Hampton University Homecoming Queen Controversy

Is it me, or does it seem like a fair portion of this homecoming court is not happy?

As my business partner would say, "Whoa, Nelly!" And plezWorld has exclaimed, "What the...!" when the situation warrants... well this is one such situation.

Hampton University, the alma mater of my oldest brother, has taken to a peculiar way of finding the winner of their homecoming queen, Miss HU, she is selected by a panel of judges. It appears that they don't the title to be a mere popularity contest (and judging from the article that follows, the winner participates in the Miss Virginia pageant, so that may play into how they pick the winner, as well).

Well, this year's winner attends a satellite campus of Hampton University in Virginia Beach... and she's not Black! GASP! You see, Hampton University used to be Hampton Institute, a historically Black university (HBCU) that was founded in 1868 for Blacks who had recently been freed from slavery. When the winner of the contest was announced, some people expressed their displeasure by walking out... and I'm sure there were some unsavory comments made as well.

To make matters worse, Nikole Churchill - Miss HU - wrote a letter to a fellow Hawaiian, President Obama, urging him to intervene on her behalf and help the student body learn to embrace diversity at her college. Well, after the letter was sent, she re-thought that approach and apologized to the school... you can't make this stuff up!

The entire Daily Press article about the controversy:

HAMPTON — Miss HU apologized one day after writing a letter to President Barack Obama that said her crowning was not widely accepted on the Hampton University campus because she is not black.

Nikole Churchill, 22, is a student from Hawaii who won the pageant Friday. On Sunday, she asked Obama to help her convince close-minded people on campus to support her title.

She issued a statement about 9 p.m. Monday that said she regrets writing the president and did not intend to bring negative attention to her school.

"I took the comments of a few and blew it out of proportion," Churchill wrote. "In reality, all comments that have been directed toward me and the reception I received at the (HU vs. Howard University football game on Saturday) were genuinely supportive."

Churchill competed against nine other contestants, who were all black, and was selected by a panel of five judges, including two certified by the Miss Virginia pageant, in which Churchill will compete next.

Her crowning was followed by complaints from some students that aside from not being black, she attends the university's 90-student satellite campus in Virginia Beach and doesn't know what real HU life is like.

Churchill issued the apology after meeting with student officials and leaders Monday afternoon to discuss her term as Miss HU, said school spokeswoman Yuri Milligan.

About 110 people attended the meeting, including business management senior Brandon Northington, who is in the student leadership program. He said Churchill, who transferred to HU from Virginia Commonwealth University, was genuinely apologetic.

Northington said she explained that as a newer student, she wasn't familiar with HU protocol and didn't initially realize she overstepped her boundaries by taking her complaint directly to Obama.

"I thought she should have contacted the student government president or even (HU President) Dr. (William) Harvey, not the president of the United States of America," he said. "If there's a problem in the house, a family problem, you keep it in the house. You don't display your dirty laundry for everyone to see."

Student Government Association President Matthew Washington said her approach made HU students seem intolerant, while they really are not. Churchill would easily have found the support she needed to feel more welcome if she contacted him or Harvey, Washington said.

"The feelings of 50 or 70 students don't reflect 5,700 students," he said. "I went to the pageant myself, and she did an excellent job. There may be some students unhappy about it, but she rightfully won her title."

Milligan said Churchill was not granting interviews to the media Tuesday.

Her win came just one week after HU held its 10th annual Mr. Pirate pageant, which is named after the school's mascot. The winner was Jonathan Lee, an accounting senior who is a third black, a third white and a third Asian, said Northington, who is his roommate.

Lee was also selected by a panel of judges.

Northington said Lee's race was not an issue when he won, and that his title was met with complete support because Lee is well-known on campus. He is a member of the Phi Beta Sigma fraternity and on the student leadership council.

The controversy following Churchill's win could have been avoided if she'd reached out to students instead of writing Obama, said Regina Powell, a 1975 HU graduate.

"I'm tired of people saying or doing things and then you come back to apologize," she said. "Think before you act. Barack cannot save everyone. The way she's going to get the students to accept her is to reach out to them."

Washington said Churchill pledged Monday to visit the Hampton campus as often as possible, including at community service and social events where she can connect with students.

