Latest / The Breakfast Club / Keke Palmer’s new series Southern Fried Rice is getting absolutely dragged .. cultural appropriation ?

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Keke Palmer’s new series Southern Fried Rice is getting absolutely dragged .. cultural appropriation ? · The Breakfast Club

0:02
Speaker 1: I'm a homegrow that knows a little bit about everything
0:04
Speaker 1: and everybody. I don't know if you don't lie about that, right,
0:07
Speaker 1: Lauri can't even Hey, y'all, what's up.
0:10
Speaker 2: It's Laura Rosa and this is the latest with Laura l. Rosa.
0:14
Speaker 1: This is your daily dig on all things pop culture, entertainment, news,
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Speaker 1: and all of the conversations that shake the room.
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Speaker 2: Baby.
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Speaker 1: Now today we are going to get into a conversation
0:25
Speaker 1: that is shaking the room. The Internet, the comments, all
0:29
Speaker 1: of the things. Kecky Palmer, our girl is sugarl Key
0:34
Speaker 1: Key Palmer. Kecky Palmer has just unveiled a new series
0:39
Speaker 1: via her digital network called Key TV. And this network,
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Speaker 1: you know, works with a ton of black producers, directors,
0:46
Speaker 1: writers to bring series and you know, just different pieces
0:49
Speaker 1: of content and art to the world. This week, she
0:52
Speaker 1: premiered a trailer for a series called Southern Fried Rice
0:56
Speaker 1: from her Key TV network. And when I tell y'all,
0:59
Speaker 1: it is getting drag I have seen. To be honest
1:01
Speaker 1: with y'all, I wouldn't have even known that this series
1:04
Speaker 1: dropped unless I saw all of the backlash about the
1:08
Speaker 1: series itself. And granted I knew Keky Palmer had key TV.
1:12
Speaker 1: I follow key TV on Instagram, but y'all know the
1:15
Speaker 1: algorithm don't be algorithming sometimes, so you might not see
1:17
Speaker 1: every post and everything.
1:19
Speaker 2: So I hadn't heard of this series.
1:21
Speaker 1: I just knew she was, you know, doing stuff over
1:23
Speaker 1: there in that space because I have a person, Because
1:29
Speaker 1: I have a person that I know, a writer, a director, fire,
1:34
Speaker 1: just creative, a black woman named Nikiah Stevens, and I
1:38
Speaker 1: have known her and just in a work setting for
1:41
Speaker 1: some years. I actually interviewed her back in like twenty twenty,
1:45
Speaker 1: twenty twenty one for a short series that I had.
1:48
Speaker 1: It was during the pandemic, when you know, all the
1:50
Speaker 1: corporates were letting black people have a voice. I had
1:54
Speaker 1: a series, a digital series at TMZ called Piece of
1:57
Speaker 1: the Pie, and it was pretty cool. I got a
1:59
Speaker 1: chance to like go out and find different creatives, so directors,
2:05
Speaker 1: casting directors, producers, executive producers, actors, musicians, painters, you know, whatever,
2:14
Speaker 1: whoever I thought was like dope fire at the time
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Speaker 1: that had a story to tell or was telling stories
2:19
Speaker 1: in a way that I thought was fire in a
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Speaker 1: way that I admired. I got the platform them, so
2:25
Speaker 1: I did an interview with Nikia Stevens then, which is
2:28
Speaker 1: when I knew of her. Was following her a bit,
2:30
Speaker 1: but she came highly recommended through some friends when I
2:32
Speaker 1: put out some casting fillers for that series and I
2:36
Speaker 1: got a chance to have a conversation with her. After
2:38
Speaker 1: I got a chance to have a conversation with her,
2:40
Speaker 1: I was like, Oh, sis is dope, and I admired
2:43
Speaker 1: the fact that everything she was doing, like she has
2:46
Speaker 1: a production company called Damn Wright Originals. And I'm telling
2:48
Speaker 1: you guys about Nikia Stevens because Nikiya Stevens is actually
2:51
Speaker 1: the executive producer of this series Southern Fried Right. She
2:55
Speaker 1: works with Kiki Palmer and the team over there at
2:57
Speaker 1: key TV. One of the things I admired was her company.
3:00
Speaker 1: So she had a company called Damn Right Originals that
3:03
Speaker 1: was doing so much in the digital storytelling space, and
3:06
Speaker 1: that's always been a goal of mine. Ester Ray was
3:08
Speaker 1: one of the people that I've always looked at as
3:10
Speaker 1: like a north star and everything that she has done
3:13
Speaker 1: via her YouTube channel, you know, an awkward black girl.
