U of Arizona Tri Delt Handles Protesters
 

I really didn't know how to title this. It's from an article on TSM, but it's the video that's worth watching.

The setup is members of the University of Arizona’s student organization Movimiento Estudiantil Chicano de Aztlán (MEChA) witnessed girls going into the Tri-Delt house dressed in Mexican costumes. And showed up to the house to talk to them about it.


I think the member handled it fabulously, I would of been stunned silent.


http://youtu.be/ZFqUh38TODA

I just saw this on another site! She handled herself very well for that to be what she walked out to! I think most people would've been stunned silent.

Too bad it won't make headlines since it shows a sorority in a good light, and not one being racially insensitive.

You are right about that. Even the title attempts to show the sorority in a bad light, even though her response was anything but! Its like the MEChA was trying to create a news story to paint them in a bad light (just my opinion on how the camera girl was trying to get her to argue/get mad). I shared this on my social networks though, hopefully some people will see it!

The sister of Tri-Delt handled the situation perfectly. She was ambushed by members of MEChA who truly seemed more interested in causing a fight instead of listening to her. The fact that she points out that some of the sisters were dressed in cultural outfits and that they "missed" part of it is HUGE.

It just goes to show that people jump to conclusions all the time without knowing the whole situation.

So, we saw edited footage (which included members of the senior Bobcats honorary standing on the sidewalk in front of the Tri Delta house, distancing themselves from the events - nice going, Bobcats, but I digress). We didn't see footage of the "Mexican costumes", did we? I highly doubt those Tri Deltas were dressed like Pancho Villa or Border Patrol agents. The camerawoman was WAY out of line. Argumentative, confrontational, no interest in education or dialogue or anything other than her very narrow agenda. Ditto for the male holding the sign - no interest in anything besides his own message. No investigation. Just "let's video these sorority girls and put it on YouTube." I hope the University and Tri-Delta will have a suitable response.

Impressive, reasonable, classy answer(s) by the Tri-Delta active who answered the door. Frankly, the camerawoman and the other man should be spoken to regarding their behavior. How convenient (?) that they went to Tri Delta with a sign, when they could have easily gone any of a million other places. What do they do on Cinco de Mayo when literally everyone on campus is walking around in sombreros and moustaches, carting buckets of margaritas?

Frankly, this is rude (at best) on MEChA's part. I have more to say, but I won't.

At the same time, I find it amusing when white people are celebrated for "handling it well".

Anyway, MEChA should do a campus-wide event instead of passionately handling this case-by-case. They don't have enough background information to confront people in this manner. As the woman who answered the door (it sounded fun inside the sorority house) stated, there was more to the story for the costumes. I am glad the woman who answered the door seemed familiar with the issue of insensitive costumes and assured MEChA that her chapter does not partake in such nonsense. I hope they really don't.

LOL @ all 3 of them being a bit out of breath and uncomfortable. That could've gone downhill quickly. The woman from MEChA talked over the woman at the door a few times. Not a good look. Hopefully MEChA learned from this experience.

As I understand it, University Of Arizona sororities have had Hispanic for members for years. Try over 30 years. MECha clearly does not understand that. They were trying to jump on something that they don't understand to make a splash.

A sombrero? So what? So do half the Mexican restaurants in Tucson have them.

I have several friends in sororities from Arizona. As I recall, there were the Greek Pages, a phone directory of all the members in each chapter. Read through it, and you would see Hispanic members all over.
Kappa Delta Chi, a Latina sorority is also active on campus. When they do decide to do a similar party, let's see if MECha visits them...yah, right...

The more I think on this, 1) she took their sign, they willingly gave her the sign. The sign they were using to draw attention to their shaming of people in costume. That was so slick of her. I'll just take your sign, thanks. 2) Since it is Arizona, I was hoping she'd bust out in Spanish and explain that she is Latina herself. Not all white girls are capital W white.

Plus, it's almost impossible to come across as credible and polished when you are wearing cat-face makeup. But somehow she managed to pull it off. Kudos to this young woman and to Tri-Delta.

It isn't the intent but this thread is essentially a white people vindication thread.

"Take that, you racist-Halloween-costume crybabies!!!"

People who don't normally comment in threads with mentions of race, and certainly not the Halloween costume threads, are in this thread doing jumping jacks. Interesting.

