by Len Lear

Brarailty “Rel” Dowdell, a 42-year-old graduate of Central High School (248th graduating class in 1989), is a filmmaker who may just be a household name some day. Rel grew up in the same Germantown block as the legendary boxer, Bernard Hopkins. His parents, both teachers, took out a second mortgage on their home so they could pay Rel’s tuition at Boston University’s film school.

His first film after graduation, “Train Ride,” was filmed in 2005 entirely at Cheyney University in Chester County. The film about a college date rape took seven years after it was made to get it released. His second feature film, “Changing the Game,” opened  in 2012 at selected AMC theaters in Philadelphia, New York City, Washington, D.C., Atlanta and Chicago, followed by a nationwide release. It was also selected to be screened at the Cannes Film Festival in 2013.

“I always wanted to do a film showing somebody coming out of the worst environment but who does not let that environment take over his life and who succeeds in spite of it,” explained Dowdell. “I grew up in Germantown and knew many young men who had a lot of potential but who never got out of the neighborhood. So I thought that one day I would make a film where somebody like that does beat the odds and does not just become a statistic.”

In addition to getting a theatrical release with positive national reviews,  “Changing the Game” got two major cable deals with both BET and FUSE networks, which both reach millions of households in the U.S. That is impressive and unusual for a new young filmmaker with a low-budget, independent film.

After graduation from Central High, Rel earned a B.A. in English with Magna Cum Laude honors from Fisk University in Nashville, Tennessee, in 1993 and a Master's Degree in Film Production with highest distinction from Boston University’s film school in 1995. “I didn't know I wanted to be a filmmaker,” he told the Local, “until I got to college and read some articles about Spike Lee and John Singleton and how they took the educational route to filmmaking.”

But Rel is dealing with another issue these days that is not fictional and has no script. For the past 12 years he has been an adjunct faculty member in the English department at Community College of Philadelphia (CCP), but in late December he brought a lawsuit against his employer in federal court, claiming that the college discriminated against him based on race and gender by turning him down for a full-time teaching position.

Dowdell, a visiting lecturer reading/writing specialist in the learning lab department at CCP, has taught developmental English on several levels, as well as screenwriting in the creative writing division. “In addition,” he said, “I am very proud of the work I have done in a program called TRIO, a U.S. Department of Education grant-funded project for eligible low-income, first-generation and disabled college students.

“Last summer, I was able to get 100% of the students in the program to successfully pass their retest exam to place them in college level 101 English.”

CCP has even used Dowdell's photo and bio on a promotional poster, highlighting his filmmaking accomplishments, that it has used widely to attract new students. His lawsuit contends that only three out of at least 50 faculty hires in the English department over the last 15 years have been African American men, even though more than half of the student body at CCP is African American, and about 75 percent of the students are non-white. (Dowdell says that “there are no African Americans on the English department's hiring committee this year.”)

Attempts by this reporter to get a comment from CCP about the lawsuit were unsuccessful. The Philadelphia Inquirer reported on Dec. 29 that CCP has “declined to comment” on the lawsuit, filed by Rel's attorney, Chris DelGaizo, but in a statement to the Pennsylvania Human Relations Commission, replying to a complaint Dowdell also filed there, the college maintained that two school officials, one black and one white, “did not feel that the complainant met the qualifications identified by the department.”

When asked about that contention, Dowdell said, “I know that I am as qualified, as dedicated and as much of an asset to the image of the school as anyone who could have been hired. For over 12 years I have had tremendous success with students of all kinds at every one of CCP's four campuses. The letters that students have written to department heads and administrators about my instruction have been heartwarming.

“Also, I do academic advising, assessment, Allied Health Test preparation at the school and work with African American males in the Center for Male Engagement. I met the qualifications of the human resources department, the hiring committee and the department heads on two different occasions over the span of a decade.

“In fact, the first time I was denied, in 2005, I was shocked because the head of the hiring committee at that time told me I was the best candidate out of the applicants that year. I was very optimistic that I would be hired full-time and become one of the few African American full-time males in the department. I remember him telling me, 'Rel, you can reach students I know I cannot. I am rooting for you, the committee is rooting for you, and we look forward to the good possibility that you will be a full-time colleague by the fall semester.' That was a very humbling statement to hear from a veteran professor in the English department at CCP.”

In a letter to Dowdell, Warren Hilton, Ed.D., Dean of Enrollment Management at CCP, wrote, “Thanks for your hard work!  I know that there are countless students you have helped over the years. The work of individuals like you makes our students' lives so much better.”

On Jan. 12 CCP professor Jack Drummond offered a tribute to Dowdell before a large audience in the Winnet Building of the campus. Drummond recited the inspirational poem "Don't Quit" by John Greenleaf Whittier and played the classic song, "A Change is Gonna Come," by Sam Cooke on the violin. (Here is a video of the performance: https://vimeo.com/152339837)

Dowdell is currently directing another film, “Where's Daddy?” about parenting, or lack thereof, in the African American family structure. The film examines the child-support system and how court-imposed obligations affect men, women, children and the black community as a whole.

Rel said his ultimate goal as a filmmaker is “to make films that reach all audiences and give audiences insight on how African American men can be triumphant in some of the most adverse of situations when facing adversity of all kinds … Even though people think a lot of strides have been made, we still have a long way to go.”

For more information, visit https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rel_Dowdell or http://www.philly1st.com/