3:16
Speaker 1: But also for those who don't know, Ester Ray used
3:19
Speaker 1: to platform smaller series via her YouTube channel, Digital series
3:23
Speaker 1: and Nikia was doing that, and she was on a
3:24
Speaker 1: ton of other things, and I was like, Okay, this
3:27
Speaker 1: is dope, Like I'm here for met her then and
3:30
Speaker 1: then she went on to begin working with Keiki Palmer,
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Speaker 1: which was also fired to see because I just knew.
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Speaker 1: I'm like, okay, Keky Palmer has the platform. Kiki Palmer
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Speaker 1: is the girl like you know in all of the
3:41
Speaker 1: movie series the Studios Lover. That's a great place for
3:45
Speaker 1: Niki to be at period. And black creatives don't get,
3:49
Speaker 1: you know, the ample opportunities, especially not in a Hollywood
3:54
Speaker 1: you know, movie making TV, show making series making space.
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Speaker 1: It just doesn't happen because they ain't telling that many
4:00
Speaker 1: of our stories. So I thought it was dope. So
4:03
Speaker 1: fast forward, I start to see all this backlash online
4:07
Speaker 1: about this show. And you guys know, I went to
4:10
Speaker 1: a HBCU. I graduated from Delaware State University. So my algorithm,
4:14
Speaker 1: especially in October, and that's why I'm like, yo, they
4:16
Speaker 1: chose a hell of a month to drop a series
4:19
Speaker 1: about an HBCU that was going to get dragged because
4:21
Speaker 1: it's homecoming season. So if you not feeling black atty
4:24
Speaker 1: black and black black, y'all in February. You do it
4:27
Speaker 1: in October homecoming season, everybody's hitting up the homecomings. You
4:31
Speaker 1: know what I mean, you and your prairie, all your gear,
4:33
Speaker 1: repping your schools.
4:34
Speaker 2: Remember you know why you got to keep your head
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Speaker 2: to the side.
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Speaker 1: Y'all know all the things super super black in October,
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Speaker 1: especially if you graduated from HBCU. So the series started
4:43
Speaker 1: popping up on my feed because I started seeing people
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Speaker 1: on Instagram, on x and on threads pissed off and
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Speaker 1: having a conversation about Keiki Palmer saying that she's tone
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Speaker 1: deaf because of the series. I didn't really pay too
4:55
Speaker 1: much attention to it at first, if I'm being honest
4:57
Speaker 1: with y'all, only because ever since the you know, Kekey
5:00
Speaker 1: Palmer's teasing that Jonathan Major's episode for her talk show
5:03
Speaker 1: that she does it's Kekey Palmer and her podcast with
5:05
Speaker 1: her mom and then pulling it down. I feel like
5:07
Speaker 1: sometimes with Kekey Palmer, like she gets unfair criticism because
5:12
Speaker 1: people look at her as perfect because she is the girl.
5:15
Speaker 2: She's been you know.
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Speaker 1: Pedestaled and polished and not even like because it's something
5:20
Speaker 1: that she wants, because if you meet her, she's just
5:22
Speaker 1: out here living her life, doing her thing work and
5:24
Speaker 1: getting her money and going home to her son. But
5:26
Speaker 1: I think the world does that because she's always presented
5:30
Speaker 1: so well, like she's such a great actress, such an
5:32
Speaker 1: accomplished actress. You know, everything that she's ever done, we've
5:35
Speaker 1: always known her to do it so well. So the
5:37
Speaker 1: minute Kekey Palmer does anything that is not so well
5:41
Speaker 1: or approved, the world exposed. So I thought it was
5:43
Speaker 1: just like one of those moments, like, Okay, a moment
5:45
Speaker 1: is happening, it'll come, it'll go whatever. And then I
5:49
Speaker 1: saw Kekey Palmer respond to it. I'm like, Okay, this
5:51
Speaker 1: must be really big. So I did some digging found
5:54
Speaker 1: out that Nikiah Stevens was a part of the project,
5:56
Speaker 1: and I'm like, okay, let's have a conversation about this.
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Speaker 1: So the series Southern Fried Rice from KEYTV is a
6:03
Speaker 1: series about a Korean American girl who is adopted by
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Speaker 1: a Southern Black family. This girl decides that she wants
6:11
Speaker 1: to go to an HBCU. You know, the premise of
6:14
Speaker 1: this is that all of her life she's been accepted
6:15
Speaker 1: by her small town and the people in her small town,
6:19
Speaker 1: and now she goes to this HBCU. And I will
6:21
Speaker 1: say the HBCU is a fictional HBCU, and that is
6:24
Speaker 1: important because one thing black people don't play about is
6:26
Speaker 1: who did the body spades? And if you renig the
6:31
Speaker 1: HBCUs and then when you on campus, the Greek fraternities
6:35
Speaker 1: and sororities like the oh and Edges and yeah in
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Speaker 1: Greez and your scalp, those are the things that.
