#32 - Simone Hicks, HBCU Athlete-Activist: Black Trauma, Resilience, and Protest on ‘All American: Homecoming’ - Leftist Teen Drama

Episode Transcript
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Hey. I'm Maria. I work at a labor union by day and write and watch too much TV by night. I like to say I've been firmly in The CW's clutches since it was The WB. As the great Seth Cohen on The OC once said about the fictional teen drama, The Valley, TV teen dramas are mind numbing escapism.

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They exist in a fantasy world where 20 something hot actors are usually cosplaying high schoolers in melodramatic depictions of adolescents. But that's honestly why I love teen dramas so much. I love the tropes and the ships and the not at all subtle product placement. I love the early offs theme songs and the cameo performances by pop punk bands. I love the newer generation of shows that are more diverse and representative of the vastness of teenage girldom.
And I especially love the moments when TV teen dramas get political. You guys, we can organize, stand together, speak with one voice. Karl Marx has come alive for me today. Now it just seems so obviously wrong that those who control capital should make their fortunes off the labor of the working class. Well, since you've fired us, you've given us plenty of time to pick in.
Workers of the world, you're not profiting. Long live the revolution. Welcome back to another episode of Leftist Teen Drama. As always, super excited to welcome back one of my dearest and oldest friends, Andre. Welcome back to Talk and we're gonna talk about the all American universe, which is one of the first things we ever talked about on the pod.
Do you wanna briefly introduce yourself in case we have any new listeners? Yeah. Hi, everyone. Childhood friend of Maria since 6th grade on MySpace, currently living in Los Angeles. I'm a writer, and I work in sustainability.
Yeah. I'm really excited to be here. So, yeah, I mean, the All American Universe has been very special to this podcast because I feel like they really are now a whole 2 shows that, you know, have black showrunners. I'm assuming based on the way that everything is written, a pretty decently black writings room. I haven't really looked it up, but, like Yeah.
I'm I'm friends with the showrunner's assistant. Oh, cool. Yeah. It's it's pretty black over there. Yeah.
And it really reflects in everything that you see on the show and the things they choose to cover, which often are, like, deeply political and of the moment in the way that they are political. So I feel like because of that, we've just had a lot of excuses to talk about it on the show. And I was like, we gotta definitely talk about All American Homecoming, which is the, like, spin off of All American. They created to have Simone Hicks, who is kind of introduced as a Jordan Baker love interest, have her kind of, like, flourish at an HBCU and get to tell, like because they we're already telling, like, college stories on All American because, like, you know, the kids all graduated, and all the football players are playing college football now. But they're definitely at PWIs.
And so they really have Symone, like, choose to go to an HBCU because it's an HBCU. And then they also had Cam Watkins, who's another, like like, second tier character on All American. They had him also go to the HBCU, and, like, they kind of anchor the friend group that is there. And Cam and Symone are kind of the 2 people we're gonna be talking about the most today. But, yeah, I do wanna talk a little bit about just our relationships to both shows.
Like, for me, I think you introduced me to All American, but then you fell behind All American, so now I probably know more than you. You definitely know more than me. I feel like I was just there for the first two seasons. I was I was there at the Taye Diggs era. Oh my god.
Yeah. I'm sure you I'm sure you saw what happened with the Yeah. I see that. Yeah. So Spoiler alert.
I, like, fell off a little bit before that. But Yeah. Oh my god. TaeDig's behind the scenes content from All American is my favorite subgenre of content. He's such a theater kid.
He's such a Jersey theater kid. I love it. Yeah. He make making, like, the his, like, TV family do, like, choreographed routines of him between takes. It's, like, amazing.
You are just, like, watching All American Homecoming for the first time. Right? So, like, what were your, like, general impressions of what you were able to watch? And and of Symone herself, I guess? I think Symone's character development throughout the series is, like, the way that you get to see her mesh all of her interests with tennis, with advocacy, with management.
It was you know, it just like she's such an interesting character to watch flourish in a college setting because, like you said, the show is so timely, and Simone just responds to each issue in a way that just feels so personal. I thought that was really amazing that they just have that type of character to anchor the show. I also love how they're able to explore their own nuances, like how there's, like, other HBCUs that they interact with who are way more underfunded and, like, you know, like Yeah. Like, I I, unfortunately, even though I feel like I should've, did not go to an HBCU, but as an outsider looking in, I thought it was pretty eclectic, all the issues that they covered. And I you know, for a CW show, I'm still pretty impressed.
Like, I feel like it wasn't in a surface humble way. Like, they pull at some emotional core pretty heavy with some heavy Absolutely. So I thought it was a great spin off. Yeah. And sadly, canceled after 3 seasons.
Would have definitely liked to have seen, like, a full 4, at least, like, to do the whole 4 years. Full 4 years. Yeah. Especially since All American did so All American got renewed. We're, you know, obviously recording this in, like, late 2024, and the new season comes out in early 2025.
But it's gonna be very different. Like, most of the core characters are not gonna be on the show anymore. Mhmm. They're almost, like, next ginning it. But, like, they're keeping Jordan and Layla to, like, anchor the like.
Like, maybe a couple other people. I haven't finished season 6 yet because I've been so, like, doing all my shit for the podcast. But, basically, like, Spencer being the anchor of All American, like, ended at the end of season 6. A while ago. Right?
Yeah. Pretty much. Well, season 6. I just finished him up. Like, him and Olivia's wedding is, like, the end of season 6.
Is Coop still in the picture? Yeah. I think Coop might be one of the people staying. Okay. Because I think the whole thing is the is like the next gen of Crenshaw Kids.
Oh. So That's what you're saying. My I think my understanding is Jordan is somehow working at the school, like, so it's he's gonna be, like, mentoring kids now and shit. And Jordan and Leila are married as well. So Oh, okay.

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I actually was very happy with the way that that relationship was very, like, well done and the way that it slow burned into happening. So I was very happy with that. So, yeah, we'll see what happens with it. But that's gonna be a a kind of a new show at in season 7. And who knows if they'll, like, let it go past season 7.
And I guess we'll see how audiences respond. Some people online are real mad. I'll tell you that. But the American fandom is really vocal, I've noticed. Oh, really?
Yes. They're yeah. And you can What fandom is it these days? Oh, absolutely. But I love it because you can absolutely tell that there is, like, like, that there are definitely lots of, like, black teenagers watching this show, you know, from, like, like, that That's really good.
That's just, like, from the way that people unless it unless white people are just that good at talking in AAVE online, you know, I guess that Which, honestly, in this day and age, there's a lot of race fishing going on. Yeah. So I don't know. It just seems culturally from the way the conversations are happening in the comment section, like, it's a lot of black folks. But, obviously, it is digital, so I don't a 100% know that.
Yeah. Yeah. Well, if that is it's it is good that it's reaching its audience, you know, like, its target audience. Because I feel like so many shows, like, Insecure have, like, mostly white woman watching it. And and it's like, I didn't even know you guys were in the room.
Like, it's just it's just crazy. So I it's it's good to hear that, at least online, it seems like it's reaching exacerbation. And yeah. I mean, people just have, like, a lot of opinions, obviously, about relationships as it goes to every fandom. So Yeah.
So we can get into All American Homecoming itself, which I thought that, like, we're so, like, some this episode is gonna be anchored around Symone because, like, obviously, the show is itself. But also, I feel like we have, like, kind of an unofficial series of episodes going on left to seen drama, where it's, like, about different, like, activist girl characters. And I don't think we've, like, really gotten to cover one who's actually a black woman yet, because, like, I just don't think it gets written that often. I'm trying to think. Like, do we have, like, Summer Roberts, Brooke Davis, who else?
I guess, Paris Geller, kind of, for that one episode. I believe it's a sister episode. That's true. Yeah. We did do a Sister, Sister episode.
We have covered black women, but I feel like getting to have her whole arc and her whole activist arc, we haven't gotten to really cover that with many without. Yeah. With many black women. So I'm excited to have our episode be like Simone Hicks, HBCU athlete activist, which is absolutely what she is. And it's really cool to see her grow.
But I think it's important, as we're talking about her journey, that we anchor it in the HBCU, like, universe, which they do create, like, a fictional HBCU called Brinkston that's set in Atlanta, which also I think it's cool they set it in Atlanta. I think that was, like, the perfect setting. Makes a lot of sense historically. Yep. Yep.
Yep. So that was something that I figured in case especially since we have, like, international listeners, perhaps you don't know much about what HBCUs means. So I figured we'd do a little bit of explaining. Let's do it. Yeah.
So, yeah. So, like, historically, black colleges and universities, which is what HBCU stands for, they were established, like, early in 19th century. Because, believe it or not, people of African descent were not welcome at that time at existing public and private institutions of higher education. And it's arguable to say that that's true now. So, according to HBCU First, prior to the Civil War, the the education of Black Americans was prohibited in most southern states and often discouraged in northern states, resulting in only a few Black schools in existence.
So we have, like, Cheyney University, established 18 37, University of the District of Columbia, 1851, Lincoln University, 18 54, and Wilberforce University, 1856. And most of the nation's HBCUs were started, like, by philanthropists, and a few, like, free blacks, and then sovereign states at the behest of the federal government, which is kind of funny. And religious organizations like AMA and the AME Church. Also, like, many notable black Americans that, like, you know, went to HBCUs, so, like, some of the ones at this particular website I actually think it's very funny which ones this particular website pointed out, but we have Kamala Harris, Howard, Oprah Winfrey, who went to Tennessee State, MLK, who went to Morehouse, Thurgood Marshall, who went to Lincoln University and Howard University, and then NFL Hall of Famer and TV host Michael Strahan. I'm like, what is he doing in there?
Texas Southern University? Okay. I mean, that was a choice. That you know what? But it's a whole range is the point.
There is a whole range. Yes. You're right. You're absolutely right. And then, also, fun fact.
In the Higher Education Act of 1965, Congress actually defined, like, HBCUs. And it's all schools that were accredited and established before 1964, and whose principal mission was the education of Black Americans. And so, also, today, even though, like, you know, they're historically like, you're you're allowed to go there if you're not black. So, like, today, 1 in 4 students is non black, which they do character, Santiago, who's Colombian. He talks about wanting to bring his mom over from Colombia, like, on the show.
But they do a good job of showing that it is a 100% of minority, and, like, blackness and black culture is still the overarching culture at the school. So Yeah. And it gets to exist outside of white base. Exactly. Do you have any, like, relationships?
Like, did you think did you actually, like, think about going to the HBCU at any point in your journey, or did you just, like, not even cross your mind? I got into college. They were at a fair senior year, and I wasn't considering it at first because they just had, like, a film department. They didn't have, like, a specific screenwriting department. Mhmm.
But I was I was open to it. I just I think they just Emerson was just enchanting in terms of, like, having a screenwriting program. So I think that just transcended everything else. But it was on my list. It was actually on my list.
So For sure. And yeah. I just think it's really cool how the show is a 100% grounded. Like, basically, the way they did it, which is often the way they do on CW shows, is they, like, backdoor piloted Homecoming in an episode of All American. I forget what season it was.
Maybe 4 or something like that. Correction from the future. The backdoor pilot of All American Homecoming was in season 3 of All American toward the end, which aired in 2021. So in that episode, like, Symone kind of has her, like, understanding of, like, wow, this is what an HBCU can feel like. Like, I want this to be my college experience.

