Chapter I (Vol. 1)

**Chapter I** is the premiere of Volume One to the Netflix series *Dear White People*. The story circles around Samantha White's perspective after the events of the movie by the same name.

## Synopsis

As college radio host Samantha White leads the outcry over a blackface party on campus, a revelation about her love life puts her in an awkward spot.

## Plot

Three days after the blackface party, Samantha White goes on the air of her *Dear White People* radio show, in which she lists acceptable and unacceptable costumes for Halloween for the white students. During this, her best friend Joelle Brooks rests across a couch in the recording room whom is watching a video on how to lose weight and briefly interrupts Sam. Sam reassures her that she is beautiful and the two converse on different topics, multitasking between her show and the conversation, taking calls from listeners, some expressing offense or disgust while others agree with the statements made public.

The two then walk to the Armstrong-Parker House, Sam expressing appreciation for providing support. They separate, leaving Sam to Reggie Green. He asks about Sam's whereabouts for the day.

Sam makes love to her boyfriend Gabe Mitchell in his dorm room. After both reaching climax, Sam climbs into the sheets, playing Candy Crush on her phone; Gabe climbs alongside her, taking her phone and aiding her in how to beat a level she was stuck on.

Returning to the Armstrong-Parker House for the black meeting, she is interviewed by Lionel Higgins. As the four black student groups congregrate in the den, it is shown that each group have some subtle tension, but they all converse about the blackface party. Everyone express some concern on the protrayal of their existences, being reduced to costumes. As Sam lets out a monologue for change and reform, the students throughout the room are distracted by a series of taggings to an Instagram post, made by Gabe of Sam's backside, the image captioned "#HateItWhen Bae Leaves." Joelle informs her of the post, while everyone around her change tone.

The meeting ends with Al, Reggie, Kelsey, Coco, Joelle, and Rashid chattering over Sam's dovation to the movement. When Sam approaches them, Coco leaves without a word. While Rashid expressed that he did not care about her relationship, Kelsey tells her that she is happy if Sam is happy with her love life. Al and Rashid follow behind Kelsey, with Reggie delayed upon confessing that he had nothing to say. Sam confronts Joelle on speaking about her in secret; Joelle passes her by, also expressing that she was happy if Sam was happy, though she stops when Sam wants her not to be like the others. Joelle wishes she had known before, calling Sam on previously made proclaimations over keeping to the black boys and away from falling for their oppressors and reminding her that she is a light-skinned, biracial black woman. Despite this, Joelle supports the relationship, embracing Sam and asking when will they meet him. Sam gets a text and walks across campus to the Dean's Office.

In the backroom of the campus studio, Sam reviews the footage taken from the blackface party, noting how everyone had accepted the invitation to it. Gabe enters, expressing concern for her eating habit. He sees the monitors and asks if that was the party being talked about. Sam pauses the video and tells Gabe, "Hate it when bae leaves." The two converse on the post, how the publication made their relationship public, leaving Sam with the feeling that the entire Black Caucus is in the room with them. Gabe apologizes, telling her that he wishes their relationship could become something more. They stare into each other's eyes, Sam referring to it as "Gosling eye-ing" her. She is convinced and asks him what were his plans for the night.

Wednesday night, Gabe approaches Sam; she critiques his attire, specifying that this night was a special night for the black students. She goes on to say that Defamation was important and wanted him to dress for the atmosphere. Gabe questions how she went on about this before continuing to A-P House. Upon their arrival, Al makes a comment that he would have asked her out had he known she desired lighter boys. Gabe introduces himself to Joelle, given a quick introduction from her before she redirects back to the television.

As the show's episode progresses, the black students shift between praise, admiration, shock, and disgust with how Olive Bishop interacts with the President. The show goes to commerical with the appearance of Bishop's father. When Gabe asks whom the man was, Joelle explains that he was a clone of the father. Rashid comments on how the show ends when the female character is moments from performing fellatio on the President.