6:41
Speaker 2: We ain't compromising that.
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Speaker 1: So they made sure that the HBCU was fictional, which
6:44
Speaker 1: is why it's important to have black creatives telling black stories,
6:47
Speaker 1: because yeah, that's important. But so she goes to HBCU
6:52
Speaker 1: and you know, while there, she's not as accepted, and
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Speaker 1: she's definitely not as accepted just because she has a
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Speaker 1: black family. So she you know, the story or the
7:01
Speaker 1: series is all about watching her go through that. Let's
7:04
Speaker 1: take a listen to the trailer.
7:05
Speaker 3: All right, say geez, okay, I know I got some
7:11
Speaker 3: explaining to do. Let's start with the elephant in the room.
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Speaker 2: Yes, I'm n Asian.
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Speaker 3: Yes my family is black, and yes I've always been
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Speaker 3: hard to miss.
7:23
Speaker 4: This is Coco Cottage is once you make this, once
7:28
Speaker 4: you arrest yourself in the opportunities here, I'm sure that
7:31
Speaker 4: you will find w has so much.
7:32
Speaker 2: Tougher I mean to her or not too he.
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Speaker 4: Lie, don't forget who you are, Coco, that girl Jackson.
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Speaker 3: For a lot of people, this is hard to understand,
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Speaker 3: but black culture is the only culture I know.
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Speaker 1: Okay, Now, this is set in a you know, present
7:55
Speaker 1: day time, and the conversation that this is supposed to
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Speaker 1: spark are all things that happen in the college experience
8:01
Speaker 1: from the creators of this series, from their perspective anyway,
8:05
Speaker 1: So you know, it's going into the conversations about privilege, identity, DEI, ScDs, relationships,
8:12
Speaker 1: you know, all the things. It's one of those series
8:14
Speaker 1: from what it seems like, because again it's not out.
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Speaker 1: I just saw the trailer.
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Speaker 2: That's it. That's all we got.
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Speaker 1: But it seems like it's one of those series that
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Speaker 1: uses something that it's kind of shock value a little
8:22
Speaker 1: bit to real you in to have very vulnerable and
8:26
Speaker 1: real conversations about things that people are coming up against
8:30
Speaker 1: every day on these HBCU campuses or honestly, I feel
8:35
Speaker 1: like you even go through those conversations and those experiences
8:37
Speaker 1: as graduates of HBCUs because once we graduate, we go
8:40
Speaker 1: into the world that isn't you know, all things black
8:43
Speaker 1: fried Chicken Wednesdays celebratory of the culture. A lot of
8:47
Speaker 1: our workspaces are not you know, all black. We are
8:50
Speaker 1: one a few, one of many. And it's kind of
8:52
Speaker 1: like a culture shock, Like you're in this bubble of
8:54
Speaker 1: a world for four years out of HBCU. In HBCU
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Speaker 1: for those who don't know, stands for Historically Black College University.
9:00
Speaker 1: And it's a celebration of like you being you, and
9:03
Speaker 1: you understanding and learning in real time through education and
9:07
Speaker 1: through life experience why the world needs you and why
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Speaker 1: being black is such a life changing thing and a
9:14
Speaker 1: world changing thing like and the campus in the school
9:16
Speaker 1: prepares you to go out into the world and just
9:18
Speaker 1: spread that glitter all over and make your mark on
9:20
Speaker 1: the world.
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Speaker 2: That's the slogan on my HBC youh schuld I call
9:22
Speaker 2: delaus State University.
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Speaker 1: But yes, so these conversations are you know, supposed to
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Speaker 1: be sparked by these series, But baby, when I tell
9:30
Speaker 1: you that is not any of the conversation that is
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Speaker 1: happening online around this right now. And seeing some of
9:36
Speaker 1: the backlash on different outlets and seeing Keiky Palmer have
9:39
Speaker 1: to respond and we're going to get to Kekey Palmer's response.
9:42
Speaker 1: I then went and looked at, you know, directly, what
9:45
Speaker 1: are people's direct response to this trailer. So I went
9:48
Speaker 1: to the comments on the key tv Instagram account and
9:52
Speaker 1: I'm gonna just read a few comments. So there's one
9:55
Speaker 1: comment under here that says, in this current climate where
9:57
Speaker 1: they're snatching funding and literally trying to erase our school, well,
10:00
Speaker 1: question Mark, we have a responsibility to amplify our own
10:03
Speaker 1: stories and perspectives now more than ever, and we're centering
10:06
Speaker 1: that perspective on an Asian girl rocking bamboo earrings?