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And so that's really what anchors the show. And because of that, she meets 2 of her, like, friends. So 2 of the main characters, Nate, who is, like, a non binary character who's, like, really cool and revolutionary in her own right, and perhaps we'll do an episode on her at some point. She deserves it. She's so funny.
Exactly. And Keisha. So they're both sophomores to, like, Symone's freshmen, but she's already friends of them when she gets to campus. And so, like, in the pilot of Homecoming, like, Symone says, it's amazing to be some places for us, by us, where excellence is expected. And Mhmm.
Keisha makes Symone, who's, like, kind of and I appreciate this because, you know, I obviously relate. It's the kind of character that needs to be pushed to go out a lot at the beginning, I feel like. And I'm like, yeah. Yeah. She comes in with, like, a very, like, I need to do this.
I need to make sure my room's set. Like, she's not she's very grounded for Yes. College freshmen. Yeah. And especially because she's, like, so set on tennis and, like, the the kinds of things you have to do to be, like, good at being an athlete are so, like, against the party culture of Exactly.
College. Exactly. And so yeah. But Keisha does make someone, like, come to the the bonfire, like, whatever, like, you know, orientation bonfire thing. And this is where we really and I think this is, like, also a very, like, accurate depiction of having, like, the frats and sororities have such a, like, role.
Because, like, obviously, like, there was a big discussion in this this year during, like, Kamala Harris' campaign of, like, the power of, like, those networks. Yeah. And so I appreciate that they they both have the sorority and the fraternity, like, represented. So JR is, like he, like, basically welcomes all of the, like, freshmen on behalf of his frat, Kappa EpsilonKappa. And he says that he has to unofficially kick off the orientation and transit transition them from freshman Cubs to excellence.
We are Bringston Lions, and can't nobody mess with our pride. And it's a very, like you know, sets the tone. Yeah. Yeah. It's like a manifestation.
Yeah. And so that's a big I think just, like, a big theme throughout the show is just, like, Black excellence as a concept and, like, shared understanding if that's what they're all striving toward, I guess. It is interesting, I think, like, the way the show is in some ways, like, very, like, black capitalist, like, aspiring to be, like, you know, whatever. You know what I mean? Absolutely.
Also, in the second episode, they kind of introduce a setting that I feel like comes up a few times throughout the show, which is the Hall of Alumni that has, like, all of these different black historical figures who went to HBCUs and such. And so, Amara is giving Symone a pep talk on the second episode, and she says, you're at an HBCU now, and one of the many benefits is that when you start to doubt yourself, you can point to examples of Black excellence and see what is possible. And, like, later that episode, Symone and Damon, like, find each other both looking at the Princeton alums and acknowledging that they're both there for inspiration as they try to, like, get used to, like, you know, balancing college life and everything. And so then, like, even the classwork itself is, you know, inherently, like, HBCU minded. Like, in the second episode, Simone is in American Lit when her professor Cortez is talking about how traditionally only books written by white authors have been considered, like, American classics.
And he says, contrary to popular belief, black stories have relatable characters and timeless themes. Your assignment is to find them, do a presentation on why those novels should be read in this class. And so Simone ends up doing her, like, whole thing on Zora Neale Hurston, which is awesome. And she talks about how, like, even with all her accolades, she was once just like us, an HBCU student persevering under the pressure of everyday life while finding power in her own voice and culture. And then she, like, basically, like, has this whole statement where she says, like, no disrespect, mister Cortez, but I think we should do more than just read Black literature, but study the authors too, because the timeless themes and relatable characters in their work are a result of their personal journeys.
And then she also suggests that they only read things written by HBCU alumni. And then she, like, kind of echoes what Amara said, and it's like, because the benefit of being here is that even when we start to doubt ourselves, we can point to examples of Black excellence. People just like us who show us what's possible. And then the other the other scene that I actually wanted to be our first one that we watch is from early season 2, the first day of class is back, and they're coming off the Martin Luther King holiday. And so in their, I think, history class, they're talking about MLK, but not just MLK.
Like, their first assignment is gonna focus on the men and women who walked with him, whose names aren't as well known to history. And this is kind of the introduction of Lando, who is actually the person Samba ends up with at the end of the show. So this scene that we're gonna watch is both, I think, a really interesting conversation that I could only envision a Black writer's room having, like, 2 characters have. And it's also, like, a really fun introduction to, like, their kind of, like, enemies to lovers dynamic. When people think about the Birmingham bus boycotts, they think about Rosa Parks and doctor King.
But it was a teenage girl named Claudette Colvin who refused to leave her seat 9 months before Parks. And local activists, Edie Nixon and Joan Robinson, led the charge to challenge segregation on those buses in 1956. So they should be credited for the boycott success as well. I don't know if I would actually say it was a success. It eliminated discrimination in mass transit and kicked off the civil rights movement.
But a lot of black small businesses couldn't compete once folks could go to the bigger white owned stores. But that's not what we're talking about. Well, maybe it should be. My family came from Birmingham. And 2 years after the boycott, my great uncle's car service business went bankrupt.
So what? You're pro segregation? No. Look. I just think there's a conversation about whether integration undercut the unity and financial stability of the community.
An all black environment has its rewards. Case in point, the HBCU we're in right now. See, not everything is so simplistic. No one said anything about simplicity. Good points all around, but we're out of time.
More to come. Yeah. That is not a conversation that happened at Emerson College. Yeah. It's just interesting that there gets to be a deeper perspective other than the main one that America has constructed us to receive all the time.
Like, there's nuances to it. And he has specificity because he's from Birmingham. So there's, like, real lived experience. So, yeah, I definitely would imagine that someone in that writer's room is from Birmingham or know someone who's from Birmingham because that isn't an opinion you hear every like, all around. That's a very specific opinion.
Absolutely. And I think that Lando, I would say, is kinda known for that in this show. Like, and I think that's why they work together is that he does open her mind up and bring new perspective, but also, like, you know, realizes that she's like a fucking queen and everything, which is, you know, a prerequisite. But, yeah, I like I think that's a really interesting conversation and, like, absolutely a point that I never would have thought of. So I, like, appreciated the whole, like there's layers to it where they're already trying to be, like, okay.
We're gonna look at beyond the, like, MLK Day lesson that everyone has gotten every year, you know, forever. Product covets name didn't get said. It's like So you like after most people haven't even heard that name before. Exactly. So just like the levels of education that it's doing into black history and, like, is already great with them, like, doing the more undersung heroes.
And then having Lando's, like, you know, from, as we said, his, like, family's lived experience aspect as well, just like in Richard said even more. But that's kind of like the classroom environment that they depict on the show. And so then the other defining plotline I that we briefly talk about is that at the end of season 1, the crew kind of have a having to join together to preserve, like, what makes their HBCU so special. Because in the penultimate episode of the first season, Amara, who at that point is just a professor, finds out that Brinkston is considering merging with a PWI. And she's like to the president at the time, Zeke, how did we get here?

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And he says, the same way other HBCUs have, low revenues and poor enrollment. Now I know everyone will paint me as the villain. I don't care. I've done everything I could. This merger is the only way to save Bringson.
And Amara says, even if we lose the heart and soul of our school in the process, what's the point in saving Bringson if it's not Bringson anymore? Yeah. They are dealing with some real life issues here. Like, I I really like that this is not your surface level. Like, this is not a different world.
Yeah. Like, the realities of HBCUs and, like, I think while they're highly respected, there's a lot of behind the scene things that don't get talked about. And I think that Sean does a really good job of addressing them. Absolutely. Low enrollment and, like, there is a point that we're gonna talk about in this plotline too.
So basically, like, Amar brings together a bunch of powerful alumni, and it's like, when's the last time you donated? To, like, a bunch of them. And they all are kinda like, oh, like, I haven't in a while. Like, I don't ignore those calls. Like, whatever.
And so they, like, kind of, like, tap their resources, and she's like, everybody call your contacts. And they end up raising 4,000,000. But I think they've won, but it turns out they're gonna need a lot more than that now. And what happened is that the PWI, like, got called by a journalist for a quote, and in, like, the post Black Lives Matter era was, like, oh, maybe people are gonna react badly to a PWI taking over an HBCU, and they back out of the deal. And so there's not gonna be a merger, so they're, like, oh, we won.
But they're, like, no. Since Frankston couldn't be merged, the trustees voted to have sold unless enough money is raised by the end of homecoming. Because, yeah, this episode, like, takes place during their, like, classic homecoming alumni come back to the school, like, moment. And the other thing is that while they're, like, in the middle of shopping, you know, trying to merge with the PWI earlier, there is a funny moment where she, like, interrupts them talking about putting, like, PWI alumni in the Hall of Alumni that we had talked about earlier. And she's like, are you seriously talking about putting up portraits of app developers next to Alice Walker, Toni Morrison, Zora Neale Hurston?
In the 2022 and 2024, I guess. Exactly. And it is like a Black woman who's trying to do the merger too. So definitely, like there's definitely a lot of critique of, like, you know, the, like, the Black liberal who just cares more about, like, fitting into that, like, class of society than, like, anything else, I feel like. They have a couple depictions of that, which again, like, you're allowed to have so much diversity of blackness when you're able to, like, not have to deal with whiteness in the in the story, really.
Absolutely. Except for, like, when, like, it's, like, the cops or something. Like Yeah. Yeah. You really do get to see them exist in their own microcosm and, like, have very specific issues that only pertain to HBCUs.
So then I also just wanted to say, for anyone who doesn't know, it is true and, like, I'm glad that they, like, really like Zora Neale Hurston, Tony Hor Morrison, and Alice Lager are all, like, HBCU alums. Zora Dora Neale Hurston and Tony Morrison both went to Howard and were both 1st gen college students. And Hurston was apparently one of the first members of the Zeta Psi Beta Authority, which, you know, is, I think, one of the the big ones. And then Alice Walker attended Spellman. So, you know, they they really have their references down pat.
And so then in the season 1 finale of All American Homecoming, there are lots of safe brinks and flyers being ranted around it, like all the homecoming activities, and an announcer declares the big explicit 8 party, which is, like, the big fraternities for sororities on campus, have been turned into a fundraiser with all the proceeds going towards Save Bringston. And Keisha is very much, like, on the, like, we must save Springston. No one say that there's any way we can raise this money, like train. And Simone actually considers transferring at this point, like, basically because of her tennis aspirations and thinking she won't be able to play at Brixton anymore. And Amara's like, Okay, but we can still do everything in our power to save a difference if we're going to leave.
But then Amara kind of has all of the kids give an interview of the local news. So she says, There's a misconception that HBCUs aren't relevant today because Black students can attend BWIs. The HBCUs provide students of color a place to learn without discrimination. And so then, like, a bunch of the students, like, they all talk to the cameras. And, like, Cam says he can beat himself unapologetically in all my blackness.
He says, I see reflections of myself everywhere in class, in the material we study, in our relationships. And Nate says that Princeton has given her a lot of self confidence, and, you know, Keisha obviously, like, sort of tops it off with getting people to come out and donate. And, again, Keisha's very insistent, saying, like, we're gonna save our home and our way of life. Yeah. That's when yeah.
That's when Simone finally admits that she's considering transferring. And Kishia argues, like, Bringsdon is bigger than tennis. Like, you came here for other reasons, and you just talked with them on TV, like, about our connection to our real history and our culture. And she has a very emotional trying to get Simone to stay, which she does eventually stay. And in a very, like, CW fashion, at the end of the season one finale, Bringston both wins the baseball game, and a last minute donation saves the school.
However, there's a twist. And the, like, last minute donation was given on two conditions, that the current president, Zeke, step down and that Amara take his place as president of Brink's man. That's how you end a season. Yes. Exactly.
That brings us into season 2 where, like, I just feel like in season 2, they they got 15 episodes. So they got more than the 13 they got in season 1. And I feel like they really just fucking went for it because, like, the 2 main plot lines we're going to talk about were in season 2. The 4th episode of the 2nd season is called We Shall Not Be Moved. And you know shit's gonna go down because it begins with, like, one of the warnings across the screen, and it says, like, this episode contains sensitive subject matter regarding threats that continue to be made against the HBCU community.
So we said in, like, the title of this episode that we're going to talk about, like, Black trauma, Black resilience, and Black protests, and I would say that, like, you know, here, we're going into a Black trauma section. The bombs are at quote hotline. So the episode opens on Amara doing a video address to the college. She says, today, they came for us. Their goal is to terrorize us, disrupt our lives and still fear.
But I have one thing to say to them. We shall not be moved. So then, we cut back 24 hours earlier, and that's where we find out that there is bomb threat on campus. So this is the plotline that we're really going to focus in on, definitely, some of Simone's feelings and such, and where she shows herself to be a true leader in this situation. But, also, we're gonna talk about Cam, and he has a very specific role in this plotline because he is Amaro's assistant, and her office is the one that receives the call.
President Amaro Patterson's office. Hey, Kim. I'm headed to the budget meeting. You're gonna need to reschedule it. Why?
Who's that on the phone? So let's pause there because yeah, I don't know. I just I really think the actor who plays Cam, like, acted the fuck out of the plot line. So I just want to give him a shout out. Definitely.
Because the way that page changed Yeah. Yeah. Totally imagine what was said to him. Exactly. Yeah.
You never really, like, full like, you get the gist of it, but you don't, like, fully know. And I think that's I don't know. I just I love what they do with his plot line in this. So that disturbs their day, and we'll resume and see everyone finding out. There is a really visual moment where Samoan is at tennis practice warming up when, like, a bunch of people who aren't tennis players, like, stream onto the courts.

