The obsession that black college students have with Greek-letter fraternities and sororities is like black people 1000 years from now admiring the bond and strength of the Ku Klux Klan.
I am in my third semester of French class. I probably know more French words than black greek letter organizations know Greek words, but that does not make me French.
So why must members of these various organizations walk around calling themselves Greek?
The Greeks were a historically white, warring, manipulative people who owe much of their civilization to their emulation of Kemet. Therefore, it is no surprise that our Greek-letter organizations have a spirit of elitism and disrespect for one another.
Some would call me anti-Greek, but I am only stating facts and being rational. Take this scenario into consideration: If Tim raped your mother, lynched your father and cut his ears and penis off, would you name your child after Tim’s grandfather?
If we must go that far to imitate white people then why not have line names like Neo-Uncle Tom or Aunt Jemima Mattie?
At the turn of the century, when most black Greek-letter organizations were formed, there were only a few black people in college and they found a need to bond closer in an effort to excel further than their white counterparts.
Unfortunately, while whites were acknowledging their heritage through Greece, we disregarded our ancestry and invested our social identity in it.
BGLOs had competitions like who could have the highest grade point average or which organization obtained the most prestigious awards.
Now some make songs about who is the prettiest or who wants to be like the other the most. A wise woman once told me, “Being in a black Greek-letter organization is like being at the top of the special-ed class.”
Some BGLOs seduce freshmen with initiating processes that are reminiscent of Willie Lynch’s “Making of a Slave” and Masonic-derived rituals.
In Lynch’s letter he compared breaking a “nigger” to breaking a horse. He outlined various “rituals” that would humiliate the slave and reprogram their psychology to admire the master instead of bonding with one another.
So now every year you find students willing to humiliate themselves to be noticed by these organizations.
This humiliation ranges from constantly harassing people with fliers and tacky songs to buying billboards for the candidates. What if half of these students showed up to help FAMU DRS? Maybe it could stop being something every candidate just puts on their platform to make it look like they care.
Most BGLOs have enormous membership fees ranging in the thousands-of-dollars for each initiate, but I have witnessed only one with a house big enough to accommodate half of its members.
There is no excusing why some students would rather gain letters than equality. Who you give your money and time to is who you give power to in America.
Yet the members of these organizations still have an air about them like they are part of a supernatant race of black people.
Until you somehow administer the real cure for black people’s hatred toward one another, treat everyone just like your “frat” brother or “soror.”
Every student on campus should be strolling and stepping together in love and respect for one another. Nothing is more special than simply divine individuals.
Tynishia Williams is a sophomore chemistry student from Tallahassee. She can be reached at ty_chloe@yahoo.com.