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Speaker 2: Question Mark? Is this not a bit tone Deafkiki?
10:14
Speaker 1: And then another comment says, even if she grew up
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Speaker 1: in black culture, why not further were her Asian culture?
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Speaker 1: It's another beautiful ethnic culture. If this were reversed, would
10:22
Speaker 1: it hit the same Another person says, is there going
10:26
Speaker 1: to be an episode where Asian people begin demanding the
10:28
Speaker 1: destruction of affirmative action because there are too many black
10:31
Speaker 1: people at Ivy League schools? And she defends them. Another
10:35
Speaker 1: comment says, I think this project seems dope. Regardless of
10:38
Speaker 1: what people may say, it is not your job to
10:40
Speaker 1: tell all the black stories. Hell, the people telling you
10:43
Speaker 1: to tell them ain't even spreading the word. These stories
10:45
Speaker 1: are important too. You have a lot of people growing
10:48
Speaker 1: up outside of whatever culture they're originally from, constantly feeling
10:51
Speaker 1: judged and misunderstood, and people only ever try to make
10:54
Speaker 1: sense of it from a mixed black and white person,
10:57
Speaker 1: never seen from the point of view like this.
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Speaker 2: I can't wait to watch.
11:01
Speaker 1: So comments are in shambles under the trailer, and this
11:06
Speaker 1: has been going on for days. At this point, there's
11:09
Speaker 1: you know, full on think pieces all over threads and
11:13
Speaker 1: x and in all the spaces. So Kiki Palmer herself
11:16
Speaker 1: had to get online and respond.
11:19
Speaker 2: I did see that.
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Speaker 1: Nikia Stevens, who again I told you guys, as an
11:22
Speaker 1: executive producer and one of the creators behind this project.
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Speaker 2: She did respond also.
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Speaker 1: But Kiki Palmer posted a video which is being picked
11:28
Speaker 1: up by a lot of the news outlets. Let's take
11:30
Speaker 1: a listen to what Keky Palmer had.
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Speaker 5: To say that I don't wanna take up too much of
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Speaker 5: your time, but I wanted to chop it up real
11:35
Speaker 5: quick about this series called Southern fr Fried Rice that's
11:39
Speaker 5: premiering on key TV that is receiving some controversial feedback. Now,
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Speaker 5: Southern Fried Rice was created by Nikia Stevens, and while
11:47
Speaker 5: I can't speak to her inspiration for the show, I
11:50
Speaker 5: can speak to her dedication as a creative. I mean,
11:53
Speaker 5: Nikia has written, show, ran and produced four shows alongside
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Speaker 5: her Damn Right Originals team with key TV and KEGV
12:01
Speaker 5: has proudly invested over a half a million dollars on
12:04
Speaker 5: her creations. And I say that because it's not easy
12:07
Speaker 5: to obtain that kind of investment. And KEYTV this is
12:11
Speaker 5: the ethos of the company. It's a network not just
12:14
Speaker 5: because it has stars and shows or has talent, but
12:17
Speaker 5: because it's about the people who create the shows and
12:21
Speaker 5: connecting them. Look, what you like is subjective, but the
12:24
Speaker 5: support of black creatives is not. And it's a task
12:27
Speaker 5: that KEYTV takes on with pride, because if you want
12:29
Speaker 5: to be a creative, you have to be able to create,
12:32
Speaker 5: and that takes money. And it's keytv's mission to find
12:36
Speaker 5: the funds for you to be in practice, for you
12:39
Speaker 5: to experience trial and error, and to take your projects
12:42
Speaker 5: off the page and get more than one chance to
12:44
Speaker 5: do it in action. So whether you like it all
12:47
Speaker 5: or some or none, I say, give these creatives a
12:50
Speaker 5: chance to grow as we continue to grow in supporting them.
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Speaker 1: I'm now going to play for you, guys what Nikiah Stevens,
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Speaker 1: you know who Kiki Pomer was also just referencing, had
13:06
Speaker 1: to say. Once the backlash started going, you know, really crazy,
13:10
Speaker 1: let's say listen.