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So it kinda, like, slowly makes its way around campus. Everyone, can I have your attention, please? Damon. Mara, what's going on? Please have a seat.
Okay. What is going on? The FBI and the Atlanta PD are investigating a bomb threat made against us this morning. The threat involves the area immediately surrounding West Campus, which is currently being evacuated. Please avoid this area as the investigation continues.
For those in other areas on campus, please please shelter in place until further notice. This is not a drill. There's no longer access in or out of Princeton University. That was such a CW line. I love it so much.
This is unfortunately a very real real thing, and, yeah, I just think and I have to go through this plotline. They do a really good job of showing all the different conversations that come off of this one bomb threat. Yeah. I'm I'm just looking at how often they happen at HBCUs, and it's just very, very often. Like, there was an instance where there was bomb threats at 4 different HBCUs in 1 week.
Yeah. Which is reflected here as we wanna see if there's more than one that gets a bomb threat in this plotline too. Yeah. Actually, we had, like, the weirdest bomb threat thing in our middle school. Remember our middle school bomb threat situation?
It was like a disgruntled employee, like, Yeah. But there was, like, what, like, 3 times in 1 week, and we kept on having to walk to the high school. Oh my god. Crazy. But, like It didn't make sense because if you would think it shouldn't be a good idea to go to the same place each time.
Like, you would think that we would probably buried it up and not gone to the same place because then they know where we're at. But, I mean, they seemed okay with it. Yeah. Oh my god. And, like, honestly, like, because it happened, like, multiple times in, like, a very short period and we were middle schoolers, we were not taking our shit seriously.
No. It was desensitized pretty quickly to it. Yeah. So that's our lived experience of concerts. This is obviously a much more serious plotline.
Yeah. So, yeah, Amara, like, and Symone have a phone conversation where Amara warns her that, like, it would be very natural to stir some stuff up for her. Symone is a character who's been through a lot by the time she's even gotten to college. I think it's maybe an important time to note the backstory that she did have a teen pregnancy, an All American, and gave the sign up for adoption, but she still has a relationship with him and, like, his adopted family. That comes up a little bit in this plotline.
His name is Shea, and it's, you know, something that she doesn't advertise when she first gets to the school. Like, she definitely has already been through it. So and Amara kind of, like, freaks out to Marcus, and I think that her journey in this is also pretty pretty well depicted. It's just how Jason president for, like, 2 seconds, and, like, now she has to deal with a bomb threat. It doesn't know what to do.
I imagine how if Karla had become president. I feel like it would have been, like, first day shit storm. Oh my god. Yeah. So Keisha tries to call Cam, and he isn't picking up.
You know? Poor dude. I know. He's already paused. For real.
And so he does text her that he's safe, but then he can't talk. And my Orlando tells Symone, like, on the tennis courts, if you've got Sam at East Lenox University, call them first. People are saying there was a bomb threat made there too, and if it's true, it could be a coordinated attack. Symone's like, maybe you should just not say that too loudly until we know for sure, like, people are scared enough. And then, like, Thea's on the phone with Damon.
This is, like, a point where they're dating, and she's like, how is this still happening? All because we're a Black school. And so it is interesting that I think that one of the things they reckon with in this plotline is that, like, they did all kind of, like, buy into the idea that, like, being at this HBCU, like, they feel like they are and, like, like, Lisa, like a microcosm. They feel like Yeah. How could this happen?
Yeah. Yeah. And in in a way, they feel untouchable because they're in this little utopia of an HBCU. But it's just interesting that the real world always finds a way before they're even out in the real world. Yeah.
It still finds a real way to impact them and scare them and remind them of what their skin color means. You know? Absolutely. Yeah. So the FBI agent comes and talks to Amara and tells her that she can help by staying out of their way, and then asks who was on the phone when the bomb threat was made.
And so she's, like, my assistant, Cam Watkins. And he says that he's gonna have to talk to to Cam, and Amara insists that she must be there when the conversation happens, which is not how we do things, but okay. I just love how Amara really is, like, the protector for all of them. Like, I feel like even if you're not at a HBCU, like, Emerson had a woman like that. Like, I feel like every minority space in college has, like, this, like, anchor of a woman who, like, is, like, the resource when you can't pay your bill that semester, when something happened in class.
So it's this is Amar is a really great depiction of that. Yeah. One thing that, like, didn't quite fit into, like, what we're talking about today that I think that is, like, one of my favorite parts of the show is, like, the family dinner ritual that they have and that Amara creates by opening her home to all of these kids. And it's, like, very early in the show when it begins the tradition. So obviously, it's like you're just away from home for the first time, and, like, this is somebody welcoming you into their home for, like, a home cooked meal.
It's like a you know, that means a lot. Yes. And welcoming you into their home for, like, a home cooked meal. It's like a you know, that means a lot for a college student. It does.
Yeah. Remember when we used to go to Northeastern, and we'd, like Eatenanny's food. Yeah. We'd, like, make the jokes about how it was, like, just it was just so much better than our food. Yeah.
It was actually edible and had seasoning. Yes. Yes. Exactly. Yeah.

(01:46):
No. That is exactly how I would describe dining hall food at Emerson. It's just no seasoning. Yeah. None to be found.
Yeah. So we're gonna resume watching a clip of everyone actually losing service on campus, which kind of adds another, like, layer of CW drama to the situation. Chanel. Simone. Oh, my god.
Are you okay? More or less, I think. We've been praying for y'all. The bomb threats are all over the news. Bomb threats?
Plural? Yeah. Another HBCU, East Linux University. They just confirmed it. How's Shay?
Are you guys safe? I mean, who knows what else could happen today? Shay's a little fussy, but other than that, he's kind. You wanna say hi? I would really love that.
Janelle? What happened? Is everything okay? Janelle? Hello?
The extras are do really, really committed. Selling it. It was the cell phone tower. No. It was being shut down.
How How do you know? I can see the truck from here. Look. The Wi Fi is down too. It's probably just the FBI doing that thing.
It's okay. I'm good. I'm good. Thank you. Okay.
Breathe in for 4 seconds. Hold your breath for 7, and then exhale for 8 seconds. 478 breathing. He'll get panic attacks too. Got him a lot as a kid when my dad was deployed.
You were scared he wasn't gonna make it back. Yeah. Now the parent was worried about the child. We're on the phone. Everything went down.
I have a son, Shay. We were on the phone when everything went down. So Your panic attack was about him? These coordinated bomb threats, they're just a reminder that there are spaces that Shay won't be accepted in just because of how he looks, and there's nothing I can do about it. But now, Shay is safe.
Okay. But there is something you can do. I see a lot of people who could use a frame. For some help. Yeah.
So I really one of the things that I love about the show is they're depreciating of mental health and, like, just, like, mental health coping skills and people actually just, like, seeking the help they need. It's awesome. Yeah. And I like how, you know, it's usually tied to race. Like, because something is happening to them that is based on who they are, like, it's like there's a strong relationship between needing mental health and needing to have just grounding tools to get you through.
And I think this film really uses that plus community as, like, really strong points of the show, like, that you need mental health assistance and community is everything. A 100%. Yeah. That's why I think even though they can veer into, like, a little bit of capitalist territory at times, I feel like they do ground everything in, like, the collective a lot of the time. So that's why I, like, still think that they they still pass my sniff test.
So, yeah, I really love that scene, and I I don't know. The reason that I really enjoy Lando and Simone's dynamic is also because he really pushes her to be, like, the leader that she already is. You know? Like, he's like, you know, you you can feel better right now through helping others, and that's, like, who you are. And so that that's what they do together, which is cool.
You know, checking on some of our other characters, Daemon does, like, a mental health check on JR. And one thing about JR is that he had aplastic anemia as a kid, and he thought he was going to die when he was younger. And so he says, you think I'd be used to faking, I'd lose my life by now. But another conversation that is had that, like, is you know, why I was saying, like, many different conversations kind of stem off of this one bomb threat, is that there is then a conversation in the lounge where Keisha and Nate are sheltering in place about campus safety and what changes should be made to campus safety procedures in light of the bomb threat. Yeah, I think that's another interesting conversation they have.
As your s There you go. President, I'll demand that doctor Patterson make our safety her priority. First order of business, adding police officers to campus. I don't I don't know about that. Bringing cops to a school full of black students doesn't seem like the move.
People who make bomb threats against HBCUs are violent individuals who need to be met with strength and force. Yeah. But sometimes, the people that are supposed to have our backs end up being our greatest threat. Nate, I love you, but you're wrong about this. So why don't you Just make me Keisha is No.
No. For the record, Nate knows exactly what she's talking about. She stood up to more cops on this campus that tried to shut down our right to protest than anyone else in this building. Struggle. Okay.
Well, at least I'm not an insecure man who feels the need to silence other people to make himself feel better. No. I'm the guy trying to get things done for this student body. Well, then maybe you should do less talking and more listening because it's clear you're only about yourself. I would argue that's your issue.

(02:07):
He is the worst. Niko is a great He is. Great villain. That is an interesting conversation because I think that has been the conversation, honestly, around, like, beef on the police these last few years. But just that, not everybody in the Black community like, some people think that that's a good route and some really don't and are really, like, we want the police.
So I thought that was a good depiction of both sides. Definitely. I mean, it's a it's a valid fear. I mean, especially in college when you're doing so many things that are questionable. Like, I I feel like to be in a HBCU and to be in that world where it's so safe to be yourself, like, and then have a cop witness that, it would be very jarring, I would imagine.
So it's it's hard to say, you know, whether it's a good thing or a bad thing because it really just depends on the person. But I wouldn't wanna be I feel like Boston was interesting in the sense that the city was our campus. Yeah. And I feel like if if if police were the way that I would imagine they would be on HBCU, I feel like that would be awful. Yeah.
So An actual campus. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And yeah.
And I do appreciate that the person who does speak up is the, like, you know, non binary person who has the most to lose, potentially, with having, like, cough on campus. And I also appreciate that Keisha talks about some unnamed protests we never got to see that apparently has been happening that they're both throwing down at. So that's great. Yeah. I it's going back to the being a non binary person who's fighting it.
I think it's also cool that the show depicts a queer person who isn't, like you know, Nico is totally fine with it. Yes. Oh, yeah. And so it's it's cool to see that, like, the show really expresses that we're not a monolith and that, you know, based off of your personal experience, you'll have different viewpoints that lean certain ways. So it's kudos to them.
Absolutely. I mean, obviously, the Keisha of it all is that she hates Niko, but, like, same. So Yeah. Go off. She's like, stop dating my best friend and shut up about adding more cops.
And so then, back on the tennis court, we have Simone and Lando getting everyone's attention. And there's a really interesting thing that we're gonna watch where, basically, like, at the same time that Simone and Lando are, like, trying to, like, have everyone whose shells ring in place in the tennis court, like, have a conversation about what's happening to them. They try to make everyone feel better. At the same time as that, Cam is getting interrogated by the FBI. So there's an interesting juxtaposition and two very important parts of the plot happening at once.
A lot of you may not know me, but my name is Simone Hicks. And as uncertain and scary as today is, we have to be here for each other. We should really talk about what's happening. It might do us some good. What did the caller say exactly?
Agent Hunt, what are you doing? I mentioned I need to speak to Ken Watkins since he's the one answered the call. And I said I wanted to be there when you did. Mister Watkins, Watkins, what did the caller say exactly? That he hid explosives in the West Campus, and he chose Princeton because I have too many black students here.
Well, being a majority black school makes us a target. So does being the only black spec at a PWI. We should get to have our own space. Right? That's naive.
We all know that when we come together, excellence happens, and that threatens them. We put ourselves in the line of fire. You're playing their game. Whenever we get terrorized, they always find a way to flip it and blame us. Mister Watkins, your memory of the cost is impressive.
Most people in your situation won't be able to remember so thoroughly. Look, man. If you got something to say, just say it. Your responses seem rehearsed. Was this call real, or is this a prank?
Maybe you heard about the threat at East Linux and wanted to You know, I ain't gotta do Uh-uh. Cam Watkins is one of the most upstanding students on campus. If he says the call happened, it did. This isn't a prank. It's a pattern.
How do you not see that? The 16th Street Baptist Church bombing, the Tulsa race massacre, the Charleston church shooting. Guys, we have a long history of attacks against it. Exactly. This isn't new, which is why I'm shrugging off this bomb threat.
It's just another instance of fill in the blank while being black. Well, it's really sad that you're desensitized to your own trauma. Maybe this is how I'm strong and resilient. The problem with being told to stay strong and persevere is that it invalidates our human emotions. But our society constantly validates people who commit violence against people of color when more needs to be done to protect black students.
Yeah, maybe this whole discussion thing was a really bad idea, Symone. Your line of questioning was out of line. Cam is a victim. Trust me. Cam Walker's doing this as a prank would have been preferable.
To what exactly? The other threat at East My colleagues just radioed in. They found a device. They were able to diffuse it a few minutes ago. So if the Brixton bomb threat isn't a prank and is part of the pattern There's a good chance a device really is somewhere it brings them.
Really, 2 parallel conversations happening that are very, very powerful and interesting. Yeah. I mean, I really love the whole, like, going back and forth between 2 d and Tia where she says, maybe this is how I'm resilient. And then, you know, and then Lando be saying his whole thing about how, like, you know, that invalidates their own emotions. Yeah.
I I just love that whole scene. It really just shows you how there's so many different responses to, black trauma. You know? Like, everyone has their own way of dealing with it. Some want to just go about their lives and kind of, like, put it at the back of their minds with while others, it hits them.
You know, for Symone, it draws up memories of how historical this is, you know, and how it's just another instance of it. So, yeah, I thought that was really well done. I like that they called back to, you know I think that, like, those some of the, like, things she said, like, the Tulsa Race Massacre are the kind of things that aren't taught in a lot of schools in this country and, like, absolutely should be. So, yeah, I always appreciate when they bring in some, like, you know, Black history because, unfortunately, a lot of schools in this country probably only talk about Black history during Black History Month, and it's the sanitized version. Yep.

