Black Greeks: A Legacy in Peril?
During the time of their inception, the purpose of Black Greek-letter organizations was clear. Amid racial oppression and segregation, these elite groups of educated Blacks assumed the charge of activism, scholarship, social uplift and service.
November 13th, 2007 at 3:12 pm
I am in total agreement with Dr. Walter Kimbrough. We need to take membership intake out of the hands of undergraduates, because it has gotten out of control. As a alumnae member of one of the \
November 13th, 2007 at 3:38 pm
I have never understood how beating me, making me eat garbage, or other acts of stupidity would show how I would be the best person to have in a sorority. My character, commitment to service, ability to help the organization stand out as a leader in building self-esteem, professionalism, and an attitude of “I can” among women should be what is expected. I wanted to pledge when I was an undergraduate but when my roommate came in with cuts on her legs and in terrible pain from other abuse, pledging lost all of its appeal. Ladies wake up. Being hazed is not what you need to do to be a member of a sorority. Stand up for the principles of the sorority and grab the arm of the person holding the paddle; look her straight in the eyes and say “not today or any other day”. Hazing will not stop until the pledgees make it stop.
November 13th, 2007 at 5:50 pm
While the hazing and abuse continues, the answer does not lie in the abolishment of Black fraternities and sororities, rather the education of our youth regarding the purposes and ideals of these organizations is the key! We, I am a member of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc., as members of these organizations must vigilently pursue legal remedies to publicly denounce these behaviors as part of the member intake processes. We must unite under the umbrella of the Pan Hellenic Council to hold our members accountable, thru the judicial system, by filing our own charges against our members who persist as violators of the law and our constitution and bylaws. When we work within the judicial system to develop a way for us to file charges on these members, in addition to the charges filed by the victims of these heinous crimes, the message will be very clear: We do not and will not tolerate any forms of abuse whether emotional or physical. I believe if we unite under the Pan Hellenic Council to legally address the criminal behavior of our “members”, in addition to expulsion from the organization, we will be “heard”!
November 13th, 2007 at 9:26 pm
Great story…If we we look back into the distant past, we will note that the government who sat up and shut down the idea of the black Soldier ( Buffalo Soldier ) during the start of the Civil War in 1865.Created a fraternity of fighting men, who grew in fame throughout the South and the Western frontier They were dismantled by egos in government. The same egos in government still continue to feed on both the negative and positive actions of what black people are doing around the world and specifically within organization. In time, the governmental ego machine, will eventually drive by the black college campus and shut every fraternity and sorority down. Always remember, THAT THEY ARE WATCHING YOU….
November 13th, 2007 at 9:55 pm
The Greek system is counter-productive, regardless of what race the members are. I have taught some very bright students who turned into complete morons soon after joining a frat or sorority. Not all of them turned into morons, but too many of them did.
“In time, the governmental ego machine, will eventually drive by the black college campus and shut every fraternity and sorority down.”
Either you don’t read your posts or you are so indoctorinated in some racist-victimization philosophy that you can’t communicate effectively with the rest of us.
November 13th, 2007 at 11:01 pm
This condemnation is equally applicable to white greek letter organizations. Therefore, if the fact that Black greek letter organizations should be disbanded because they haze white ones should be also because if Blacks go to white greek letter organizations, they will still be hazed. Therefore, under those grounds, I see no need to eliminate Black greeks; just eliminate the hazing.