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plez sez: i think this situation is referred to as a conundrum. what does an archaic institution (the hbcu in question) do when one of its archaic institutions (homecoming queen contest) is won by an outsider?

hampton university has been around all of 140 years! isn't it about time the school (and its students) embrace this diversity? shouldn't they be happy that a non-traditional student be embraced?

i was a student at georgia tech in the early 80's when its first Black homecoming queen was selected... back then, the student body voted on the winner. and i remember racist comments being made about her. but only two years ago, georgia tech picked another Black homecoming queen... and it wasn't a big deal. the crowd cheered as she was driven around the stadium in the ramblin' wreck.

now, i have to be honest, plezWorld isn't a big fan of hbcu's. not because i feel they are bad schools (because hampton university happens to be a very good college), but because i feel they have served their purpose. until the 1980's, most Black college graduates had matriculated through hbcu's. but i feel that today's college students have many more options and Black colleges and universities are doing themselves a gross disservice by clutching to the vestiges of a bygone era. has racism end? i would reply with a resounding, "HELL NO!" but i feel strongly that institutional racism has become so marginalized as to be largely ineffective.

and don't even get me started on the sexism associated with a homecoming queen contest! once again, this miss homecoming queen is a relic from a time when MOST women did not receive secondary education and the menfolk of the college wanted an attractive and sexy co-ed to parade campus. i would think in 2009, there would be a shortage of young women who would desire to be objectified in such a manner... i guess not! where's the women's lib movement when you need 'em?

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and no snide remarks about mr. pirate, please!

[Photos courtesy of dailypress.com]

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Read the Daily Press article about the tiff at Hampton University over their homecoming queen.

Read the Daily Press article about how a non-Black homecoming queen divided a campus.

Take the Daily Press poll about the crowning of a non-Black contestant at an HBCU here .

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Open Thread for Sunday Morning in plezWorld XI

Okay, the social media bug has bitten plezWorld big time. A few weeks ago it was Twitter and for the last few days, I've been consumed by FaceBook. I've been finding folk from the Sleepy Hollow, New York (where I grew up), from my high school in Hampton, Virginia, from Georgia Tech, relatives, and long lost frat brothers... and even made a few new friends in the process.

Follow plezWorld on Twitter.

Send me a tweet... and I'm the only plez on FaceBook!

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The Commodores sang, "That's why I'm easy... easy like Sunday morning."

Write what you'd like, because plezWorld should be taking it easy on Sunday... watching some NBA playoff games.

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Doing 85 on I-85

Road Trip Sunday - I'm somewhere on the 480-something miles of I-85 between Dinwiddie County, Virginia and DeKalb County, Georgia. My family accompanied me to Hampton, VA to attend the funeral of a dear family member over the weekend.

Early Voting in Raleigh, NC - Guest Blog

The following is a reproduction of an e-mail that I received on my fraternity's private e-mail distribution listserver a few days ago. The author joined our fraternity in the mid-1950's on the campus of Virginia State College in the small city of Petersburg, Virginia. The following post (with permission from Dr. Michael V. W. Gordon, Professor Emeritus, Indiana University) recounts his journey to take advantage of early voting in Raleigh, North Carolina... and his struggle to get the right to vote in 1960.

Aretha Franklin "A Change Is Gonna Come"

This song was written and recorded by Sam Cooke during the height of the Civil Rights Movement after he was moved at hearing Bob Dylan's ode to the movement, "Blowin' in the Wind." It is reported that after speaking with sit-in demonstrators in Durham, North Carolina following a concert in May 1963, Cooke returned to his tour bus and wrote the first draft of what would become "A Change Is Gonna Come."

I selected this version of the song to accompany Dr. Gordon's story because I love the old gospel feel of Aretha Franklin's soulful singing and the music (the organ wailing in the background holding up Aretha's heartfelt turn at the piano) in contrast to the equally lush and mythical orchestration (with strings and horns) of Sam Cooke's version. AND this is the version of the song that plezWorld grew up listening to on my parents' stereo.

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The First Day Of Early Voting In Raleigh, NC
Dr. MICHAEL V W GORDON
Posted: October 22, 2008

We arrived early last Thursday, October 16th and already about 300 people were in line at the polling place. My brother-in-law, who just recently had hip replacement surgery, my sister, and me - who will be having ankle replacement surgery - went to the assisted voting area for the handicapped. Can you imagine?