(02:28):
Oh, and then the Cam side of it all. Obviously, we got to see Amara, you know, being, you know, the mother bear, as we were saying, and absolutely defending Cam. But I think it's also worth mentioning the scene right after, where Cam ends up just sitting on the steps in the, like, student center completely miserable, when j JR and Damon approach him and ask if he's okay. Oh. What is happening in your neighborhood?
It's Elote guy. Jesus. That's hilarious. But yeah. So JR and Damon, like, approach Cam, and they're like, are you okay?
We saw the FBI interrogating you. And they just say, how long it take them? And he says, 5 minutes. I went from a victim to a suspect in 5 minutes just sitting in a damn chair. And he he says then, Bringson is supposed to be different from the rest of the world, supposed to be safe.
It's like they want us to know we ain't safe nowhere. And education? Forget about that. When they try to be like, hey, bro. Today hasn't changed what Princeton is, for us, by us.
And Cam is deep in his, like, trauma. He's just like, they can always find a way to tear us down. Even in their safe space. Yep. And it really hits him.
It's really and, like, he's the one who, like, literally had to intercept the threat. Like, it completely shattered, this illusion of what Pringston was for him. Yeah. From the call to the interrogation, like, what an awful day for him. Seriously.
Oh my god. Obviously, plot wise, we do find out that there is a heightened chance that there is actually a device on campus. But at the same time, like, I don't know. It was it was unfortunately really, you know, really good depiction of, like, a cop being the way the cops act with, you know, Black Black kids Black people. So Thea then, like, tries to go find Daemon.
Symone, like, gets her not to risk her life and tells her, you have to hold on to the belief that we'll make it out. And after, you know, Symone and Lando's kind of failed attempts at a group convo, Symone gets another idea, and she says, okay, I messed up. I was wrong earlier. Talking is not what we should be doing. And Lando says, and sitting around waiting for our world to end ain't it either.
She said, I don't know about y'all, but I wanna fight back. I wanna hit something. Feel alive. Hence, dodgeball. So they play dodgeball on the on the tennis courts to, like, let out their pent up energy.
Marcus comes into Amara's office and saying he found out about the explosive device they found at East Lennox. And Amara says she has to focus on the kids, and she can't break down. So I do love that they have this little, like, arc going for Amara where she's just keeping it all together for everyone. We have a cute Simone and Lando flirting on either side of the dodgeball game. Lando does say, you're impressive.
You table your fear and help everybody else. And so then cell phones start ringing and cell service is back, and Simone's immediately like, I want to call Chanel and Shea back. And Lando lends his phone because she can't find hers. Meanwhile, the FBI agent tells Amara that he has good news and they didn't find a device on campus, so they're now in the all clear. However, he, like, looks really like there's more.
And she says, you did find something somewhere, didn't you? And he says that he found a suspect, a known local radical, who had 2 devices and was literally 2 blocks away. So yeah. It's really heavy. Yeah.
You really get the sense that these kids cannot escape reality. Like Exactly. And the burden really does fall on Amara to hold it together, not just for her students, but for herself, having to fight the police officer, like, you know, having to be questioned as to whether or not it's even happening. Like, it's just it just shows you the reality of living black. But like we said, they they show the way through it.
It's it's through community and having each other's backs and everything. Yeah. So then Cam helps Amara film her address to the school, which is where we started the episode. You know, and as she says, we shall not be moved. And then the speech continues, when you come for us, we band together as a family.
And once the crisis is gone, then we may go back to our regular lives. We are not unchanged. We're stronger even if we don't know how. And so Simone reunites with Nate and Keisha since they were all, you know, sheltering in different parts of the campus. And they're like, we all made it, and we're stronger because of it.
Amara says, we are people of hope and faith even in the midst of circumstances that tell us it's too late. And then there's this really beautiful moment where Cam is, like, gonna leave for the day, and he's like, you need anything else, doctor p? And she says, like, I'm good, Cam. Thank you. And he says, thanks for having my back today.
You sure you don't need nothing else? And Amar just, like, finally breaks down. And, like, Cam just, like, helps her into a seat and sits with her, and then he starts crying. And it's just, like, Oh, oh. Like, universal suffering.
Yes. Exactly. Like, I feel like they're crying on behalf of the whole campus because between the 2 of them, they held so much weight for everyone else. And they were all the bloodline of it all. Yeah.
Absolutely. And so the end of her, like, speech is, and though you may seek to destroy us psychologically, you will fail. Because we are learning we don't have to fear the things we feel. There's no power on Earth that could conquer black love. Y'all gonna learn that the hard way.
So it is really like, the fact that she was able to keep her shit together enough to, like, say these words that she felt like the community needed to hear before she went and broke down, it's really beautiful. Yeah. But also, like, oh. Her strength. Exactly.
And, you know, they do a good job in this show, and that's why I really like it. Like, they do a good job of, like, being, like, okay, but also you shouldn't have to be strong all the time. Like, at different points, so you never feel like it's, like, the strong black woman trope or anything. Like, because, like, they are all given space to break down, to, like, you know Mhmm. Break down and build themselves back up, like, for real.

(02:49):
Yeah. It's a continual process. Exactly. And then, Lando comes to Simone's door to grab his phone because she still has it and said he wanted to check-in on you. She's like, yeah, today was a hard day.
And he asked if she wants to go somewhere. She's like, no. And, like, pulls him into her room, and that's the first Lando and Simone love scene. And I think they're, like, friends with benefits for, like, us time after that, if I'm remembering the relationship timeline correctly. Then we're also gonna talk about the episode that comes directly after this one because I think they do a really cool thing where they kind of I'm calling this this section a black resilience section through specifically this thing that Amara creates called 3 Black Joy Day.
So at the beginning of the episode, everyone really does go back to normal, but everybody's looking, you know, pretty traumatized. So Cam is at work letting the phone ring, clearly not wanting to answer a phone call again, which, like, real. Yeah. Keisha kind of finds him spaced out and is like, are you planning on answering that? And she asked if he's coming to doctor p's town hall.
And ironically, he has to answer the phones. He's like, someone wants to answer the phones. So at this town hall, we're gonna watch the scene of Amara declaring free Black Joy Day for the campus as a response to the bomb threat that has just happened. Thank you all for joining me on such short notice. I'd hope for a bigger turnout, but word will travel regardless.
That is a small turnout. I owe you an apology. Something horrible happened to us, and just like the rest of the world, I expected us all to be strong and just move on. I was wrong. We need to stop normalizing black trauma and start normalizing self care.
We need to give ourselves the time to heal, time to reclaim our joy, black joy. And that is why I am hereby canceling all classes, practices, and games scheduled for tomorrow. I'm giving you a free day, a mental health day with resources provided. Tomorrow at Ringston University will officially be free black joy day. I wish I had a tomorrow in real life.
Right? Like Just someone who's, like, who's in a position of power but has the emotional intelligence. You know? Like, it's you either have one or the other. Yeah.
I was gonna say that doesn't come around too often. Yeah. And it definitely is a cover in the form of a black woman. So, you know, just to be able to have someone who can see that we're going back to normal because we always have to go back to normal. Mhmm.
But can still take that moment to say, no. We have to pause and we have to restore ourselves. That's so important. And, you know, I think for her to be in that position to be able to do that is so imperative and really makes the show stand out because I I just feel like you don't get to see it's almost healing as an adult to see that. Yeah.
You know? Like, that's something that's not just for college campuses. That's, like, in every sector that just having to get back in line after everything happens to you. Yeah. Or even in the world.
Like, thinking about, like, you know, friends who are Arab in the last year and have had to, like, just to keep moving on even though, like, their family's hometown is being bombed by Israel. Yeah. It's like Yeah. Go back to normal. Yeah.
And I feel like nowadays, society moves faster than ever. So it's like you have to just to just to survive. Yeah. So this is a really good reminder, not just for college students, but for all of us because living in 2024 is just perpetual ever something's happening in your life or not, you're if you are even mildly aware of the news, like, you're constantly living through it. And yeah.
You sometimes, you do have to pause and restore and Absolutely. Care of yourself. The Black Joy day commences, with resources, which is also and it comes up again later in the plotline, but it's an important thing. There are, like, mental wellness tents that they have, like, you know, certified counselors at to help students through it. Keisha has I don't know if you had a chance to watch this whole plotline, but I feel like you would've appreciated it, which is, like, Keisha's dance teacher toxicity.
I ate that shit up. Like, I was rooting for Keisha, but also, I was like, what else is this woman gonna say to you? Because she'd be reading her fulfilled. Yes. Like, she lets her have it every single even when she compliments her, it's like a backhanded compliment.
Like Absolutely. I I thought that was amazing. Yeah. I love that they show us so many different like, you have, like, the dance plotline. You have, like, obviously, tennis and baseball.
And also, I mean, are not the typical sports that you get to see black people do. That is so true. Yeah. So I love that, like, the focus isn't on the football team or the basketball team. Like, you really get to see that there's other sports that we dabble in.
So Yeah. That's so true. But yeah. And then, obviously, you also have, like, Nate pursuing politics, but you really get yeah. You really get to see a lot of different passions that the kids have, which I love.
Oh, and also music through Cam. Mhmm. So Keisha, basically, her toxic teacher refuses to not hold class on Black Joy Day. And so Keisha is complaining, like, talk about tone deaf. And then she says, like, if, you know, her teacher is going to make them dance today, she should have at least had them perform for Bringstand and use our art to bring back some of the life the bomb threat took, which her teacher overhears.
And then in class, she says, someone brought to my attention that having you dance today just for the sake of training is not meeting the moment. They're right. We have a responsibility and right to use our art to uplift the rest of our community. So you will perform today in the quad. And so you're like, oh, cool.
Like, she listened and learned. And it's like, no. Because who has to choreograph it in the next 2 hours? Keisha. Keisha.
And so Keisha is just, like, freaking out and has to, like, you know, put together choreography for all these people in 2 hours for everyone to come back and learn, so they can perform for everyone. Lando then also finds Simone in the art gallery, and she's actually looking at a painting who he reveals Lando's mom is the artist of. So Lando's family is like HBCU alums. It also comes up early when he's introduced. Like, why he wanted to play baseball at Princeton so badly.