November 14th, 2007 at 6:39 am
The historical legacy of Black Greek-lettered organizations is being threatened by the continued existence of violent hazing incidents. Everyday folk will not remember the the role that Black fraternities and sororities have played in advancing the cause of African Americans. What they will remember is the violence associated with joining such organizations. Disbanded Black fraternities and sororities is not the solution, as this would lead to their continued existence as underground and far more secretive organizations and, thus, facilitate even more violent initiation activities. One of the quickest ways to transform the character of Black Greek-lettered organizations is to raise the entrance requirments at the undergraduate level in the form of higher GPAs. I am certain that if you were to examine the scholastic records of these organizations, you will find that they rank very low in relation to the rest of the student body. While surveying the web I ran across an article about an undergraduate chapter of Alpha Phi Alpha on a traditionally white campus. The article highlighted the fact that Alpha ranked dead last out of all of the fraternities on campus in the area of scholastic achievement of its members. I found this rather funny considering that one of the cardinal principles of Alpha is scholarship! In the past Alpha men were taken from the ranks of the best and brightest, with many of them ranking at the top of their class at predominately white universities characterized by racial discrimination and intolerance. These men viewed their membership as badge of honor and distinction that symbolized African Americans ability to achieve scholastically. Today, Alpha, like the rest of the Divine Nine, has come to symbolize “stepping,” partying, violent hazing, and, to some extent, quasi-community service activities. What has come of the Talented Tenth? Well, I think Dr. Du Bois was correct in stating that when he put forth this idea of an African American vanguard, he did not take into consideration that they would be as selfish, self-absorbed, and materialistic as other elite organizations. He never envisioned that they would abandon the goal racial uplift to worship at the shrine of selfishness and egotism.
November 14th, 2007 at 1:49 pm
Sadly, this is yet another bit of evidence in the case why we can\’t seem to truly come together as a people. It seems we are too preoccupied with adopting identities of other groups and cultures and not reinforcing the one\’s for which our ancestors bleed and died. What would Dr. King say, better yet what is God saying? What would ever lead me to adopt the concept of voluntarily demoralizing and placing another human being in harms way as acceptable. How does it make me better as a man to be beaten like a slave and treated like an animal? Have we exchanged character for prestige, power, and popularity? Our youth have disconnected from truth and embraced reality. Yes, too many negative images are being glamorized in our society through the mass media in an attempt to distort truth. I don\’t think we need to abolish BGLO\’s but we do need to abolish embracing sin and calling it tradition. What motivates people of any color to demean another human being and reduce them to nothing? What we need is a higher sense of accountability amongst the organizers and leaders of BGLO\’s. There should be a check and balance approach to supervise all activities and events within these “Elite” groups. The establishment of certain criteria such as GPA’s levels and community affiliations should be a prerequisite for membership. Leaders should strive to educate, expose, and empower those who desire to become active members. This may lead to greater involvement within the community where we need more positive black role models for our youth to emulate. If we continue to allow this attitude to permeate within our academic communities our families will soon suffer a much greater loss, which is the loss of life and possibly a generation. This is a sad commentary for what once were a proud people of Kings and Queens. Now we have become murderers and molesters. Stop the madness black people!
November 19th, 2007 at 6:18 pm
I agree with this article. We have to teach our young people about the history of the organization by example. We must also teach and mentor them going forward, when they become members of the organization, to continue the philosphies of the founders of the divine nine. Those of us who are the elders must come out of retirement and take back our legacy which is great and proud and cast out those who do want to see us flourish.
November 20th, 2007 at 4:28 am
There must be ways of combating hazing. Should there be stakeouts throughout the city by searching all the parks, abandoned buildings, football fields, alleys, behind buildings, apartment buildings, etc. at night? College professors should observe their students to see if they are falling asleep in class, missing numerous homework assignments, not asking for help, and so on. There has got to be a crackdown. I dropped line because of hazing. I even shouted how wrong it was and that it was an example of slavery. We were scheduled to go out on that dark football field again blindfolded to get beat again. I called a member of the alumni chapter. He called the big brothers to stop this meeting or else he will report them to nationals. It stopped that night but our line was questioned on who made the phone call. They knew it was me. I had to either take a certain amount of “points” (beating while pointing straight ahead) or resign. I chose to resign. Later I graduated and pledged grad chapter in Arkansas.
December 7th, 2007 at 2:59 pm
All is not lost. The Devine 9 all have outstanding projects. A moritorium on INTAKE or Pledging should be put in place by all groups. Take the Intake program out of the hands of Undergraduates. Times have changed since our organizations were founded. Current members have made changes in the Constitution and By-laws that were never intended. Each group on the National level needs to get a grip on their members and CONTROL Intake. Now understand this. Some of that Hazing process is also done by Graduates. Suspensions and Expulsions are not working. The National Elected officers of each group have to step up and be Leaders. We have enough \’Black on Black crime\’. It should not be a crime to be Greek. Nuff said.