We were assisted by very able poll workers, like this one.

Guess who I voted for? Should I vote the straight ticket? All right, lefty.

WE HAVE COME A LONG WAY, BABY!

The reason I say, "We have come a long way, baby" is that sitting there waiting for my ballot to be brought to me, I reflected on the first time I voted back in 1960 in Petersburg, Virginia. After studying ROTC at Virginia State College (now University) and graduating in 1957, I served for two years as an officer in the Army, mainly in the 101st Airborne Division.

When I returned to Petersburg in 1959, I had an unusual administrative experience for a small town African American guy. I was appointed as part-time Assistant Principal at the newly built, Westview Elementary School.

The president of the PTA there that year was the Reverend Wyatt Tee Walker. Rev. Walker, along with some other young ministers in Petersburg started a civil rights organization to make Petersburg better. It was called the Petersburg Improvement Association. The Petersburg Improvement Association led many sit-ins and other protest activities against racial segregation laws there. Many were arrested. Many lost their jobs.

This movement gained the attention of the young, Reverend MARTIN LUTHER KING, JR., who visited our city many times and assisted us. He was so impressed with Wyatt Tee Walker, that eventually he took him back to Atlanta as his Chief of Staff.

But as we were studying to register African Americans to vote, Martin Luther King would come with his staff to teach us techniques for getting that job done. MLK would drive in late at night and leave during the night because it was dangerous for him to be seen in that area. We had heard that an assistant principal in an area not far from us had been taken out of his home and lynched.

You see, this was before the Civil Rights Act of 1965 that removed the artificial and deliberate obstacles the segregationists devised to keep blacks from exercising voting power.We had the poll tax, which required paying a fee for the privilege of voting and we had the "literacy" test.

That was administered in Petersburg by asking the prospective voter something about government that they expected an educated voter to know. Also, you need to know that all whites did not support this apartheid system of government. We had someone in the voter registration office, who was white, who told us the question in advance which we would be asked.

That question was changed periodically to keep blacks from knowing too much in advance. We had study sessions at night at the church and some of us were trained to "pass" and some were trained to "fail". The reason for this was that if we all passed it would look suspicious.

Since I was the part-time Assistant Principal of the elementary school and an officer in the United States Army Reserve, they believed that I was among those who would not cause so much suspicion if I "passed".

So we set about the task of memorizing the answer to the question which we had been presented in "secret". I'll never forget that day when I was to report to the Petersburg Court House for my "examination".

After waiting a good while, I was ushered into an office and confronted by a surly, burly white man, "What do you want, boy?"

"I want to register to vote," I replied.

"I will ask you a question. Can you recite from memory the Third Article of The Constitution of the Commonwealth of Fa-jin-ja (his pronunciation of Virginia)?

So, I recited what I had carefully memorized over the previous two weeks:

ARTICLE III The Constitution of the Commonwealth of Virginia

Division of Powers

Section 1. Departments to be distinct.The legislative, executive, and judicial departments shall be separate and distinct, so that none exercise the powers properly belonging to the others, nor any person exercise the power of more than one of them at the same time; provided, however, administrative agencies may be created by the General Assembly with such authority and duties as the General Assembly may prescribe.

Provisions may be made for judicial review of any finding, order, or judgment of such administrative agencies.

And that is the way it was then.

I got my registration card in 1960.

I voted for John F. Kennedy for President of the United States of America!

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plez sez: i thank Dr. Gordon for trusting plezWorld with his story.

both of my parents were born and raised in segregated north carolina: denied an adequate education, fair wages, health care, and an opportunity to vote. my parents did not get to vote until they moved our family to new york in the mid-1950's. i have an aunt (my mother's 95-year old sister) who will be taking advantage of early voting in ahoskie, north carolia... like dr. gordon, my aunt will be voting from the handicapped area for BARACK OBAMA!

another commonality with dr. gordon is my second oldest brother, he also graduated from virginia state college in petersburg in 1979 - a full 20 years after dr. gordon returned there to teach. i spoke with my brother earlier this week, he lives in southern california. like dr. gordon, my aunt, and me, my brother will be voting for BARACK OBAMA!