(03:10):
And Symone reveals that she never went on the freshman orientation tour, and that brings, like, Lando to whisk her off to have, like, a day of fun like they're supposed to. Because being Symone, she was not really following the assignment previously. But, yeah, I figured we'd finish out this episode about Black Joy Day before we get into black trauma again. Oh, that episode. Yeah.
I know. I know. With the you know, the way they finish off Cam's part of this arc, which is Marcus, who is canonically bipolar and ends up actually pursuing a higher education in psychology so that he can, like, become, I think, a counselor himself is the point. He is the one who ends up, like, coming to CAM and, like, seeing CAM's, like, not doing okay. So CAM comes to the quad for the first time all day to see the dance performance that Keisha choreographed, but he can't handle it.
And he runs back to his room. Marcus sees him and, like, follows him, and this is the scene that kind of results from that. Better dance will come. Okay. Okay.
I just need to be left alone right now. I'm not home. Okay. I'm relaxed. Okay?
I think the problem is that you've been left alone way too much. Now you were the one who heard the voice of Abe, And as an experienced, the rest of us don't have to care, amen. Have you found doctor p's phone ring? I'm afraid to ask because it can be someone making another bomb threat. Or someone making a promise?
I came to Branson so I could escape the violence. I thought this place was supposed to be safe, but it ain't ain't nowhere safe for us, coach. We can't go nowhere now. Oh, I mean, thank you for letting this traumatized black man cry, like, for real. Like Oh, yeah.
That is not something we get to see all the time. We don't really get to see men cry in general very often. And another man console him. Exactly. I feel like, you know I don't know.
This show really breaks down the toxic masculinity as well, but different episode. Yeah. It's it's it's just good to see him release it. Yeah. Absolutely.
And, like, that is a good reminder that, like, I didn't even think about that perspective of, like, Cam being from Crenshaw. And, like, if you watched the American Universe from the beginning, you, like, know exactly what that means and, like, the violence that in the neighborhood that they show throughout the seasons in California plotline. I, like, kind of forgot about the the the part of Cam being, like, I thought that coming here would be, like, an escape from violence that I, like, grew up among. Yeah. But, yeah, again Which I feel like there's so many people going to college that is the first time being able to escape their situation.
Exactly. So a really beautiful scene that we're gonna watch now is Marcus summoning all Cam's friends. And, again, this shows a really good job of ending things in community, and that really makes the point that that is where you'll find, you know, a lot of what you need. Yep. Damien, what's going on?
No clue. I just got a text from Cam saying to come to the room and wait in the hallway. Same here. It's weird. Right?
Is it okay if I start freaking out a little bit? Coach, what are you doing here? Waiting on y'all. Look, Cam can really use his friends right now. Come here.
Cam? Baby, what's going on? I tried to get through what happened to me, to us, by myself. Coach Marcus helped me see that we shouldn't go through this alone. None of us should.
I don't think I'm the only person who pushed down what happened, who followed everything they were feeling after the bomb threat. Felt easier to try to forget and move on, except it isn't that easy, is it? Not at all. So what do you have in mind, Cam? They have a lot of tents.
They're all simultaneously going into mental wellness tents. Yeah. The funding. Doctor Ho. It's Marcus.
Do you have time for a session? They all get the mental health care that they they need. Woo hoo. I feel like this is like that's the missing piece that our ancestors didn't get to get. You know?
Like like, how do you address it? Because I feel like, historically, it's the whole that's just life. You move on. You don't really acknowledge it. You don't stop to really process it.
Right. And so I feel like this show, you know, kinda captures the zeitgeist of, like, how we are taking the time to stop and process things now even when we don't you know, even when you think you can't ignore it, you really can't. So you might as well confront it and use action and community as a way to combat it. Absolutely. Just again, I think his name is Mitchell Edwards, the name of the actor who plays Cam Walkins, if I'm remembering from my Instagram follow correctly.
Yeah. Shout out to him. I thought they did a really beautiful job with that whole storyline. It it just feels very natural to me that he wouldn't be willing to open up to his friends. Then he does have the release, And it feels better to share with everyone else and to also reveal that you're not the only one.
Even if he has a heightened level of trauma because he answered the call, he's not the only one who is pushing down the trauma. Yeah. And I and and I think for this to be happening with the black male character, it just also just has a lot of commentary adding to that because I feel like that age demographic with, like, the culture that they consume, it's like everything telling them to be hard to, like, you know, to not really be connected with themselves. And so it it must be really important for young black men to see a cam, be able to be vulnerable and be able to address what's going on with them and not just bottle it up and and be manly and move on, you know? Absolutely.
Yeah. And and have his other you know, like you said, have, like, a more male mentor figure, be there consoling him. But then also have, like, other male friends come and, you know you know, ex you know, listen to what he's going through and say They're going through it. Right. And say that they're going through it too.

(03:31):
You know, Damon's saying, yeah, I pushed it down too. Like Mhmm. But, yeah, it's really beautiful. And I I hope that this is the way that we all continue to relate to each other. Like, you know, for anything that's gonna come out of the shittiness of the last 10 years, like, people actually having language to talk about this stuff Mhmm.
Should be a silver lining, hopefully. Yeah. I mean, I think it's imperative. Yeah. But, yeah, do you have any other thoughts about the bomb threat plotline before we move on to the tennis team experience?
No. I think I'm ready. The tennis one was really the thing that pulled up my heartstrings. So I totally agree. Toward the end of season 2, 13th episode, we once again get an experience of shared Black trauma amongst a group in the school when the tennis team experiences police misconduct.
So one one thing I thought was interesting is that the co showrunner, who's, like, the the head of the American Universe, Nakachi Okoro Carol, she told Deadline that she actually the story was inspired in part by the experience of the Delaware State University women's lacrosse team during a traffic stop in Georgia last year. They said, anytime there's a big story like this that comes out of the HBCU community, I'm always concerned about the lack of attention it gets, considering what the students have been going through. And she felt like they had a unique opportunity to tell the story organically. Oh, I can see that. So this is inspired, and I'll put in the link in the show notes, unfortunately, by a real thing that happened to a lacrosse team.
I think it's important to mention at the top before we start getting into the police stop is that the tennis team is on their way, obviously, doing away game. But it's, like, their last shot at, like, the season. It's not just any old match not games match. I ain't getting no service. Y'all service?
I mean, no wonder. We deep in the boonies. Coach, can we listen to music? Alright, y'all. So we're in a dead zone, but we got an hour until we arrive.
So time to get a little Sit down and hang tight, and we'll see what this is about. Okay? Alright. That's 251. Is there a problem, officer?
Your boss made an illegal lane change back there. These your girls? They're my students. Yes. We're with the Brinkston Tennis team.
Sir, I need you to step outside the bus. You too. Coach, just keep everybody calm. Okay? I'll be right back.
I I just think it's such a great choice and, like, so painful that they're, like, in such a moment of joy before the stop. It's it's almost comical. It's like we really just be out here living and then boom. Yeah. Like, they're literally just dancing because they have no service and, like, oh my god.
And, like, the I am Just be existing and then Exactly. You know. It's like, Jesus. And, yeah, I think it's important to know that they are supposed to be in, like, rural Georgia. And I think that they make it very clear at one point in and I'll point it out when it happens.
I think they make it pretty clear that they're, like, passing through a sun downtown. Sun downtown. Right? Yeah. Yeah.
That's what I that's what like and they clearly saw that it was a Brixton. You know, they have Brixton on the outside of the bus. Mhmm. So yeah. Losing losing service tells me everything I need to know about where I'm at.
I know. Right? I'm like, I need to be not here. Thank you. Yeah.
Exactly. Yeah. No. I yeah. I'm I'm not about that rural life.
And, also, I'm just putting myself in the teacher's shoe or the coach's shoes. Oh, yeah. To have to be the adult in that situation when, like, you have no control as to how it could actually turn out. Like, it's, you get to see different levels of experiencing blackness because you get to see the professors and coaches experience, but then also the students experience. It's kinda sad, but you always see that they're, in the end, powerless to racism because all they see is black.
And I I just felt for the coach so strongly in that moment. But I'm Absolutely. We'll get to that later on. Oh, yeah. Totally.
I think they do a really good job of tracking the coaches' experience with this and, like, a lots of moment later where Amara comforts her later, and it's beautiful. It's just perfect. Okay. Cool. So we can resume.
Now things just kinda continue to escalate with the cops. And there might be a couple of visual things, but we will describe them as but the students are still on the bus watching what's happening with coach Lonnie, and they're very concerned about their coach, obviously. How long does it take to give a ticket? If we don't get back on the road, we're gonna miss Walmart. This is is some bull.
You see the way the cop was looking at us? He saw Brinkston on the side of the bus and decided it was time to mess with the HBCU. I agree, but I know I'm more focused on Coachellani. Excuse me. I got her getting off the bus.
I was like, don't. I know. Are you okay? Please stay inside the bus. Simone, I'm fine.

(03:52):
I promise. Yeah. The coach is acting the fuck out of that. She's like, if she moves, she's gonna die. That's what her eyes are telling me.
Yeah. Oh, yeah. And one of them, Tootie, starts filming. Hey. To be fair, she was being really obvious, but yeah.
Really obvious. Everybody off the bus now. Now. Susie, please. Hello?
It's okay. It's okay, girls. Relax. It's okay. Get run.
Now they have backup coming. Like, what the fuck? And a dog? Like, come on. For an illegal lane change?
This is crazy. And, like, the thing is that, like, I buy this happening in real life. Obviously, it's based off of a real thing which we just said. But, like, cops just terrorizing people, that they are very aware of what they're doing. They're aware of what being cops to a group of black people means, and they're, you know, extending the amount that they can terrorize them as much as possible, I feel like.
Absolutely. Even in the way that he addresses them, he calls them girls, tells the coach to get in line like it's degrading on purpose. Okay. So now they're all lined up outside while their stuff is being Oh, just relax. Just relax, girls.
So we'll go through all their things. Why Why are y'all going through our stuff? This isn't legal. It's standard procedure. Alright?
We have to make sure there are no illegal substances. Someone else? Not to do this again. Gonna get away with this. Girl.
Not this time. The whole world is gonna see how out of pocket y'all are. Oh, you can't do that. I want you not to record. That's enough.
Keep your hands off of my girls. Cover. What? Now. You can't do this.
Are you still You have no right to punish us for driving while black. Everybody else sit on the ground now. It's okay, girls. It's okay. I'm okay.
Come on. Do it. Good. Yeah. So truly terrifying shit, them having coach Lonnie get handcuffed, like, oh my god.
A poor woman. Again, degrading. Exactly. And, like, I think it's important to note because it's fairly visual that, like, they really like, their stuff is in the dirt and, like, being, like, opened and, like, sniffed by dogs. So it's, like, again, like, as degrading as it gets.
Yeah. And so in in the next theme we're gonna watch, you can see that it's gotten darker out. So, like, time has passed, and it's like, how long have you viewed people on the side of the road? Obviously, it becomes something that that's at the top of the the player's mind that they are on their way to a tournament that they're almost certainly not gonna make in time now. We know what is happening to us is wrong, and we have every right to feel afraid.
But fear feeds them. So right now, we need to stick together and we need to play smart because we all we got. Simone, you saw what they just did to coach Lonnie. What are we supposed to do? We're gonna focus on what we can control.
We have to focus on the match. Who can think about tennis at a time like this? Me. Remember when we were at the court during the bomb threat? The one thing that brought us together was reclaiming our joy.
We cannot let them break us. Does anybody wanna do some stretches? We won't have time to walk when we get to the match. That's a good idea, Jade. That's exactly what I'm talking about.
Every time we even breathe too heavy, these cops yell at us. One wrong move and they We may be strong black women, but just because we're strong doesn't mean they get to test how strong we actually are. I'm gonna get us home no matter what it takes. Alright? Alright.
Okay, ladies. Hips to the right. Hey. Just so you know, my mom is a lawyer. So I know all about these illegal search and seizure laws.
You have no probable cause and no search warrants to search that bus. So there's definitely a lawsuit loading. I'm just doing my job. Well, I hope you're smart enough to do the right thing and not let this go any further. I have to say they are very bold with these cops.