After hearing a comment about the revolution breaking, Sam turns to Reggie with the idea for a protest, performing a sit-in in the white legacy students' house. When Gabe tries to interject into the conversation, Reggie makes light of his ignorance to racism, telling him that he could not feel as upset as the black student body and that he could not sympathize with their pain. Gabe continues that while he does not know the pain, he wants to understand; when Reggie questions his presence in the room, however, Gabe implies that he was going to be assaulted. Reggie corrects him, that he chooses words over brawl. An upset Gabe storms out of the room; Sam follows behind while everyone returns to Defamation.

Sam asks about Gabe's condition, adding that his reaction was how she feels whenever anywhere on campus. Gabe rebuffs that he would not have made her feel that way around his friends had that situation happened around them. With him gone, Sam is approached by Lionel who asks to speak with her privately.

Lionel explained to her that someone managed to gain information about Sam's access to Pastiche's account and sending an invite to the blackface party. When Sam asked about him ruining his scoop for her, he replied that he felt it was wrong to speak another's truth.

When Sam returns to the recording room the next day, she is approached by the director; he tries to discourage her from using the booth up until the blackface party stories died down. Though she expressed anger, she calms and asks to read the complaints. As they walk to the back, she enters the booth and locks the door, commanding Abigail to move from the seat.

Taking to the microphone, Sam does a monologue on *Dear White People*, in which she explains that the jokes about racial stereotypes against white people caused no harm in comparison to those made about black people. She goes to add that the racist jokes continue the problematic systems that strain the black community. She even mentions that the killings of Sandra Bland, Trayvon Martin, and Philando Castile were all it took to wake those to prejudice and racism. Following this, she confessed to being the one that sent out the invite to the *Dear Black People* party, deeming it a sociological experiment; she passed an apology to Gabe for her behavior the night prior.

Her phone progressively vibrates with text messages from friends, including Gabe whom readily awaits her for sex.

## Credits

* Logan Browning as Samantha White
* Brandon P. Bell as Troy Fairbanks
* DeRon Horton as Lionel Higgins
* Antoinette Robertson as Colandrea "Coco" Conners
* John Patrick Amedori as Gabe Mitchell
* Ashley Blaine Featherson as Joelle Brooks
* Giancarlo Esposito as Narrator

**Guest Cast**
* Marque Richardson as Reggie Green
* Nia Jervier as Kelsey Philips
* Jemar Michael as Al
* Wyatt Nash as Kurt Fletcher
* Jeremy Tardy as Rashid Bakr
* Brandon Black as Kordell
* Marvin Lemus as Marvin Rojas
* Presilah Nunez as Olive Bishop
* Sheridan Pierce as Abigail
* Brandon Gibson as Professor Coleman
* Jeffrey Larson as White Student 1
* Michael Moskewicz as White Student 2
* Chloe Slater as White Student 4
* Kendall Alexandria as Female Companion (uncredited)
* Mell Bowser as Dejon (uncredited)
* Dasha German as Student (uncredited)
* John Paul Jones II as CORE Student (uncredited)
* Hashim Lafond as Black Student (uncredited)
* Stephanie Allain *Executive Producer*
* Yvette Lee Bowser *Executive Producer*
* Nastaran Dibai *Co-Executive Prdoucer*
* James O. Kerry *Co-Producer*
* Julia Lebedev *Executive Producer*
* Leonid Lebedev *Co-Executive Producer*
* Jack Moore *Co-Producer*
* Jamie Neese *Associate Producer*
* Jason Neese *Associate Producer*
* Justin Simien *Executive Producer*
* Kent Zbornak *Producer*

## Quotes

“*She's not afraid of the truth. Why are you?*”
—Joelle Brooks to Samantha White

“*This may be a surprise to you, but I don't use my fist to solve problems.*”
—Reggie Green to Gabe Mitchell

“*I guess I don't like the idea of telling someone else's truth.*”
—Lionel Higgins to Samantha White