Obama Turning Red States Blue?

A Democrat has not carried the state of Virginia since Lyndon Johnson in 1964. The Barack Obama campaign is looking to change that trend in 2008 by opening 20 new offices around the state. He will open offices in the up-for-grabs southeast (Virginia Beach, Hampton, Newport News, Norfolk, and Williamsburg) as well as the more rural western parts of the state (Danville and Martinsville).

State Senator John Edwards (D-Roanoke) is quoted as saying, "The demographics are changing. (Obama) is serious about Virginia."

Campaign officials said they expected the offices to be staffed with a mix of paid employees and volunteers 12 hours a day. Edwards said he expected hundreds of volunteers.

The fundraising figures were released yesterday, Obama raked in $52 million during the month of June, to the paltry $22 million raised by McCain. Obama's candidacy continues to energize the electorate in ways that haven't been seen in more than a generation. Since he is not taking federal funds, Obama can continue to raise large amounts of money to spend on things like... opening campaign offices in former red states like Virginia!

Obama has been making unprecedented buys in a handful of red states: $60,000 in Alaska; $3.5 million in Florida; $1.3 million in Georgia; $1 million in Indiana; $100,000 in Montana; $1 million in North Carolina; and $1.8 million in Virginia. Both candidates are also targeting the traditional battlegrounds where Democrats and Republicans take their political war every four years: Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Missouri (which has voted with the presidential winner since 1956).

Read the DailyPress.com article on the campaign openings in Virginia here.

Read the CNN.com article on Obama's fundraising for June 2008 here.


plez sez: I believe that State Sen. Edwards is right.

plezWorld's family reunion was in Virginia a few weeks ago and I was in the area (Hampton, Newport News, and northern Virginia), and Obama was ALL THE BUZZ! All of my relatives were staunch supporters, one cousin took off work and traveled to Ohio, Pennsylvania, and North Carolina to campaign for Obama! One aunt answers her phone, "Hello... Obama Country!" If you recall during the primary in Virginia, my mother went to vote and then picked up my 90-year old aunt to take her to vote... for Obama! I was surprised by the fervor and excitement over the Obama campaign.

My family moved to Virginia when I was in high school and this was the first state where I registered to vote (even though, my first vote was in Georgia because that is where I went to college). It would be nice to see Virginia turn BLUE!

The Obama Before Obama

As mentioned in the past, the greater sum of American history is rarely written in books. The small burg of Louisa, Virginia was the 1929 birthplace of the first Black person to hold elected office in the United States. John Mercer Langston was the son of Ralph Quarles, a wealthy white slaveowner, and Lucy Langston, an emancipated slave. Both of his parents died when he was four years old and he was raised by a friend of his father in Ohio. Langston was the fifth Black person to graduate from Oberlin College.

John Mercer Langston was elected township clerk of Brownhelm, Ohio, on April 2, 1855 by popular vote, becoming the first "Negro" elevated to public office by popular vote. He was elected to a number of local offices in Ohio, was active in the Black freedom movement with Frederick Douglass, served as educational inspector for the Freedmen's Bureau, founded what would become the Howard University law school, and was the US minister to Haiti. In 1888, he ran for Congress in Virginia's 4th Congressional District as an independent; his victory was initially denied, but he contested the election results and eventually won his set.

It is interesting to note that John Langston was elected to office five years before Abraham Lincolm became president. It has been a long 153 years between him becoming the Brownhelm, Ohio township clerk and Barack Obama standing on the cusp of becoming the President of the United States. From then until now, less than 4 percent of elected officials in the US are Black.

Historian William Cheek, who co-authored "John Mercer Langston and the Fight for Black Freedom, 1829-65" with wife Aimee Lee Cheek, describes Langston as slim and debonair, of mixed-raced parentage, highly educated, an expert in constitutional law, a community organizer (he went around Ohio setting up schools), and a soaring orator who sought to unify a divided country after the Civil War. The similarities between Langston and Obama are uncanny... John Mercer Langston was Barack Hussein Obama before Obama!

