“School Daze” Screened for Black History Month

It’s February, meaning it’s that time of year again: black history month. Currently, the Black Student Union (BSU) is hosting a variety of events for Black History Month, but probably the most entertaining was the screening held last Thursday in Donahue.

The screening was of the 1988 Spike Lee film “School Daze,” which stars Laurence Fishburne, Tisha Campbell, and Ossie Davis in a supporting role. The film is set in the all black university, Mission College. Fishburne plays the role of Vaughn “Dap” Dunlap, a socially conscious student who heads demonstrations against the apartheid in South Africa. There is tension between Dap and his fellow classmate Julian Eaves, who heads the Gamma Phi fraternity and leads in tormenting Dap’s younger cousin “Half-Pint,” played by Spike Lee.

The Gamma Phi fraternity offers a background to the real issue of racial conflicts between members of the fraternity and sorority. The musical number “Good or Bad Hair” attests to this, as the light and dark skinned women taunt each other through lyrics that disparage one group’s “nappy” hair, and the other group’s “nice” hair, which they believe to be synthetic. The dark skinned women are taunted because of their skin color while the light skinned women are accused of wanting to be white.

What exactly did this screening have to do with Black History Month? Shouldn’t we watch films that celebrate our unity as a people? That’s the impression “School Daze” gave off when the credits opened with images of influential African Americans, such as Malcolm X, Willie Mays, Dr. King, and Ella Fitzgerald. It wasn’t until after the screening was over that Kendra Eddy, secretary of BSU remarked she chose the film because it highlights an issue that is still present today.

Why is it that lighter skinned black people are seen as better? Why should the texture of a person’s hair matter? Perhaps the best way to solve this problem, if it even can be solved, is to do exactly what Dap tells us at the movie’s end: “wake up.” What are we waking up to? The fact that all people in the black community are all equal, and if they can’t embrace the differences, how can they be sure other people will?