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Speaker 4: Hello, Hi, I wanted to come on here and first
13:14
Speaker 4: and foremost say thank you so much for watching the
13:18
Speaker 4: Southern fried Rice trailer. I'm seeing the comments, I'm seeing
13:21
Speaker 4: the support, I'm seeing the discourse, and as a storyteller,
13:25
Speaker 4: I welcome it. I welcome conversation, I welcome curiosity. And
13:30
Speaker 4: for those of you who've been following me and supporting
13:33
Speaker 4: my journey, y'all know that Southern Fried Rice is ten
13:37
Speaker 4: plus years in the making, and you know it was
13:41
Speaker 4: inspired by my own HBCU experience and observations as a
13:46
Speaker 4: student at Savana Say University, the first public HBCU in Georgia.
13:51
Speaker 4: But no, I had friends at Savannah State University and
13:55
Speaker 4: people in my orbit who were non black and had
13:59
Speaker 4: to navigate a historically black space.
14:02
Speaker 1: And I saw.
14:03
Speaker 4: How hard and challenging and fun and beautiful it was
14:07
Speaker 4: for them to do so, and that sparked my curiosity
14:09
Speaker 4: and honestly planted the seed for Southern fried Rice. And
14:13
Speaker 4: obviously over the years it has been massaged into something
14:17
Speaker 4: more deeper and nuanced, but that was ultimately the seed,
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Speaker 4: right And I think my ultimate goal was to spark
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Speaker 4: conversation around culture, around belonging, and around identity, and so
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Speaker 4: that's what I think I've done, and I'm very proud
14:36
Speaker 4: of Southern fried Rice. Furthermore, I'm very proud of the
14:39
Speaker 4: people behind Southern Fried Rice. Other than me, the people
14:43
Speaker 4: I collaborated with, so a black woman director who also
14:47
Speaker 4: attended an HBCU, three producers who also attended HBCUs, some
14:54
Speaker 4: of our cast and crew also attended HBCU. So these
14:57
Speaker 4: are people who love and protect black co culture and
15:00
Speaker 4: hold it close to their hearts who were collaborating on
15:04
Speaker 4: this project. And so yeah, I'm proud of it. And
15:08
Speaker 4: I'm also first and foremost I already said first and foremost.
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Speaker 4: Second most, I have to say thank you to Kiki
15:16
Speaker 4: and KETV for allowing me the opportunities, like this is
15:20
Speaker 4: my fourth project with KTV, so.
15:22
Speaker 2: We'll cut it there.
15:23
Speaker 1: So I think one of the important things is Number One,
15:28
Speaker 1: Nikia making it very clear that she attended at HBCU,
15:32
Speaker 1: and several other creators on their projects also went to HBCUs.
15:36
Speaker 1: And I know that a lot of Nikias work, not
15:39
Speaker 1: even a lot like I would say, you know, and
15:40
Speaker 1: this is me just going off of what I see
15:43
Speaker 1: in Passing and I'm just like, you know, I'm scrolling,
15:45
Speaker 1: liking and just you know, keeping it going. I'm not
15:48
Speaker 1: like a die hard, you know, avid watcher of all
15:50
Speaker 1: the Nikia's content, but Nikki Stevens and Dann Wright originals,
15:54
Speaker 1: I would say at least ninety percent of their content
15:55
Speaker 1: and things that they focus on are black centric or
15:58
Speaker 1: black focused when it comes to storytelling and like why
16:00
Speaker 1: they're telling a story and whose story they are actually telling.
16:03
Speaker 2: I mean, she's not new to this. It's what I'm conveying.
16:05
Speaker 1: But I wouldn't even call it a mistake because I
16:08
Speaker 1: think are is subjective and I think we also have
16:11
Speaker 1: not even watched the full series to really be able
16:14
Speaker 1: to critique it and call it some of the things
16:17
Speaker 1: that it's being called being. It's being called tone deaf,
16:20
Speaker 1: it's being called disrespectful, it's being called invasive, Like you know,
16:24
Speaker 1: we're allowing people to just come in. People are having
16:26
Speaker 1: conversations about why don't we learn to gate keep what
16:28
Speaker 1: it's ours. I think that you know, And I would
16:31
Speaker 1: say this even if I didn't know Nikiya Stevens and
16:34
Speaker 1: didn't know the work of Dan Right Originals, only because
16:37
Speaker 1: now I feel like, you know, being in a space
16:39
Speaker 1: that I'm in, I can understand how you can put
16:41
Speaker 1: something into the world and your intention and the actual
16:44
Speaker 1: messaging and your intention can be one thing, but it
16:48
Speaker 1: can hit a completely different way, and and people just
16:53
Speaker 1: you know, don't give it the chance because of that
16:55
Speaker 1: first initial hit and then your intention and and other
16:58
Speaker 1: things are you just don't get the fair shot for
17:00
Speaker 1: it to be conveyed. So I'm gonna watch the full
17:02
Speaker 1: series and I'll come back here and do a full
17:04
Speaker 1: breakdown of the full series and another you know, follow
17:07
Speaker 1: up you know episode and review on it once I do.