(04:13):
Like, bolder than I would think. I would've sat my black ass down. I can stretch from the floor. I am not getting yeah. No.
Because like like Tootie said, one wrong move. Yeah. No. I'll I'll give them them grace because we're watching TV. Like that.
No. Absolutely. And it is definitely powerful that they all get up and stretch in unison. And it I don't know. It definitely, like, you know, as somebody who was a high school athlete, I'm just like, oh, yeah.
Like, everyone doing the stretch together is just a familiar sight. But yeah. I mean, Symone really steps up in this plot line again, which is why she's the center of our episode, where she really takes it upon herself to to fill the space of being the leader that everyone needs in that moment and keep everyone from, you know, freaking out too much because they have to survive this, like and they can freak out later, but, like, they have to survive this right now. Yeah. I'm sure we'll touch this later on.
But just in terms of Symone's major, I feel like there was really good threading in terms of showing Symone in instances where her major makes sense, you know, where Totally. Like, she's always the person who thinks of the solution. She's always the person who advocates for the underdog but also brings everyone together when they feel hopeless. Yeah. So I just love that.
I love that part of her character and I love what they do with it throughout the series. Absolutely. And it allows her to really, like, build relationships with people, like, as we're gonna see in in a minute with Tootie, for example. They start out as kinda like enemies to really prove herself to people through just the way that she is. It's her magic.
Yeah. Alright. So we're gonna get to the point now where they're free to go. And, again, they they talk back to the cops in the amount that I wouldn't. I honestly think I wouldn't as a white person.
So Alright. You all are free to go. What about our stuff you threw in the dirt? You gonna help us clean that up? She's so bold.
I'm like, I kinda love it, but, like, I I love it. She's actually willing to find what you were looking for? No. What? We are very sorry for the confusion.
Sorry. You terrorize us, and then you say you're sorry? Y'all free to go. This is the last place you wanna be after dark. That was the sun downtown.
Mhmm. Mad chin, I'm gonna call. Maybe they'll hold our matches till we get there. Coach is calling now, but by the time we get there, we'll be a hour late. Listen up.
The matches have already started, and they are not willing to make an exception for us. We have to forfeit. What? Coach, that's not fair. Did you tell them why we're late?
Of course. Coach, if we forfeit, then that means our season is over? I am so sorry. I think that this brings in a conversation that we've had both about All American and just in general, which is, like, the the thing that you wanna do to enrich your life being interrupted by, like, you know, your oppression or and, you know, you just wanna play tennis. And now, you have to forfeit the whole, you know, final match of the season just because literally because y'all are black.
Like, there's no other reason that this happened. And then, of course, the institution of the which we're gonna continue to talk about as they fight back against it. The institution of the, like, Georgia Sports Association or whatever, like, being completely unmoved by this. It is. Yeah.
Yeah. Feels very real. Because no one stops for life trauma. I mean, it's it's it's crazy because it's so real, but it's not sympathized with, so you can't express it. Yeah.
And it is so, like, that one player who says, like, but didn't you explain, like, why we're late? And just, like, I don't know. Like, I feel like at this point in my adult life, I'm like, no, of course. But, like, as, like, it's still being youthful and full of hope and being like, but if they hear what happened to us, then surely And surely they should understand. Yeah.
Yeah. Yeah. I know. College naivety. Yeah.
It's like this naivety is being literally, like, beaten out of them as we speak. Like like Yeah. It is moments like this that kind of rob you of innocence. Yep. A little bit at a time, unfortunately.
And, yeah, I mean, coach Lonnie is so strong, like, through all of that. Like, she was handcuffed for half of that shit. She's having to regulate the girls and herself while also being dehumanized. Like, it's it's a she knew there was a pay raise. Absolutely.
Oh my god. Yeah. And so Simone is on the phone with Amara, and she's just like, I just can't believe it happened. And Amara promises she'll be there when the bus arrives. And so after all that, they have to just fucking turn around and come home.
Like Come home. So I do think that one moment that I was I just mentioned that I really wanted us to watch was this really beautiful moment between Simone and Tootie, who, you know, going into even this episode have been at odds. So, yeah, it's it's nice moment. Hey. How you holding up, you did your thing today.

(04:34):
Kept us calm, kept our nerves intact, kept us from doing something that could've gotten us. When the season started, I wanted all the girls to hate you. It was my goal to make sure no one followed you. If I had succeeded, maybe someone from the team wouldn't be coming home. Today was one of the scariest moments of my life, Tootie.
You know, may have a little shoulder moment, little head shoulder moment? It's kinda crazy how, you know, trauma bonding works. Yeah. It has it has the power to bring people together. This this team is gonna be the definition of trauma bonded.
Yeah. Yeah. But it is the 2 strongest characters on the team who, in their own ways, were trying to keep things together for the whole incident. And I I do love that they gave them the moment to, like, just both get to cry and kinda, like, just process, like, that scariest thing that's ever happened to us, just happened to us. Mhmm.
Yeah. The way that community always just is the bottom line for this show is really beautiful. It's like it it's healing the characters while also healing the viewer. Yes. Exactly.
Even when things are, like, terrible, I feel like they always manage to, like, warm your heart by the end. Yeah. You know? I agree. So back at Bringston, the boys get the news of what happened to the women's tennis team.
And JR kinda, like, rages. He says, like, why can't we just play? Just be kids. Just be athletes. Have one damn moment of joy.
And it literally is like, yeah. Like, they were literally trying to have one damn moment of joy when they got stopped. Like Yep. Yep. And Damon says, that's why being an HBCU village is so important.
And so that kinda cooks up, like, Damon's plan to support the the tennis team. Amara, Nate, and Keisha all line up at the parking lot to greet the bus when it comes. When they get back to Brixton before they all leave, coach Lonnie has a speech where she says, ladies, before you all leave, I have to say something. What happened to us today? I wish that I could tell you that you won't experience racial injustice again, but I am not in the business of lying to you.
I am in the business of protecting you and keeping you safe. And today, I failed you, and I hope that you can forgive me one day. And Simone says, Coach Lonnie, I think I speak for everyone when I say you did not fail us today. You showed us exactly what strength looks like because you're also in the business of being the example that we need exactly when we need it, and, like, all the tennis team claps. Mhmm.
Beautiful. I know. Like, coach Lonnie, like, thinking what she like. I mean, I get it. Like, you wanna protect your students from everything, like, even just, like, a threat of violence that was that was there.
But, like, she it's just clear that she just feels like she she failed them even by them having that experience. Having experienced it. Yeah. Which is yeah, you can't shield them. I I I get as an educator and a coach, like, why that would really be, like, messed up because your whole purpose is to, you know, instill hope into students, you know?
And so I would imagine that would be a really terrible moment. So the other thing we find out before they leave the parking lot is that obviously, we know Tootie had her phone, like, you know, flaps out of her hand or whatever. But Jade managed to more covertly record the interaction with the cops without the cops seeing her. And she emails this video to Symone, who then shows it to Amara. So the last scene we're gonna watch from this particular episode is Symone having you know, she lives with Amara, and Amara is so good at opening her home to others.
She invites all the tennis team over to have a sleepover, and then Simone proposes that they release the video at this sleepover. And this is also the scene during the sequence where we get to see Amara come for coach Lonnie. It's okay, girls. I'm okay. Come on.
Good. We should release the video. I I don't know, Simone. The idea of people seeing what they did to us, seeing us as the victim. We can't let fear silence us.
We need to hold them accountable. But what if there's blowback? I mean, I'm the one who recorded it. Everyone will come after me. You're not alone.
We're all in this, which is why the decision needs to be unanimous. If Simone thinks this is what we should do, I'm in. Thank you. Simone's like, oh, hey, great. I have a cue though.
Right. I am a fighter. Born with this blood. With the strength of my mother. And, of course, she has the Merlot out.
I thought I'd check-in on you. I would ask how you're doing, but you've been here about a threat. So listen to my words. You won today because every single girl made it back home alive. Elaine, you made it back home alive.
You were the one that was handcuffed in the back seat of a police cruiser for the crime of protecting our girls. So don't you dare think you failed them. That is not in your DNA. Come here. Copy it.
Shoulder to shoulder. They can't get away with it. I have I'll just say, one of the things that I really like about this show is that, like and, like, of All American too, just the whole All American universe, is that, like, they just, like, let the community have wins when, like, sometimes it's highly unrealistic that they would. Like, I'm thinking of the episode we did where, like, they took a knee and the, like remember the anore dancer was, like, what a show of solidarity. Like Yeah.
It's like, I kind of love the fantasy of it though. Like, maybe, like, maybe we it would be cool if we got to have that. It would. It would. It really would.

(04:55):
Yeah. That scene is so beautiful. I'm so glad that they, like, connect it back to the bomb threat and, like, Amara seeing her own experience in in coach Lonnie. I mean, that's the kind of scene that I think a lot of shows would not even think to have, like, to even check on the coach. Yeah.
I I think Amara, just her character I don't know. I would be really curious to see what the inspiration behind her was because she's just always knows what to say. Like, she just has the right words for every situation. I love her. And then, yeah, I mean, Simone is such a powerful leader of the tennis team, but I do love that, you know, she's like, it's gonna be a unanimous decision.
And I also love that you have I mean, we cut it off before you thought, but, like, you have all of the tennis team, like, just sleeping over on tomorrow's floor together, and, like, none of them have to be alone that night. And, you know, obviously, the whole world is seeing that video as they're falling asleep together, and Damon, like, led this thing where everyone is sending messages of support to them. So, like, you see their phones, like, lighting up with, like, messages of support while they're falling asleep together. So, yeah, I mean, like we've been saying this whole whole episode, like, definitely ending this very traumatic episode with everything grounded in community. Yeah.
And I think even, like, the collective action, I feel like this type of action college is, like, really the first time you get to see the power of people coming together. Yeah. And I think this, like, this show is just so fit to tackle these issues because of that very notion that college is really the place where you take what's happening to you, and in your own way, you do something about it. And then posting the video is their their way of doing something about it, reclaiming their power after being stripped. Yeah.
And I thought it was interesting what Tootie said about not wanting to look like a victim. I don't know. I just think it's always yeah. It's always a very nuanced conversation, even if they ended up posting it. Yeah.
Yeah. Yeah. And it's crazy because they kinda open themselves up to a whole other pool of trauma by posting it online too. Yes. Exactly.
Wow. Exactly. And yeah. I mean, that actually transitions perfect into the 14th episode, which is where the tennis team really fights back. And I would say this is where there's both some black resilience and protest.
So the episode opens on Symone looking at mean comments on their video from the police confrontation. Literally, the line that that they show you is black women always gotta play the victim. You know, it's literally what Tutti said, you know, yelled back at them. Even if at their young age, these girls know what they're up against. And Nate, Lando, and Damon all try to help distract Simone from the trolls, and Damon kinda validates, like, we all know that cops dropped was straight up racial profiling.
But Symone says, we've been ghosted by both the police and the Georgia Athletic Conference. And they're all, like, well, I thought doctor Patterson, like, putting out a statement would have gotten some movement. And apparently, it's been a week, and everyone's acting like the bus stop didn't happen, and they're not in the conference. Like, they weren't able to move ahead because they couldn't do their last regular season match. And Daemon says he'll set up Symone with his mom, who has many press contacts to try to, like, blow the story up.
And Symone sees an article about Thea going pro, which explains why she wasn't on the bus. Yeah. She I know. That whole plotline is interesting. She has just stayed in her room.
And so then, Symone comes into Amara's office and says, auntie, I know how we can fight back. And Amara's like, good morning to you too. And she says so she says after she's talked to Damon's mom, and so she says, like, Damon's mom told me about a school in North Carolina that held a rally to protest police brutality. It resulted in 3 officers not only being investigated but fired. And so Amara's like, you wanna hold a rally here at Brinkston?
And she says, college students using events and social media to pressure local governments that has been working. And Amara says, let's make some noise. I stand behind you a 100%. And so the hilarious character, in my opinion, is miss Robinette, who is, like and yes. They do a great job of representing, like, cranky ass administrative employees who have been there forever and are set in their ways.
Yes. And Perfect. Needs to change. Exactly. And so miss Robinette overhears this conversation about how they're gonna have a rally.
And she says, Brinkston is a place of higher learning, not a protest site. And I was like, oh, my god. That line sums up so much discourse of the past year. Obviously, referring to the Palestine encampment protests that have been happening at universities all over the country, where people were trying to say that, like, oh, it's a place of higher learning. You can't have protests there.
And even our alma mother has basically banned protests. So it's just a very prevalent view that is bullshit and completely wrong. And, like, the amount of learning that one does through participating in social movements is, you know, incalculable. But Also, just going down the history of college, like, that's part of the experience. I like, college has always been a place of protest.
Like, I just Yeah. I mean, it's a place where kids are learning new things and being exposed to new political ideas. It's like exactly. It's, like, literally, like, the perfect case scenario of a place that would become a protest site. Exactly.
And, yeah. And it's like the time when kids are really, like, learning to own their power. It's just yeah. So I thought that was really like, it's just a very timely line. And Amara does say, learning can happen outside the classroom, too.
Teaching our kids to demand accountability from our public servants is a good lesson. And miss Robinette says, you're gonna get everyone all riled up and for what? And she's just like, have a nice day, miss Robinette. You said that several times throughout the day. She's just like, I'm gonna say the nice thing, so I don't say the mean thing.
Yeah. Oh my god. And so, yeah. I mean, again, I think they do a really good job of depicting lots of different viewpoints and, you know, all different shades of opinion within the black community on things like like a protest like this. And so Nate very quickly helped put together a, like, sign making party for this protest.
She says, when Nathaniel calls, people come. You know this. And according to Damon's mother, CSFN is on board, which makes 3 national news outlets. And apparently, she arranged for them to promote the rally at the baseball game. So Symone comes up to the tennis team who are all making fines, and she says, these fines are giving.
And Tootie says, this idea is giving. Symone, it feels good to be doing something. And they're, like, super dope that everyone is here supporting us, too. And then Thea walks up, and she's like, you can count me as one of them. And they're all like, fuck you, girl.

