My greatest dream in life was to go off to Spelman, pledge and one day marry a Morehouse man. I was gonna dress in cardigans and go to my Links, Junior League and Rotary Club meetings after dropping my son off to Kappa League. The plan was to dress my little girl in frilly pinks and greens because let’s be clear, there is nothing too good for legacy kids. But “it was all a dream” as it has been said before.

As a victim of sex trafficking that was not the subculture that accepted me. We’re taught professionally to only self disclose for the benefit of the client. So I had to be transparent to give contour to my perspective.

It took me a minute to sit with my feelings to understand why I have mixed emotions about the Ralph Lauren HBCU Collection. Though every piece was superbly designed it just doesn’t sit well with me. Which honestly has little to do with exploring the particulars of monetary arrangement. We can reference historically how big corporations mass produce aspects of our culture and capitalize from it. So let’s keep this a whole thousand. Whatever the arrangements however the pie is sliced I’m certain RL stands more to gain than they are giving. So they are sitting in a winning seat. That’s just the simple economics of it all. So that’s not even the rub, but here it is.

It’s the misleading narrative for me, I feel slighted. It’s not fair that the “tiered institutions” (a term used by the Rev Dr. Melva Sampson) were actually presented on this larger than life historically defining platform as THE model of the vintage chic, American Dream!?! Like, what were they wearing at Morris Brown, Southern, Grambling, FAMU, and Howard, Tennessee State…. ripped overalls? Zoot suits? Maybe some sort of slave regalia? Noooo!!!

That particular “Edwardian” flip was a result of our COLLECTIVE EFFORTS to counter the relentless propaganda of negative imagery used in response to the surge of Black success and political achievements after Emancipation and during the Reconstruction era.

Black people were depicted as animalistic druggies. The imagery of who we were was being weaponized. So our fashion became our protest.

We began to stake claim to our dignity and our sophistication with use of the way we dressed. We customized our own fashion and took it to the next, next level of class to overstate our poise and place in this country. And we did it big too, cause y’all know we extra!

But the point is we ALL DID IT. It wasn’t just those with lots of discretionary income but all of us. There were not just petite sophisticates. It was all sizes and cuts, it was for all of us. There was not one group or one socioeconomic class or one region that more authentically represented our style than any other. It was ALL ours and openly acknowledged that it was our sh*t, what WE did not just those of us the dominant culture cared to acknowledge.

Still today in 2022, there is a sense of collective pride in each and everyone of our HBCU’s for their own unique reasons. We grew up in the era of “BLACKER THE COLLEGE SWEETER THE KNOWLEDGE” which promoted a particular consciousness that our interdependence was our vitality. We trusted in that knowing and whether our white oppressors accepted us or not the joke was on them because we upheld one another. Seeing the triumph in our separate but communal plights.

We stood on this principle so much that we would SQUEEZE each and every HBCU’s name on one shirt, sacrificing legibility before we would dare leave any of them off to increase the font size. Now that’s HBCU fashion!

But the RL campaign however presents a more dichotomous view of not only our fashion contribution but also the very nuanced approach to being identified as prestigious inside our communities vs from those outside of our communities.

The wording in the ad highlights the necessity to see this ONE GROUP worthy of being extended representation of the American Dream.

Meanwhile hood boys like, Young Dro, T.I., Yung Joc, Trick Daddy, Slick Rick… and countless others who (if truth be told) have been keeping the brand relevant for the past 35 years were TOTALLY ignored by RL altogether regardless of the immense cultural imprint. They were striving for the American Dream yet were overlooked and disregarded.

I’m sure it wasn’t intentional. Those who benefit from oppression can hardly see it at first. So just as the iconic Rev Dr. James H. Cone shocked his professor when he asked essentially, “What about the Blacks?” and mother of Womanist Theology Rev. Dr. Jacquelyn Grant shocked her professor Dr. Cone when she asked essentially “What about the women?” So now I’m asking, what about the “others” those who were not like Carlton but more like Will?

There’s no way around it. Everybody can’t be a SpelHouse student or alum. But for reasons that we in our community understand as having NO REFLECTION on our capabilities, intelligence, poise, prestige, class, or creativity. We recognize that in many cases it’s the effect of social stratification caused by racism that keeps lots and lots of smart sisters and brothers who would have otherwise been able to attend, enroll in other places. We know that.

But THEY don’t. Though the dominant culture may have had no idea that WE were all on the same page regarding our shared prestige, this RL campaign ad presents an altogether different story.