17:09
Speaker 1: But I will say though, just off of you know,
17:12
Speaker 1: the trailer, the premise and all the background information that
17:15
Speaker 1: I've collected, I do understand why people are upset. I'm
17:18
Speaker 1: not a person that's gonna ever call for somebody not
17:21
Speaker 1: to be able to tell a certain story, not to
17:22
Speaker 1: be able to do a certain thing. I haven't seen
17:24
Speaker 1: a full series, so I'm not gonna write it off,
17:27
Speaker 1: especially because, like Kiki Palmer said, I know how hard
17:29
Speaker 1: it is just to be able to do what Ni
17:31
Speaker 1: Kid is doing, and she does it very well.
17:33
Speaker 2: But I do understand the upset. I want to share
17:35
Speaker 2: a personal story.
17:36
Speaker 1: When I came into Delaware State University, my college picks
17:39
Speaker 1: and the schools that I applied to, I think I
17:41
Speaker 1: applied to maybe two or three HBCUs. I didn't really
17:44
Speaker 1: know much about HBCUs. I only knew of Delaware State
17:46
Speaker 1: because I had a mentor who is also a Delta,
17:49
Speaker 1: which is a Greek sorority, a part of the Divine
17:51
Speaker 1: Nine on HBCU campuses, was a graduate of the school.
17:55
Speaker 1: My goal was to get into like a big city school,
17:57
Speaker 1: so I wanted to go to like an NYU or
17:59
Speaker 1: USC or something like that.
18:00
Speaker 2: Temple.
18:01
Speaker 1: Anything that was going to put me in a position
18:02
Speaker 1: where I could like act and model and do the
18:05
Speaker 1: things that I'm doing now didn't happen. Ended up at
18:07
Speaker 1: Delaware State University. And I remember the first thing, literally,
18:11
Speaker 1: like the first thing that I was told when I
18:14
Speaker 1: decided to go to Dell State was you know, you
18:16
Speaker 1: want to model and you want to work in entertainment.
18:19
Speaker 1: It's going to be so hard for you to be
18:21
Speaker 1: able to do that because number one, you're going to.
18:23
Speaker 2: Be in Dover. You're going to be in the middle
18:24
Speaker 2: of nowhere.
18:25
Speaker 1: Nobody supports HBCUs and HBCU students, nor those conversations around
18:29
Speaker 1: the school. People don't even think that those schools are legit.
18:31
Speaker 1: People are going to look at your degree and not
18:33
Speaker 1: think it's legit. You're not going to be able to
18:35
Speaker 1: do things you want to do on a high level.
18:37
Speaker 1: It's going to be hard. That was the narrative that
18:40
Speaker 1: was given to me when I headed to my HBCU.
18:43
Speaker 1: I got there and hit campus and I was like,
18:46
Speaker 1: I don't care about none of that. This school makes
18:47
Speaker 1: me feel good, Like this school makes me understand my
18:50
Speaker 1: place in the world because I see all these people
18:52
Speaker 1: that look like me, that have the balance between like
18:54
Speaker 1: I can have a good time, I can achieve, I
18:56
Speaker 1: can do all these things. But at the same time,
18:58
Speaker 1: I'm going somewhere and like I'm going to disrupt when
19:00
Speaker 1: I get there. It was just, I don't know, It's
19:02
Speaker 1: a feeling that I can't really explain anybody who's went
19:04
Speaker 1: to an HBCU. You understand exactly what I'm saying. But
19:07
Speaker 1: it's a very sacred and a very like, my experience
19:10
Speaker 1: is not another HBCU students experience. But I think we
19:13
Speaker 1: can all we all can understand. I think this is
19:15
Speaker 1: why as alumni we go so hard for our schools.
19:18
Speaker 1: That's sacred. I want to protect just keeping certain things
19:21
Speaker 1: in that experience and that connection that you're able to
19:24
Speaker 1: make with yourself and make with the fact that like
19:27
Speaker 1: you're black and you're needed in this world that the
19:29
Speaker 1: school gives you. You want to protect that feeling. So
19:31
Speaker 1: I'm at my HBCU, I'm doing, you know, all the things,
19:33
Speaker 1: having a great time. My senior year comes and we
19:37
Speaker 1: slowly start seeing more white people on campus, and we
19:40
Speaker 1: used to make jokes about it, like we used to
19:42
Speaker 1: be like, oh, every white person we saw on campus,
19:44
Speaker 1: we used to be like, oh, they got to be
19:45
Speaker 1: on their questioning team. And then I remember I graduated.
