Bama Girl
“How do you beat The Machine?” – Bama Girl
This eye-opening documentary follows witty, charming, ambitious, lovely, young Jessica Thomas in her quest to be homecoming queen at the University of Alabama. She is an outstanding student with a high GPA, has a host of honors and awards to her name, is popular, is a former president of one of the largest sororities on campus, and has dreamed of being and prepared to run for homecoming queen since her freshman year. She’s a shoe in right? Uh, not so much. Jessica Thomas is black. Why does that matter well may you ask? Because there hasn’t been a black homecoming queen in 15 years since changes in how queens were elected put more power into the hands of the segregated Greek system. And I do mean segregated. We’re not talking “majority” white or “traditionally” black fraternities and sororities here like on some campuses. We’re talking there has been one black woman in one white sorority in the entire history of the school and that’s the limit of Greek integration. We’re talking stories of white fraternities which reportedly chastise members for bringing black dates to functions or have fun-filled, hate-speech-filled songs on why a black man will never be a member. We’re talking about a campus where one fraternity openly celebrates “Old South Week” with confederate uniforms, southern bells dresses, the works, something so shocking to witness happening with such gleeful openness that people throughout the theatre were flipping open their phones to make sure it was still 2008. For all that though, there is racial harmony on campus and students both black and white have a genuine love for, pride in, and desire to represent their school. One thing stands in their way and in Jessica Thomas’s, and that one thing is The Machine.
The Machine is this hard-to-believe-such-a-thing-really-exists-in-this-day-and-age covert, underground, unspoken of cabal of members of the most powerful white Greek sororities and fraternities that pretty much controls elections on campus whether homecoming queen or student body president. Basically a handful of men in a basement somewhere pick one candidate to represent and spread the word anonymously down through the white Greek system telling everyone to vote for this particular candidate. The block voting ensures the win. You can hardly believe its real until you see the expressions of students asked about it- they go from smiling interviewee to looking like they just had a bucket of ice water thrown on them when the name is even mentioned. It’s kinda creepy. Others would only speak off camera. Still others were forced into silence by complex media agreements they were forced to sign upon joining the sororities and fraternities??? In the somewhat distant past The Machine has been linked to everything from assaults to threats to cross burning. More recently they stick to politics. Why does this matter beyond the campus of U of A? Members of The Machine go on into law, numerous other professions, and of course politics.
The great thing about this documentary is that by following one girl’s pursuit of homecoming queen we are privy to issues that the university would never have allowed a straight on look into or a filmmaker access to the students and campus to explore. We get to see the good sides of the university and the student pride. Even in the audience there were black and white U of A alums, all proud of their school, all supporting the movie as an honest portrayal, and all hoping for change. Plus, we get to follow Jessica, this incredible young woman and watch someone with incredible drive and self-confidence work hard and fearlessly towards her goals no matter how lofty. Since this documentary was filmed the existence of The Machine was finally publicly confirmed. Jessica Thomas is in law school and just successfully ran for Student Bar President.
See this film, it will blow your mind.
Lucy Cruell