(05:16):
But, yeah, they accuse her of ghosting them. And she says, I handled going pro wrong. I should have told you guys myself. I should have been on that bus with you. I could have helped.
And I was like, that's not true. Yeah. I was like, what did you think would your if anything, you would escalate it knowing you're entitled so. Yeah. That's actually very true.
And so they kind of, as the team, reject Fia's help with the protest. Meanwhile, Lando and Simone have a phone call where Lando says that everyone's talking about her rally instead of his game. You know, Simone says if this rally doesn't push the needle toward justice, it will devastate the team. And Lando says, Symone, come on. You can't think about that right now.
Okay? There's a reason the team is following your lead. You were born for this. Just focus on what's right. And so Symone runs into Amara, actually, at the baseball game, and she's like, I'm about to go make the announcement about the rally.
And Amara says, you should hold off because I just heard from the head of the Georgia Athletic Conference. Their offer brings in their spot in the conference tournament after all. And so someone's like, oh my god, that's amazing. And then, of course, there's the catch, which is that if the team plays, they have to sign a nondisclosure agreement and cancel the rally. And she says, so we wouldn't be able to talk about the bus stop or the fact that the police harassed us for no reason?
And she's either trying to buy our silence. Nomura says, yes. The team has until the end of the day to decide, and it must be a full team decision. You should talk to them. So, yeah, always a curveball being thrown at them, for sure.
And this is another classic moment where you're trying to choose between fighting for your rights and fighting for whatever your passion is. And so we're gonna watch all of the girls are, you know, in the gym with their NDAs in hand that they could or could not sign, and they try to decide what they're gonna do. We're just prepared to sign these NDAs and just cancel the rally? Why not? We got what we wanted.
We have a shot at finishing the season right. What about holding the cops accountable for what they did to the team? We released the video and nothing happened. Then who's to say the rally will change anything? That's a quick change of heart for the girl carrying the you can't silence Brinkston poster.
Girl, that was before they said we could play. Come on, Symone. My parents are pressuring me to transfer some place where I can just be a student athlete and not an activist. You saw the trolls talking online about your suspension for THC and my cousin's arrest. It's over.
We lost. They won. You've never been a quitter on the court. Since when are you on off of it? Yeah.
You need to mind your I can't believe it. Coco Gauff? A rare high singles ranking number 4 in the world. French Open finalist. Girl, what are you?
How are you? Alright. You're the one who organized the rally? Yeah. I got a call from my friend Iris McDonald.
Apparently, your friend, Thea, emailed her the video of the bus stop. When I saw it, I was livid. I've come to support. What you and your teammates are doing is really brave. We just heard from the GAC.
If we cancel a rally, then they'll let us play. Wow. That's slow. It is. But the system isn't designed to support us.
It's designed to use us to we're no longer valuable, to make us accept less than what we deserve. There is a history of black women being silenced. Do you really wanna silence yourselves? Simone and Coco are right. Let's show them breaks that can't be bought.
And I have just the idea. To do it. I guess I cut it off too soon. So, yeah, Theo is like, okay, I guess I have to make it up to you. I'm gonna bring this, like, insane professional tennis player to our aim.
I really thought that one of the most interesting lines was Jade saying that her parents are pressuring her to transfer somewhere else. That's what my parents would do. I was like, oh my god, Dondre. I feel like you could have said that line. My parents are like, I remember when we were doing protests for Trayvon, and my parents were like, we didn't pay all this money for you to be running through the streets.
We get the cause, but, like, this is gonna keep on happening. Like, this is not gonna stop, and you cannot stop your life every single time to address it. But I also get their perspective in terms of being bought for their silence. Mhmm. It's it's you have the passion of tennis.
You went to college for tennis. Like, you're just trying to get into this, you know, championship, and then you get placed with this decision. Like, they're young girls. Like, it's just Yeah. It's gross.
And I totally believe it. I totally believe that a athletic conference in the South would Mhmm. Cut a deal like this. I think that it is a really smart conflict to have them deal with. But, yeah, it's definitely a funny, like, again, CW moment to be like, okay, well, the famous tennis player is here to convince us to stick together.
She rehearsed her lines really well too. Oh, my god. I know. I was like I was like, you got this girl. I know.

(05:37):
I can tell you're not an actor, but you got Terrible. Uh-huh. I thought I thought it was funny when she was, like, my parents just want me to go to the school so I could just be a student. I'm like, you think it's better at a PWI girl? It's even worse because they won't talk about it there.
Yeah. You're gonna be doing, like, what y'all did and, like, needing a walkout for just that in cover cultural competency courses for the white people. If you think you're silenced now, it only gets worse. Yeah, we have another miss Robinette moment. She comes in to talk to Amara about the rally.
And she says, what happened to the tennis team is heartbreaking. We all have the same goal, protecting Bringston. And Amara says, actually, my goal is protecting our students. I guess miss Robinette is the the messenger of the fact that the board heard about the GAC's offer, and they think accepting it is in everyone's best interest. The girls get to play, and Brinkston avoids any additional negative attention.
Everyone wins. Mhmm. Yeah. The institution over the individual. Mhmm.
Absolutely. And in this case, the institution means so much to the whole community that it kind of blurs the lines, I feel like. And, Martha, if you think bribing these traumatized young women into silence is a win? And Beth Robinette sticks to her guns, and she's like, situations like this can escalate. I believe that thinking of the bigger picture is a win.
And the bigger picture is Brinkston, an HBCU that caters to more than just 10 young women. Make the girls see the benefits of moving past it. That's an order from your board. But also, like, the limits of Amara's power are also, I think, played with a lot in seasons 2 3, especially the 3rd season once the rebrand happens. It's interesting how even the institution that you think is supposed to, like, always have the same interests as you doesn't necessarily.
Because capitalism always wins. Yeah. And, you know, even if it's an HBCU, they're still trying to look, like, preventable on the stage of colleges in general, I feel like. You would think they would be the biggest advocates for those girls, but, you know, the perception, the optics of it all. Exactly.
Like, just having the Google search be, like, you know, about a cop stop instead of, you know, whatever good thing could be could be. Well, it's not I mean, we don't need the board, but, like, you have to also think generationally. Like, I feel like millennials and Gen z already get the rep that were, you know, too soft or whatever. And I feel like, you know, those girls choosing to stand for themselves as opposed to being bought is, like, prime example of them being like, oh, those kids, you know, they don't see the bigger picture. Absolutely.
So, yeah, Despite the pushback, you know, Mara doesn't stop anything as is her personality as a character. And the girls do get up on stage for the rally. So we're gonna watch the rally, which also includes and I think it'll be obvious because there's a bit of a ripping sound, but it includes all of them ripping their NDAs in unison, which is fun. Alright, ladies. Y'all ready?
Let's go. Tia, are you coming? I'm not on the team anymore, remember? Girl, this is bigger than Brinkston. This can happen anywhere to any of us.
Come on. Come on, girl. The sign behind them says stand up for Brinkston. Thank you for being here to support the Brinkston tennis team. The Georgia Athletic Conference doesn't want us talking about how the police stopped us without cause, trashed our belongings, and handcuffed our coach for the supposed crime of protecting her players.
They wanted us to sign NDAs to shut us up, but we're not going for that. The only way for us to be heard is to speak our truth. Ladies. The officers that detained us illegally are still out there, willing and able to do to others what was done to us. We need to hold them accountable.
And the ones who are supposed to hold them accountable, they also need to be held accountable. As a professional tennis player, I want to lift up the next generation. This is how we do it. This is where it starts. Call, email, or text the sheriff department and Georgia Athletic Conference.
If we all raise our voices, we can get justice for Brinkston. Oh, you see me for Robinette in the audience. I didn't notice that before. So, yeah. That's that's the rally.
One thing that I think I remember one of our earlier episodes about police brutality, there was something that I I think Grace James says that is so close to abolition that I'm like, that could have only happened in, like, 2020. And this is case in point. Because they're back to, like, we must hold the cops accountable and not like, you know, the cops are system are the problem. But Yeah. You know, I need to just shout out and say it.
We obviously know that the cops themselves and the whole system are the problem. Copy. Yeah. But, yeah, it's a really empowering moment. I love the little you know, you gotta love a little protest stunt, the NDA rip.
The audio of it all. Yeah. ASMR. Right. And miss Robinette is in the audience, which I did not notice was visible when you see Amara.
You see her sitting behind her. And afterwards, she concedes to Amara that she was right. She says, these kids are different. Just like, I've never heard that one before. Alright.
They just don't quit, and they have a platform that allows them to be heard. And Lamara says, they're gonna change the world. So definitely a very apt shout out to the the Gen Z, you know, activism. And then the girls, through their protests, and you'd have to think, hopefully, that their supporters actually did call the sheriff's department and the GAC and everything, that the girls changed the minds of the attorney general of Georgia, who then says he's going to open an investigation. And so the rally worked, they say.
And then Simone says, I just wish we found a way to still play. That would be the icing on the cake. And they end up doing exhibition matches to, like, still be able to, like, play a little more that season. But they do get the w at the end of all that. You know, I would say probably unrealistic that they're I was gonna another point for the Brinks in utopia.
Yeah. I mean, obviously, I guess, having Coco probably gave them extra visibility. Yeah. I will give them that. That makes sense.

(05:58):
Obviously, every time that one plans a rally, it doesn't lead to the exact outcome that you would want. But it's cool to see it work for them. And so through all of this, Simone really finds her place as an athlete activist. And you see how all these experiences have shaped her as we come toward the end of her journey. So in the season 2 finale, she's actually paired against the GAC champ in her exhibition match.
And because she's a GAC champ, she, like, feels like if she wins, she will get back at the GAC for not supporting the team after their cops stop. And Damon kind of gives her a happy talk saying that it's about celebrating you. Walk on in top 6, battling panic attacks, bomb threats, drug suspension, being racially profiled, you defied the odds. That is who you are. And so then, in the 3rd season, in the the first episode of the 3rd season, Symone gets news that Springston is rebranding.
They're moving money out of the athletic program and into more academic endeavors. They wanna be, like, an elite academic institution as they're seen now. And the rumor is that they're planning on cutting 2 full athletic programs. They keep saying baseball is clearly safe, which when I started watching it, I was like, oh, they cut in baseball. I was like, no one says something like that at the beginning of a teen drama episode if it's Oh, right.
Pink Damon's the one who says, what if we organize a sit in at the tennis courts? We all join in solidarity. As a new conference champs, maybe we'll draw some attention. Then they're all like, yeah, but it's not just women's tennis team. Like, the women's lacrosse team is on the shortlist.
And then they're, of course, like, because, of course, women's sports is always the target. And Symone says, people only took us seriously after that cop stop once we took our power back from the media. That's what we need to do again. We need to get the media and the public aware of what's happening to athletics at Branson. And so coach Milani overhears and is like, don't do that.
Leave it alone. Like, you're gonna make us a target if you do that. And Amara and Symone talk about how, basically, Bringson wants to now be known for exporting black excellence in academics as opposed to just athletics, which I don't think I realized that was supposed to have already been their, like, image. And Symone says, but we do. And she's like, but not at a Harvard level.
And Symone asked a very good question, which is why do we need to compete with Harvard? I thought the whole point of HPCU is just to be us. And Amar is like, we are definitely cut from the same cloth, because that's exactly what I said. And I fell on deaf ears, and it's probably why they didn't tell me about this move in advance. And so, basically, Simone tries to get Nate's boyfriend, Ryan, to write an article about the athletic program being cut, even though that's, like, the opposite of what coach Mulaney told her to do.
And she's like, they're pitting athletics and academics against each other. It's not fair. Later, they argue about, like, what she said in the article because she ends up kinda putting the whole institution on blast, as they put it. You know, they're like, things are about to get really messy online in our boardrooms. Simone does find out from coach Lani that Coco Gauff offered funding, and so the tennis team is gonna be saved.
But other programs got cut, and baseball is one of them. So now Damon, who at the time Symone is dating, is gonna have to leave. He wants to pursue his MLB dreams. That brings us we're gonna the last episode we're really gonna talk about. I will, like, give a little bit of a conclusion to how her story ends.
But, like, for the purposes of, like, her being an activist, things really end in the second episode of the third season in a really natural way for us. Timon has tennis, and she's heading up the PKV voter registration drive. As we kinda mentioned a little bit before, her major selection is now due. Drive. As we kind of mentioned a little bit before, her major selection is now due.
And apparently, over the summer, she went from polyfi to social justice and then back to polyfi. But now she's saying that she chose sports management. And they're all like, what? And so Simone stops by the PKV voter registration table, and there's no one there. And she's, like, whipping them into shape.
She's like, PKV is known for political activism. I refuse for the strive to go down on on our watch Plus and they're all, like, voting rights are under attack, especially on college campuses, so we can't fail. And she's like, ah, so my emails are syncing in. And she's like, what needs to happen next? And one of them is like, each of us need to bring someone to the volunteer orientation session tonight.
And she's like, that's cute. You each need to bring 2 people. Use your networks. And so I do like that she's like, you know, that's a prime organizing tactic. Come and bring a friend or 2.
Yeah. And so Eva, one of her PKC people, actually brings Lando, who's her, like, KK boo. And afterwards, Simone thanks him for volunteering, and he said, I only came because Eva asked me to. And he's just being, you know, very, like, we're we're exes, and let's keep it that way. Like and so, Simone, being a, you know, scheming gal, pairs herself up with Lando to canvas.
And Lando's like, I'm not friends with exes. And she says, we're friends before anything else, and Lando says he'll just blow off the whole photo registration drive. But Symone mentions that he knows he has Kek volunteer hours he has to complete, and he's like, you're really gonna blackmail me in a spending time with you. And she says, I fight for my friends, Lando. So the second to last theme we're gonna watch is actually, I think, very interesting on multiple levels, which is Simone and Lando going to Canvas in the student center and just, like, again, another moment where Lando really challenges her point of view from an interesting perspective.
And, like, it's just an interesting conversation about, like, the black student today and their, like, relationship to the system of voting in general, I feel like. Mhmm. You wanna take one side of the room, wanna take the other? How about we canvas together? Lando, this doesn't have to be painful.
Think about the good we're doing. Signing people up to participate in a system designed to disenfranchise voters of color is a good thing. Wait. You don't believe in the power to vote? Not anymore.
Since when? You have to admit that voting is our strongest weapon to fight for change. It That's a stretch, girl. Reduce the ballot boxes in voting hours, increase voter ID laws, gerrymandering. Politicians are sending voting rights backwards so they can stay in power.
So the answer is we let them? And though, come on. You are too politically astute to be this disillusioned. I know a lot of people our age feel the same way I do. Well, I disagree.
By the end of the day, I will show you how right I am. No. No. No. No.
At the end of the day, you gonna hear me say I told you so. Okay. Well, bet. Let's do it. Excuse me.

