one apologizing for the letter to “Mr. Obama” – that’s where she lost me. I think that a issue with HU and its students should be handled with HU and its students – she accused the entire student body of something that half the student body didn’t even know more less care about.
Oh major points lost with the media that love to blow things outta proportion. Can I just keep my scholarship, get my degree, and government job, please and thank you.
@J. Delicious, – Mr. Pirate 2009 – 2010 is asian and black, his reception on campus was quite different, partly because he attends HU on the Hampton, VA campus, he’s active at school and he’s also a Sigma.
that’s cuz he still Black. he just mixed, but Black.
@Panama Jackson,
But on another note….”Mr. Pirate”??? Sounds like the stage name for a bus station stripper. Fail!
@Panama Jackson, But not everybody knows he is part black and he looks white……
I’m just glad J got to this before i did cuz then i would have had to write all that… but I cosign 110%
plus u wont believe my reaction when i saw y’all hopped on this…. I’m tired of talkin bout this
oh btw the Best HU won Saturday night at the game. Go Pirates
@The_Eighth_Hokage,
something we really do agree on…finally.
@Panama Jackson,
I didn’t know what he was till I asked his LB, I asked a lot of other people but they didn’t know either.
It’s all about perspective though, a lot of the negative comments that arose at the Football game came when she tried to cross directly in front of the Band in the stands ((something only Dr. and Mrs. Harvey can do)). Maybe had she not taken it so seriously I wouldnt have people calling me asking wth is going on down here…
Tania takes an I DON’T CARE for $100..
i think this a form of Affirmative Action