BET College Hill's VI Season: The Cultural Forum

Let me first start out by saying that this is the first time in a long time that I have watched BET or been on its website in years due to the fact that it has changed drastically from what I grew up on. I recently decided to watch BET because College Hill: Season 4 has featured my home and college Alma Mater; St. Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands and the University of the Virgin Islands. Just seeing clips of my home on the website and on T.V. made me shine with pride to say, "Yes, that is my home!" However, continuing to watch the show on the BET website and read some of the chat transcripts from certain members of the house made me disappointed.

Apparently animosity grew between cultural differences between the California kids and the Virgin Islands kids. It was said by both groups of kids that they are "separating themselves" from each other. Some of the California kids, namely Krystal and Falon, made disrespectful comments about the island, its culture, and its people. One the same note, the V.I. kids made their share of disrespectful comments as well. What made me disappointed? Well, of course, that my home was disrespected, but also that it was shown that we, as in Black people, have not dealt with our pride and prejudices when it comes to differences in culture. This situation could have been dispelled before violence broke out. However, I believe it wasn't merely because it is "entertainment television" and the ratings must have gone through the roof.

Nonetheless, there was a cultural forum to discuss these issues that had 'segregated' the kids to help them understand both sides of their experience. Based upon what I saw from the website, it seemed to have been a good discussion. I'm not sure if the entire forum was aired on T.V. (I think it should have been), however; it was good start to help our young Black people understand that we come from the same ancestral history, but merely have a difference in lifestyles. I must commend my college mentor, Dr. Malik Sekou, for a well-moderated forum which allowed continual discussion from both sides.