19:48
Speaker 1: I graduated in twenty fourteen from Delaware State University and
19:51
Speaker 1: came back to school. Now the following year twenty fifteen.
19:55
Speaker 1: Dale State at that time was bringing in about four
19:57
Speaker 1: thousand new students per year and only eleven percent of
19:59
Speaker 1: the were white or non black, not a big percentage,
20:02
Speaker 1: but it is a different type of life experience and
20:05
Speaker 1: feeling when you are the majority not the minority. So
20:07
Speaker 1: you got to still experience that. A few years past,
20:10
Speaker 1: and I remember it was a big thing that Delawares
20:13
Speaker 1: University had this like big huge influx of non black
20:18
Speaker 1: student enrollment, and there was a big discourse online about
20:21
Speaker 1: it amongst students, amongst alumni because there was this feeling
20:26
Speaker 1: of like, Okay, this is supposed to be ours, like
20:29
Speaker 1: this is supposed to be even everything down to like
20:31
Speaker 1: the music, the dances, the way that we talked to
20:34
Speaker 1: each other, the way that the teachers loved on us
20:37
Speaker 1: and spoke to us, and you know it just the
20:39
Speaker 1: community of it all that is such a big thing
20:41
Speaker 1: on HBCU campus. And I think the minute that you
20:44
Speaker 1: think about, you know, bringing non black people into that
20:48
Speaker 1: space to matriculate through that school, you get the sense
20:51
Speaker 1: of the feeling that that goes away. Now again, I
20:54
Speaker 1: wasn't there when this happened on my campus, so I
20:56
Speaker 1: don't know what the feeling and if the feeling changed,
20:58
Speaker 1: but I can tell.
20:59
Speaker 2: You how I felt watching it.
21:01
Speaker 1: I felt bad for the students that were on campus
21:03
Speaker 1: and having to come behind me. And the reason why
21:05
Speaker 1: is because I do think that there is a conversation
21:08
Speaker 1: that we never ever have as black people because we
21:11
Speaker 1: normally have to just shut up, put our head down,
21:12
Speaker 1: and do the work because we are the minority and
21:14
Speaker 1: not the majority. Your world and your life are just
21:17
Speaker 1: different when you are surrounded by your people. The way
21:20
Speaker 1: you talk, the way you hold your head, the way
21:22
Speaker 1: you dress, the way you glow, everything is different. The
21:25
Speaker 1: minute you bring people from outside of that, and no
21:27
Speaker 1: matter where they've grown up, the type of family they've
21:30
Speaker 1: come from, how much slang they know, how much hip
21:33
Speaker 1: hop they know, anything, it's just different. You have to
21:36
Speaker 1: pull your pants up and look and walk and talk
21:38
Speaker 1: and posture yourself a different way being on an HBCU campus.
21:41
Speaker 1: The beauty of that you learn that right, You learn
21:44
Speaker 1: how to navigate in the world and protect yourself and
21:46
Speaker 1: keep yourself alive. But it's a reprieve, it's a breath
21:49
Speaker 1: of fresh air. It is a comfort space because you
21:51
Speaker 1: don't have to do it every day in your day
21:54
Speaker 1: to day like you do in the world, because the
21:56
Speaker 1: world is looking at you and putting you behind the
21:58
Speaker 1: eight ball all the time. That doesn't happen on your
22:01
Speaker 1: HBCU campus, But instantly, when you begin to see others
22:04
Speaker 1: that don't look like you in this space, you do it.
22:06
Speaker 1: It's just a natural thing that we do. We call
22:08
Speaker 1: it duality or our ability to code switch. But if
22:12
Speaker 1: you think about how instantly you do that and how
22:14
Speaker 1: you've been raised all of your life, if you're a
22:16
Speaker 1: black person listening to this, to do that, it's exhausting
22:20
Speaker 1: after a while. It is very exhausting after a while.
22:23
Speaker 1: And it was great to be in a space where
22:25
Speaker 1: I never had to feel that exhaustion. So I felt
22:28
Speaker 1: bad for a lot of the students after me because
22:30
Speaker 1: I'm like that feeling of never having to feel that exhaustion.
22:32
Speaker 1: Even though they're going to be the majority versus the minority,
22:35
Speaker 1: it's just going to be different.
22:36
Speaker 2: So I get people's upset. I also get the upset because.