Read the entire Washington Post article titled "The 'Obama Before Obama'" here.


plez sez: john mercer langston, a extraordinary american, relegated to the dusty footnotes of us history. the first american of african descent elected to office sought elected office six years BEFORE the first shots of the civil war were fired.

end of history lesson.

class dismissed.

The Potomac Primaries

I've heard it called the Beltway Primaries, the Chesapeake Primaries, and the Potomac Primaries... basically, Democratic and Republican voters in Maryland, Virginia, and Washington, DC head to the polls today to cast a vote for their desired presidential nominee. My mother (and other relatives) live in the Hampton Roads area in southeastern Virginia... everyone I've talked to is voting for Obama.

My mother plans to vote first. Then she'll swing through and pick up Aunt Bea to take her to the polls. Both are fervent Barack Obama fans.

My parents' generation was raised during the Great Depression and a time of rampant discrimination and Jim Crow laws in North Carolina. They came up having to ride in the back of the bus, having to go to the Black school, having to take off almost half of the school year to harvest the tobacco and cotton, having to sit in the balcony at the movie theaters, not being able to rent a decent hotel room, and not being able to look a white person in the eye!

They also came up at a time when they could not exercise their right to vote: my mother's father was a landowner of more than 100 acres of prime Carolina tobacco farmland from the early 1930's. But being a landowner did not trump his being a Black man in the segregated South. My grandfather's parents had been slaves in the Ahoskie, North Carolina area, but that did not deter him from getting an education and raising 11 children on his own land.

So my mother and her sister and her brother will go to the polls today to exercise the rights that had been so long denied to them. They will go to the polls to exercise the rights that so many of their contemporaries died for. And they will cast their vote for a man whose presidency will change the paradigm of how America upholds its promise of equal rights for all. They will all vote for Barack Obama!

Potomac Primaries:

Maryland - Clinton: 36% Obama: 61% (Precincts: 81%)

Virginia - Clinton: 35% Obama: 64% (Precincts: 99%)

Washington, DC - Clinton: 24% Obama: 75% (Precincts: 98%)
(live updates with election returns - last update: 02/13/08 1:40AM)

Michael Vick Gets 23 Months in the Slammer

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports that suspended Atlanta Falcons QB Michael Vick was sentenced to 23 months by a federal court judge earlier today. The judge cited Vick's unwillingness to accept full responsibility for the illegal dogfighting ring that he funded and ran. He also noted Vick's drug use while he was out on bond awaiting sentencing (he tested positive for marijuana in September shortly after entering a plea agreement).

In addition to the 23 month prison sentence, Vick also received 3 years probation. He must serve at least 85 percent of the sentence (19-1/2 months), so the earliest he can get out of prison is May 2009.

After Vick apologized to Hudson, his family and his children, Hudson told him he should also apologize "to the millions of young people who looked up to you."

Read the entire AJC article here.


plez sez: without vick, the falcons are a woeful 3-9. and there are no wins for the team in the foreseeable future.

the atlanta falcons have another monday night football game tonight (against the new orleans saints)... this is the second such game this season. in addition, they played the indianapolis colts on Thanksgiving night. vick was so popular that the nfl wanted him (and the falcons) on prime time television as many times as the super bowl champion colts and new england patriots!
michael vick was not only the face of the falcons, he was the face of the NFL... the truest competitor in the ultimate competition sport. and apparently that was his undoing!

instead of owning up to his mistakes and taking responsibility when this THING blew up over the summer, vick held out for that miracle hail mary pass that would bring him another victory. unfortunately, the virginia federal court building is not a football field and vick's lawyers wore no cleats or pads. he entered into a competition where he was not the star and his magical feet were unable to deliver a victory.

personally, i feel that the punishment (almost two years) is a bit harsh considering the "crime." but then again, lying in federal court ain't no joke! it is very disappointing and disconcerting that my homeboy (i went to high school in neighboring hampton, virginia) would allow himself to get into something like this... and this is something for which he will have to pay the ultimate price: his freedom and his livelihood.

i hope (and expect) that we'll see #7 sprinting into the end zone once again... in 2010 or 2011! i'm sure he'll be given another chance at the league minimum.

and i truly hope that others who find themselves in the throes of illegal activities will use this mike vick tragedy as an example of why they should find a way to chart a more positive path for their lives.