(06:19):
Hi. I'm Simone, and this is Lando. And we're registering people to vote. Why? The system's kinda written against us.
Right? You just said why. Let's try this another way. What issues are you passionate about? Grace to refusing to update the basketball team's equipment.
I get it. They're cutting resources to tennis too, but can we get back to talking about voting rights? What about athletes' rights? People we don't know, who don't know us, are making decisions that affect our future, just like politicians. Well, the way we get them to see us is by showing up to the polls.
I'm all worried about the swim team. Because of the rebrand, we have no buses for out of town meets. And what's wild is that people protested, went to jail, even died for the opportunity that's slowly being taken away from us. I wanna carry on their legacy, keep things they fought for. But if my wish doesn't matter at Brink's Peak, a place that's supposed to be for me, how would I think it would matter in the real world?
I told you so. Fine. But you honestly believe the solution is to stand by and do nothing? Yeah. Why?
When did you become this guy? This is not the Orlando Johnson I remember. Fighting only causes more pain when you lose the thing you fought for. I learned that with politics, with baseball, and with you. Yeah.
I think that's a really, like, fascinating conversation. And I think that it's not just even black people who are disillusioned to this point. It's a lot of different types of people clearly. Yeah. I was gonna say it's really interesting because college is the first time that you kind of develop your stance in relation to the rest of the world.
And I thought it was interesting, the last guy's opinion, how he doesn't even feel like he has power in a place that's supposed to be for him. Mhmm. How would he feel that way in the real world? And I thought, yeah, that that's that's a very specific HBCU opinion because, like, you know, like, I knew Emerson wasn't for me. Like, I knew that from the job.
I feel like it must hurt differently to be at an institution that is claiming it's for you, but still causing you to be disillusioned. Absolutely. And, yeah, I mean, obviously, making the the point about the way that voting rights are being stripped in a racist way is also an important point to bring up. And it's just interesting how that that gets brought up kinda by Simone as like a reason to vote, and then other people use it as a reason to, like, not even falcove the system at all. Yeah.
Yeah. So it is just completely different perspective. And, like, obviously like, I don't know. I don't completely agree with either Orlando or Simone, I think. Because, like, I believe that people should vote, but I don't think they should only vote is, like, my main take.
Like, is that, like, if your only only way you're showing up politically at all in your or even just showing up in your community at all Yep. Is by voting 1 like, every year or at once every 4 years if you don't even vote in down ballot, which is an issue in and of itself, then then, like, what the fuck are you doing? Like, you're not actually participating in trying to, like, make the society better. I think everyone should have the right to vote and should exercise it. But the idea that it's our strongest way, like, our strongest tool is like, no, it isn't.
And, like, it isn't necessarily designed to be either. Yeah. Exactly. And so, yeah, I think it's I I love that they give them both such such disparate opinions to the point where I don't even completely agree with either of them. And then, you know, some the truth is somewhere in the middle.
In the middle. Yep. And so, yeah, I also think that what's really cool is that what comes out of this so Lando and Simone later have an uncomfortable conversation about their past, and Simone releases him from his voter driver obligations and tells him that she'll tell Cam he did all his volunteer hours. And she says, for the record, you're still wrong about voting. You don't stop fighting because you're hurt or disappointed.
That's not how life works. To be honest, it's not even who you are. And he says, what if you don't get the chance to fight? Sometimes people make decisions on high with no idea about about the people they affect. And he's talking with the baseball team being cut.
He says, if we'd had even a hint of what's going down, we could have thought and we could have won, but we didn't get the chance. And so that actually inspires Symone to go back to all of the people who they were talking to and just, like, really takes in all the issues that people were telling her about. And it says, the canvassing debacle made me realize all sports are feeling the effects of the rebrand. So I'm thinking about forming an athletic council to press the school for better treatment and resources. And Lando says, wow, that's that's actually impressive.
And she says, you kind of inspired the idea. The baseball team couldn't see what was coming, but we can, which means we can fight because there's strength in numbers. And Lando kind of watches her get back to her conversation with the other, like, sports people about how they're going to create encephalitic council, and he looks like, you know, very fond. And he later tells JR he's in for trying to fight for the baseball team. And he says, I was reminded that some things are worth fighting for.
And so, yeah, I really love that. Like, I mean, it points toward her ending that we're gonna get to in a minute. But, like, I just love that she, like, took she took in what everyone said to her and was like, okay, here's the action we can take together to, like, actually address all these issues. Mhmm. She's always that person.
Yeah. Yeah. She's that girl. She really is that girl. And, yeah.
I mean, I think, again, like, the solution in a show always seems to be coming together and finding a way to to make a solution together collectively, so I love it. And that athletic council does come up, like, her going to athletic council meetings comes up throughout the rest of the 3rd season and everything. And at the end of the episode, Lando comes to Simone's door to give her the sheets of voters he managed to actually sign up even though he had been released of his duties. And she said, what happened to being too tired of participating in the broken system? And he says, I got some good advice about staying in the fight, so I'm jumping back in the ring.
And she says, glad to hear it and tries to be like, we can be friends now. And he says, our relationship with Epic, that's why I can't be friends with you. It was just like, whew. Yeah. You can see the regret on Simone's face.
Yeah. Yeah. I personally like, I, at no point, was team Damon. Like, I was fully in Orlando from the beginning. Agree.

(06:40):
Orlando's cuter. Yeah. That actor was also in One of Us is Lying, and he, like, isn't Oh, okay. Yeah. He isn't, like, the main.
He's, like, the other guy, kind of. Like, you know, not the endgame love interest. I'm just, like, glad that he got his chance to be, like, the love interest. He loved it. He deserved it.
Yeah. At the end of this episode, Symone finally declares her major for real. And that's gonna be our last scene, and then we'll kind of talk about the conclusion of her journey. But this is in the way that she found herself as, like, an as an activist and an athlete simultaneously. Like, that's this really sums up why I put, you know, activist athlete together in the title of the of the episode because it's really together for her.
Yeah. I think we deserve a toast to simply surviving the 1st week without killing each other. To an extremely successful voter registration campaign. To Symone finally choosing her major. Thank you, Lord.
Yeah, Lord. Mhmm. About that, sports management is no longer my major. I'm great. What?
What did I miss? Nothing. Because we're back to where we started. I knew it was too good to be true, but I allowed myself to believe it anyway. I watched you turn the foreman.
What happened? A lot. I have good reasons for why I changed my mind. Can you just hear me out? I know I chose my major already, but the last week made me realize I really wanna create change for athletes of color.
Because it's not just enough to go out and play. I mean, we have athletes like Serena, Naomi, Coco who had to literally step up and advocate for themselves. But, what if they didn't? What if they had someone who specialized in speaking up for them? That is why I wanna change my major to sports advocacy.
It'll combine poli sci, social justice, and sports management classes. That's why I was bouncing back and forth between them all summer because the major that's really meant for me, it isn't just one of them. It's all of them. Strength in numbers. Your color coordinated folder.
And yes, I know there's no such major at Bringson, which is why I'm gonna create a specialized degree. I pulled together a list of relevant coursework. Coach Alani already agreed to be my adviser. So now, all I need is the approval from the registrar's office. Didn't need the back story.
Just need the form. Oh. Okay. Sorry. So, yeah.
Lots of representation of, like, older black women in administrative roles, like, staff and people. For it. Yeah. I love that. But, yeah, that's, like, the perfect just the perfect thing for her, and I love that the show brought us there.
Yes. I agree. It just it all makes sense. It all makes sense. Yep.
I I love a gag, like, the whole front group trying to get this person to commit to a major and, like, you know, I keep backing him for I like, I love something like that. So Yeah. That's the kind of stuff that we don't have enough of in teen dramas these days. We don't have enough of, like, the the little funny moments of levity sometimes. Levity.
Yes. There's me missing. So, yeah. In conclusion, Simone Hicks belongs in our Hall of Teen Drama fame for activist characters who got their love story too, because she does end up with Lando at the end of the season. And it's really cute, and they really build them back there in a really beautiful way.
It's not, like, rushed at all. So, I mean, yeah, very happy for for that arc. And as we said, we are both team Lando, so we're we win. And then the other big Simone arc that we didn't really have the time to cover is that Simone does actually get breast cancer in season 3. They do not let her chill for a minute.
At all. At all. She does catch it early because of her tennis, which is interesting. Like, she knows her body in a way that makes her catch it really early. And so she goes through the treatment of the help of her community, and the show ends with there being rumors that Symone may have taken performance enhancing drugs, which we really know are her cancer meds because she's been hiding the fact that she had cancer from, like, the world.
And so it ends with her deciding that she is gonna tell the world that, and then she steps out onto the court for, like, the last time, and everyone is cheering for her knowing that she is a breast cancer survivor. Oh, they all let this girl live. She's always fighting for her life. Literally, while I was doing research for this episode, I found an article that someone wrote for, I think, ScreenRant that's literally just like, let Simone live. Like, it's just like, it's been gone I'll find it again and put it in the show notes because it's so funny.
That's so funny. Yeah. She went through a lot, but she came out of it an amazing amazing person. And I just thought it was so important for us to show her journey on the pod. Yeah.
One of a kind character. One of a kind. And I don't know. I wonder if they'll have her pop up again at all on All American. All American?
Yeah. I know. I mean, if they have, like, a tennis player in the new gen, maybe they'll have her, like, pop in and be, like, hey. Do that? Mentor?

(07:01):
Well, yeah. Exactly. She does have, like, at one point in the show that we didn't talk about. Again, there's just so much that we couldn't fit in, where she mentors someone, like, a younger tennis player who's, like, more underprivileged than her. So, like, she's definitely, like, just that girl, as we were saying.
Yeah. I mean, her aunt Tamara, she's gonna pass the baton. That's just Absolutely. In her bloodline. Yes.
So, yeah, another amazing All American Universe episode. Thank you so much for joining me. Do you have any other final thoughts, or do we feel like we I think we caught it. Did it? Yeah.
Cool. Thanks for listening to leftist teen drama. Follow us on social media for updates. Links to our Twitter, Instagram, Tumblr, and TikTok are in the show notes along with links to suggested additional reading on the topics discussed. And don't forget to rate us on Apple Podcasts and Spotify.
Solidarity forever, free Palestine, and abolish the PIC. Signing off, Maria.

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#32 - Simone Hicks, HBCU Athlete-Activist: Black Trauma, Resilience, and Protest on ‘All American: Homecoming’

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.css-14f5ked{margin:0;word-break:break-word;display:-webkit-box;-webkit-box-orient:vertical;box-orient:vertical;-webkit-line-clamp:2;overflow:hidden;}#32 - Simone Hicks, HBCU Athlete-Activist: Black Trauma, Resilience, and Protest on ‘All American: Homecoming’