22:40
Speaker 1: Then I'm one of the people that believe that we
22:42
Speaker 1: don't get keep like I think certain things should be
22:44
Speaker 1: kept for us. And it's okay, Like I don't necessarily
22:48
Speaker 1: want to hear about, you know, a non black person's
22:51
Speaker 1: experience at an HBCU because to me, being at a
22:55
Speaker 1: HBCU and being the black person who had to accept
22:58
Speaker 1: the non black person, it's always like, well, why are
23:01
Speaker 1: you here, what are you here for?
23:03
Speaker 2: And why can't this just be ours?
23:05
Speaker 1: This has all of the makeup of everything that is
23:07
Speaker 1: going to piss somebody off. And I actually hope that
23:10
Speaker 1: every single person that has had something to say about
23:12
Speaker 1: this series, both positive and negative, take the time to
23:15
Speaker 1: watch it, because I think it's only fair. If you're
23:17
Speaker 1: going to critique something, you need to know exactly what
23:19
Speaker 1: you're critiquing and why. And we don't know that to
23:22
Speaker 1: the full extent yet. We don't know kind of how
23:25
Speaker 1: this story maps out.
23:26
Speaker 2: Don't know.
23:27
Speaker 1: Nikia is super like personally, but I know her work
23:30
Speaker 1: and I can speak to her work enough to know
23:32
Speaker 1: that nothing about what she has ever done and never
23:34
Speaker 1: put out into the world was harming of us or
23:37
Speaker 1: for us and for our stories ever that I've seen.
23:40
Speaker 1: I want to give her, you know, the benefit of
23:42
Speaker 1: the doubt and watch it, get some full context on it,
23:45
Speaker 1: and then I'll be back and have a conversation with
23:47
Speaker 1: you guys. You know about what I think, and I'm
23:49
Speaker 1: open to having a Kiya and Key Key Palmer come
23:51
Speaker 1: on the podcast and have the conversation. I think that
23:53
Speaker 1: would be a dope episode as well, but I think
23:55
Speaker 1: we got to give us some time. But I do
23:56
Speaker 1: think though that this should be a lesson to all
23:58
Speaker 1: creatives because what I right, I hope that when I
24:01
Speaker 1: go watch this series, when you're gonna take a chance
24:04
Speaker 1: like that and there's a shock factor like seeing a
24:07
Speaker 1: non black person at a coveted black space like an HBCU,
24:10
Speaker 1: you gotta really really really know what you're doing, not
24:13
Speaker 1: even know what you're doing, because the kid knows what
24:15
Speaker 1: she's doing, but you gotta really really really make sure
24:17
Speaker 1: as much as you can because things are always miscontrued,
24:19
Speaker 1: but as much as you can. You gotta make sure
24:21
Speaker 1: that your art is laying as close to your intention
24:24
Speaker 1: as it can be, and you're doing everything you can
24:26
Speaker 1: to make sure you getting all your points acrossing you
24:29
Speaker 1: know what I mean? Dotcha, I cross your t's if
24:31
Speaker 1: you are the creator, because this is very sensitive to people.
24:33
Speaker 1: For some people, hbc USED is the only space they've
24:36
Speaker 1: ever experienced that was okay for them to be them,
24:39
Speaker 1: and then they went on into a world that was
24:41
Speaker 1: like YO, put your head down, I'm humble you real quick,
24:43
Speaker 1: so it's very sensitive to us.
24:45
Speaker 2: You know what I mean?
24:45
Speaker 1: So I get it again. Wanna watch the series. It's
24:49
Speaker 1: via key TV. It is called Southern Front Rice and
24:53
Speaker 1: I'll be back with an update once I watch. This
24:55
Speaker 1: is the Latest with Laura La Rosa. At the end
24:57
Speaker 1: of the day, y'all could be anywhere with anybody having
24:59
Speaker 1: a conversation about these topics, but y'all choose to be
25:02
Speaker 1: right here within me, lowriders. I appreciate you guys every
25:06
Speaker 1: single time, in every single episode.
25:07
Speaker 2: I'm Laura l Rosa. This is the Latest, and I
25:10
Speaker 2: will catch you guys in my next episode. Oh and
25:14
Speaker 2: please take it to the streets and the tweet you
25:16
Speaker 2: call the truths be.
25:16
Speaker 1: Outside, we Outside, We outside outside, tweet every other page
25:21
Speaker 1: at me, Laura Lo Rosa, l O R E N
25:25
Speaker 1: l O R O s A everywhere. I want to
25:29
Speaker 1: hear your thoughts on this. I want to hear your thoughts.
25:31
Speaker 1: Let's talk about it. I'll be back