On Tuesday, Sigma Chi Fraternity, a predominantly white fraternity that was founded in 1855 at Miami University in Oxford, Ohio, was suspended at Johns Hopkins University for having a “Halloween in the Hood” party.
The party invitation, which was on Facebook.com, requested that all attendees wear “regional clothing from our locale,” “bling bling ice ice grills” and “hoochie hoops.”
The party, which was held Saturday night, featured a skeleton pirate hanging on a noose.
Needless to say, members of the Black Student Union at Johns Hopkins were outraged.
The BSU held a protest of the party on Monday while holding signs showing an actual historical lynching next to a picture of the hanging skeleton. University officials suspended all of the fraternity’s activities until a full investigation has been completed.
As a result of the chapter’s actions, Sigma Chi’s national headquarters also suspended the fraternity for 45 days and said that further disciplinary action was possible.Marvin “Doc” Cheatham, president of the Baltimore chapter of the NAACP, said he intends to seek legal action against the fraternity and the university.
If you do not remember your history, you are doomed to repeat it. It is imperative that young black men and women continue to stay up on our history and current events in an effort to preserve our history.
While tension between races is still alive and well, things of this nature continue to stretch the distance between unity and segregation.
This proved that we must continue to keep ourselves educated about our past so that we continue to strive in the future. An incident like the one that just happened at Johns Hopkins University opens the nation’s eyes to the fact that racism and prejudice is still prevalent in today’s society.
Angelica Washington for the Editorial Board.