My take on the Bama Rush documentary. (Wait for it!)
I did not go to Alabama but the school is in my hometown. Bama Rush has always been a part of my world. My Mama was active in her sorority alumni association, and when she became a professor, she served as their faculty advisor. The Kappa house was as familiar to me as my father’s office. Maybe more so.
I was going to sorority house Easter Egg hunts before I could walk. The week between Ice Water Teas and Squeal Day (they call it “Bid Day” now) was Mama’s NBA draft, and I delighted in it with her. Pretty girls running down Colonial and Magnolia weeping with joy are some of my earliest memories. (If you stand on the corner between KD and Alpha Chi you can see almost everything. Or at least the houses I cared about.)
The excitement is real. So is the trauma. What people saw in the film, I saw happen to people I care about. The good and the bad. The women featured in the film didn’t deserve this.
Obviously I’m not the target audience. Most of the “revelations” that have fascinated people around the world barely registered with me. I didn’t even know about the film until a few days ago. Like everyone else, I assumed this would be an expose. There is definitely a lot of potential material. But this was not that. This was straight up bullying.
Yes, the film mentioned the Machine and the racism, but it was all well trodden ground. She didn’t “investigate” anything, she just referenced the work of other journalists, most of it decades old.
The women who were featured were not even in sororities. They were not enrolled at Alabama yet. Most of them weren’t even Southern. They had no idea what they were getting themselves into. There’s a reason nobody who understands the system would have dared to get involved.
This film maker obviously had an ax to grind. At least a third of the screen time was her talking about how hard her childhood was because she had to wear a wig. And most of the segments about herself were just repeating things she said before. Frankly, it was boring.
We get it, Rachel Fleit. You resent these young women for their long blond hair and for living a life that wasn’t available to you. But your pity party vanity project exploited them. They are teenagers, and you caused them real and everlasting damage. All they did wrong was put their trust in the wrong person.
The amateurish trick photography was cute, but you will never be Shelby Rose. I do not know her but I have no doubt she will survive this. She launched a trend that influenced billions of people worldwide and will be part of our culture for decades to come. She founded a non-profit to support families in need. She has risen above her own struggles and serves as a role model for others. She may not have been born in the South, but she’s ours now.
You made a worthless documentary using your teen angst as an excuse to punch down. You deserve all the ridicule you’re getting. I can’t imagine being such a miserable, soulless person.
Bless your heart.
Here’s a comment from Shelby Rose -