What if Whitley married Senator Douglas?
My first glimpse of college did not come from a tour of the local campus or from the nostalgia of a baby picture of me wrapped in a certain school’s sweatshirt. I first experienced college life while watching reruns of NBC’s hit sitcom A Different World.
A spin-off from the wildly popular The Cosby Show, the story line centered on two college students trying to find their way through life and adulthood while attending fictitious Hillman University. Main characters Denise Huxtable and Dwayne Wayne (Lisa Bonet and Kadeem Hardison) dated but Denise never warmed to Dwayne’s goofy and loving personality. Following Bonet’s departure from the show, writer’s shifted focus to a budding relationship between Dwayne and spoiled Southern Belle Whitley Gilbert (Jasmine Guy).
Fast forward a few years later and Whitley and Dwayne were getting married, but Dwayne’s uncertainty halts their impending nuptials. As with most shows, their relationship was strained to boost ratings and enter Whitley’s dream man here, Senator Byron Douglas (Joe Morton). A melting pot of ambition, status, passion, and stamped with her family’s approval, the Senator made Whitley’s every wish a reality. Throw in a few episodes of her trying to work alongside Dwayne on the good Senator’s campaign trail, not to mention the cheating episode where she slept with Dwayne and lied to the Senator and you have quality programming at its best!
Whitley’s dream was to marry a man who would support her, mostly financially since her world revolves around money, and who better fit than a Senator? Leading up to the ceremony, it seems that we’d seen the final chapter in the Dwayne/Whitley saga. That is until this moment. Click here: Dwayne’s Proposal
But, what if it never happened?
What if Whitley rejected Dwayne’s passionate and shocking (and completely disrespectful if you were apart of the Douglas family) request?
If she had, she would have every tangible item her little heart ever feigned. The status she desperately sought would be hers. The months we spent watching her live in poverty, selling her clothes for rent money and wearing the same dress twice in one week would be erased because the Senator provided her every wish. If Whitley had married Senator Douglas, she would have made the practical decision—marrying for financial stability instead of marrying for love. But is it that easy to choose practicality when your heart is elsewhere?
Let us consider the positives first. Money. Whitley would have the life she was accustomed too. She would never want for anything. She could waste money on frivolous things better than Diddy and the entire Bad Boy legion circa 1998! Bad Boy Production complete with flying money, literally!
Status. Country clubs, spa days. Whitley would be one of the top Trophy Wives.
And would you blame her? Guilt her? Or fault her for making such a decision? Sure you would, but would it matter? No. She wouldn’t even notice you on the other side of her $3,000 Louis Vuitton sunglasses. (Hey, Tamar!!)
Maybe it would have been better for her to refuse both men and become a single Black woman in America.
Angela Stanley shares her views on what it means to be “Black, Female and Single” in this New York Times op-ed. (Link to “Black, Female and Single”). I agree with her assessment of the modern Black woman’s quest for higher education and the decreasing population of Black men on college campuses across the nation. How are we supposed to find “Mr. Right” between writing 15-page research papers, studying for our Anatomy practicum, and running BSU? Not to mention coordinating the student/faculty mixer and spending atleast 25 hours at our work study jobs. But, Whitley didn’t have that problem so back to the drawing board.
Now, on to the negatives. If Whitley had decided to marry Senator Douglas, she might be the Black version of Will & Grace’s Karen Walker (Megan Mullally). Karen Drinking There is a growing number of alcoholic Stepford wives in our society who have yet to reach their individual potential because they swim to the bottom of any available wine bottle and reside there for months, years, decades.
Boredom. Whitley spent 20 years being spoiled and living a privileged life. We watched her evolve from dependent to independent, snobby to socially engaged, ignorant to intrigued, naïve to worldly. To deny her personal developments and revert back to the Whitley of old would only do her a disservice.
Surely, from a financial and economical standpoint, Senator Douglas is the better choice on paper, but no one could love her quite like Dwayne. He didn’t just love her; he understood her and all of her quirks. If you ever watched the show, you know she had several. Maybe Whitley realized that while standing in front of her family and friends. Maybe, in a flash, she saw the next 50 years of her life and knew that no matter what, as long as Dwayne stood by her side, money and status would never amount to the bliss they’d have together.
Like Ms. Stanley, I’m living the single life. In due time, my Dwayne will show his face. I’m not going on a quest for him and I’m not going to activate a beacon with his sign and I’m definitely not going to gather a group and try to summon him with potions, spells, and other tricks. As the lyrics go, “What will be, will be.” Just look at Whitley’s situation. You can head to the church with the intention to marry a Senator and end up leaving married to a dedicated and ambitious schoolteacher.
Feel the love here: Whitley & Dwayne – the saga
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