^^That is a typically negative and rather simplistic spin, right down to the language, on what can be a positive phenomenon in these communities. It does not seem to engage the question of why at all. There is a reason why aspects of African American culture resonate with other ethnic groups both here and abroad, and that notion that you defined does not begin to question why.

No.....
 

Blacks in Germany do have things in common with African Americans.

But what we have in common (and African American culture) can not be reduced to "rap" and "popular ghetto culture." There have always been African diasporic and international racial activism efforts that have connected us on much more meaningful fronts.

Other than those points of clarification, you are misapplying concepts.

I think your analogy misses the mark. :confused:

Many Blacks in Germany did not immigrate there. They were born there after WWII and continue to live there.

Especially when you share a parent. ;)

I disagree with the above statements. Although Bob Johnson, Founder of "Black Entertainment Television" or BET, is African American, he has allowed for the annihilation of the self-esteems of numerous people of darker skin and African diaspora with the types of videos shown on the channel. That is probably because BET's parent company is Viacom and the satellite signal sits with Paramount and Dreamworks or one of huge news corporations...

Now, with that said, BET is shown in Germany. It would be easy to get a completely inaccurate view of the totality of African American history. Before the signal was accepted, the culture of Africans in Europe are probably similar to that in Britain, France, Holland and elsewhere.

The word on the street is that "Europe" wanted to "pacify" its kneegrows, and the easiest way is through the destruction of self-esteem and all out neutralization. It takes 20+ years. But, you are seeing its effects. The only thing "Europe" did NOT count on is globalization, media images and communications with others...

It's a new day... ;) :D

That's so cool. :) My college roommate the summer before my freshman year was from Germany.

Her father would call from Germany every morning at 6:00AM thinking I was she. 6:00AM!!!!!! :mad:

On the handsign tip:

I think it's possible that some NPC members don't realize they're "imitating" NPHCs. I'm just being blatantly honest here, because some NPC members know little to nothing about NPHCs. We had no NPHC orgs on my campus until I was a senior. Basically the only reason from my relatively competent knowledge of NPHC is my involvement in Greekchat. I am almost positive that that's often the case for other NPC members, even on campuses with active NPHC groups. Unless, as DSTCHAOS mentioned, there is a good Greek Life office that encourages interaction between various councils and provides PR information on the activities of one to the members of the other.

I've often seen images of NPC groups making signs (ADPi making a diamond, KD using two women to make a KD, Tri-Delt making a Delta or triangle). It's not entirely clear to me that these women thought "Hey, NPHCs have really cool signs, we should do it too" which certainly would preclude them thinking "Hey, I should consider how this hand sign will look to NPHC, which treasures hand signs as part of their institutional identity." They might not even realize that NPHC does signs. If they do, they might not realize the important role NPHC handsigns play and just assume that it would be viewed as a tribute or "that's cool" type of thing by NPHC. I mean I could especially see this in the case of Tri-Delt making a Delta, for obvious reasons. I just don't think the majority of NPC members would make the connection... which is a sad testament to NPC members' lack of knowledge about NPHC... but in my experience, that's the way it works. :(

no they dont. stop it right now.

ehh, i tried. it totally made sense in my head. i was comparing it to an advertising case study from a class way back when, but i didnt feel like going into detail and went for something simpler.

I thought that some NPC (and I assume IFC) orgs had handsigns before they became very popular with NPHC orgs. The handsigns were only used at certain times so they weren't a very visible tradition.

I was going to ask for a citation for that but decided the main point could be lost. :p

Without getting into ritual, let me say that some NPCs have recognition signs that pre-date NPHC orgs, but they are not for public usage. DSTChaos is right.

Funny, I see that with White teens all of the time. And I live in Minnesota.

This is definitely true, and a good point! I think that in some situations, like with this one, people define the NPHC as something trivial like stepping or handsigns or calls, which is highly wrong on two levels. Firstly, that is not all the NPHC is about, so it's very trivial to you guys. Secondly...you all have NO IDEA what goes on in our ritual. For all you know, we DO have stepping that we do...in private. Do we have hand signs and calls? Maybe. Like breathesgelatin said, some NPCs do use hand signs regularly in public, and I know NPC chapters that have their own calls that they use in public too (although I believe that is limited to their chapter...). The point is, it's very wrong to assume that if a group has a handsign or call, they are AUTOMATICALLY imitating the NPHC.

:) I do find it funny, though, when a MCGLO gets angry because another MCGLO is 'copying' them, but they do things like say, "XYZ INCORPORATED!", put on step shows and do other things that are definitely traditionally associated with the BGLOs.

That's because...

you live in Minnesota.