The Vibe magazine article titled “Mean Girls of Morehouse,” amounts to a journalistic monstrosity. The title alone is extremely inflammatory, the story is defamatory to the legendary Morehouse College and the concept is childishly reckless, like a kid playing with matches who doesn’t realize that he can burn the whole house down.
Never mind that the white-owned Vibe magazine never, ever devoted its coveted front cover to an HBCU before. Never. The owners care nothing about the sustainability and integrity of anything in our community. Nor does the magazine care much about how much black brilliance is annually disbursed out into the country from Morehouse and its institutional sibling, Morehouse School of Medicine, much to the benefit of this often ungrateful nation. Nor does it care that Morehouse’s curriculum is in the top 10 in the nation, according to the U.S. Department of Education. Nope, those types of statistics don’t tickle the libido nor titillate the baser desires enough for Vibe magazine’s taste. All Vibe cares about, prior to this article, is highlighting black booties. And that’s what this article smells like — one that hasn’t been washed in weeks.
So the first time Vibe takes interest in an HBCU, it generates this putrid-smelling filth that stinks in the nostrils of Spike Lee and Samuel Jackson and thousands of other prestigious alum of this upstanding institution of higher learning. Vibe conveniently ignores the other 3,000 black male students — including all of the heterosexual students whom Vibe and its white owners have NEVER taken an interest in — and focused on four or five sexually ambiguous men and splash their emotional confusion and frustration all over the campus. The exploration into the miniscule transgender and androgynous subculture at Morehouse, or across the country for that matter, could have been done in a much more tasteful manner.
Vibe’s publisher, Len Burnett, could actually make a great candidate for the Bunny Ranch in Nevada with the way he prostituted himself, his education, his HBCU brethren, his magazine and any vestige of journalistic integrity. The only thing missing on Burnett is high heels and a thong. Those whores in Nevada only wish they could turn tricks the way Burnett did for his Caucasian-backed executives, who probably just finished watching Burnett tap dance around another wretched concept that demeans and devalues urban institutions even further. And taking in to account that many HBCU’s are hemorrhaging students and much-needed dollars, this article is very damaging. It helps turn Morehouse into a comedic punchline.
Dr. William Bynum, Jr., vice president for Student Services, had already told the media that only an infinitesimal percentage of Morehouse men were trying to be the next Ru Paul or Boy George. “We are talking about five students who are living a gay lifestyle that is leading them to dress a way we do not expect in Morehouse men,” he said.
Kevin Rome, Ph.D., Morehouse class of 1989, told Vibe something similar when he added that “there are nearly 3,000 students at Morehouse, and maybe three that [the ban on women’s attire] applies to. We’re giving such a large influence on a minute population. It’s not representative of the school.”
But this “Mean Girls of Morehouse” cover story is actually representative of the misguided and mangled minds over at Vibe who thought they could sell a few extra copies and regain their mid-’90s relevancy. But in the process they sold their souls with this low-level, cheap-seat, bottom-shelf reporting that plasters a permanent stain on all parties involved, including the faculty, students and proud alumni who were ambushed with Vibe’s cowardice and premeditated slander.
Hope you got enough trinkets and doodads in exchange for placing Morehouse’s good name at the feet of your bosses, Mr. Burnett.
–terry shropshire
