Recently, my roommates and I have been interested in watching the latest season of "The Real World." The MTV show is in its 31st season. I usually do not pay attention to this show because it's been on for what seems like forever, it can seem scripted at times, the people are annoying, etc. This season caught my attention when I saw an article about a girl on the show named Jenna.
If you are unfamiliar with "The Real World," it is a reality television show where complete strangers are put into a house together and the world watches what happens. This season, seven people were put into a penthouse in Vegas together, and they were told they had to complete challenges in order to stay in the house, such as bungee jumping out of hot air balloons.
Beyond physical challenges, the roommates had challenges to deal with among themselves. Of course, when you put a bunch of 18 to 22-year-old adults together for an extended period of time, something is bound to happen.
This season had way more drama than I think there has been in the past, and it all revolved around Jenna, the girl from South Carolina. From the beginning, Jenna rubbed the other housemates the wrong way with her comments about African Americans. In episode two, Jenna made several comments towards an African American woman in the house named CeeJai. Jenna started making comments toward CeeJai about how she "wishes black people from where I am from were like you." She made blanketed statements about African Americans and defended the confederate flag. Jenna also started some of her sentences with the phrase, "I'm not racist, but..." which didn't help the fact that her comments really were racist.
Multiple times during the show, Jenna was confronted by her housemates about the comments she had made multiple times, and she denied ever saying any of it. Luckily, all of this was recorded and put on TV, so she can't hide from what she actually said. Chris, another member of the house, leaked information during filming about what Jenna had said, and the news about Jenna's comments was all over social media and the internet.
In the last two episodes, Jenna and CeeJai get into some physical altercations, especially in the last episode. Jenna was speaking to one of her friends, and her friend continued to call CeeJai "ratchet," and then said CeeJai needed to go pick cotton. Jenna never stopped her friend or told her that wasn't OK, all she did was laugh. She also said that she has no control over what her friends say and that it has nothing to do with her. That night, Jenna continued to push CeeJai's buttons, and when CeeJai had enough, she ran at Jenna and hit her multiple times in the face.
Although violence is never the best way to solve issues, I think that this season of "The Real World" brought up some interesting topics to talk about. Jenna defended her words multiple times by saying she was from the south and that people are only offended by what she says if they choose to be. It is worrisome that people like Jenna defend hateful and racist words with the excuse that they are from the south. It also is not valid to say your words only offend people if they choose to let those words offend them. Anything you say or do can offend someone, but it is their choice whether or not they let it affect them any further or act on it. It is sad when people can't take responsibility for what they say and what they do and who they associate themselves with. Kailah, another girl in the house, told Jenna that her friend was racist, and that reflects poorly on her.
I think this season of "The Real World" has shown the world that for the most part, racism is not even close to being gone. There are a lot of people that still see African Americans as inferior and try to put them all under the same roof with blanketed stereotypes.
The solution?
I think it is extremely important to teach kids from early on about differences, and how differences are a good thing, not a bad thing. I think it is important that we do not shield kids from issues such as racism, because if we do, they will not know how to handle it when they are confronted by it.
We must be very aware of our own biases and be able to see how we affect others. Jenna had a big problem with stepping into CeeJai's shoes and seeing how much her words affected her. If Jenna had taken the time to listen and to learn, maybe she would've taken more away from her experience than just a black eye.