I don't even understand what we're celebrating in this thread. A white woman said something articulate about race?

^^^ Are you angry with me for some reason unknown to me? You deleted your previous post in which you qfp'ed me. You have recently commented negatively on other posts I've made. I'm just putting it out there, because I'd sure like to know what if anything I've done to draw your scrutiny, your scorn, and your ire.

Thank you.

I don't think we are doing cartwheels because a white collegiate woman was poised under pressure in what could have been a sticky race confrontation. Personally, I cringe to hear of theme parties that are intentionally ridiculing another culture, but sometimes a cigar is just a cigar. This appears to be a situation where a costume was not worn in ridicule but in celebration of a culture. And that is a nice change of pace.

My 1st grader is dressing as a leprechaun tonight for Halloween. He is not doing this to degrade or ridicule the Irish tradition. Rather, he is celebrating the three drops of Irish blood that course through his veins. Plus, he looks super cute in his bowler hat, red stick-on beard, and his little pot o' gold that he will fill with candy. He's repping that micro-heritage well.

Nope, nothing personal, I just disagree with your opinion on this situation.

Re: OPhiAGinger's post

Also known as "take that, you racist-Halloween-costume crybabies!!!"

ETA: We already know there's often more than meets the eye and things aren't always what they seem. This thread is just bad timing considering the annual issues with horribly themed Halloween costumes and the resulting GC Race Wars (the most recent was deleted). A predominantly white audience marveling over this is a huge eye roller.

And that's what people are complimenting the young lady on doing: taking a situation that could have gone downhill and handling it like a mature adult. She didn't downplay their concerns or blow them off. She addressed the issue.

Nobody's doing jumping jacks or suggesting that the Tri Delta member be nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize. They were just saying that she handled it well.

Again, nobody's putting out streamers and balloons. They just said that the young lady handled what could have turned into a bad situation nicely.

That white woman isn't the only reason that interaction didn't go downhill. This isn't a "white person saves the day".

I read jumping jacks. I think people are impressed by that white woman's demeanor, her explanation of the circumstances, and even have the audacity to propose this white woman outsmarted this Hispanic student organization by requesting to keep their poster.

White people: Outsmarting presumptuous, emotional, angry racial and ethnic minorities for centuries and counting.

And, you just answered your question from earlier about why people who don't generally reply in threads that have any racial tones/aspects. Because we know that no matter what we say, you and DeltaBetaBaby are going to come in, tell us that we're in the wrong no matter what our opinions are and just lump us all together under "white people". You're going to be insulting and demeaning to other posters all while telling us how insulting and demeaning our actions are.

Now, I'm going to be a good white person, drive my Ford Taurus home, sit in my Laz-Y-Boy lounger, eat a white bread and mayonnaise sandwich, and watch reruns of The Brady Bunch and dream of the old days. Hope I covered all of my white sins in this paragraph.

I don't care why people don't normally post in threads. I'm just amused that this is the thread that gets a celebratory response. Now spare me the conundrums of whiteness.

The worst aspect is that it's a moving goalpost. This "I'm not a costume" bullshit is basically a new thing. I get blackface, but the rest of these folks really don't have much of an historically valid argument. At some point, it's just people being offended or feigning it in order to control the behavior of others.

What's next? Is someone going to accuse me of cultural appropriation and being offensive when I play in the Nutcracker this December? Should I think a Russian saying that's offensive has a strong argument and should be respected?

Are you under the impression that I'm not a white person? If I thought all white people were always wrong about everything related to race, well, that would present me with quite the logical conundrum.

My comments about your recent postings are about your actions, not any particular ethnicity you identify with.

I am not seeing any celebrating. A young woman behaved courteously in a provocative situation. The same compliments about behaving civily and tactfully would have been delivered had it been any ethnic or racial group where she or he was ambushed by media trying to elicit a reaction. I am impressed by poise and composure by anyone!

I see backpedaling by the people in this thread.

Perhaps DBB and I would have responded different if this thread contained some acknowledgement of the racial undertones that sparked the Hispanic student organization's interest in confronting the sorority, even if the Hispanic student organization was wrong in this instance. The absence of that acknowledgement is odd and results in "angry minorities--calm and poised majority saves the day".

By the young woman? Well, my personality undoubtedly influences my perspective. As the door answerer, it would take every nerve not to call out obnoxious behavior. Since I would be biting my tongue so hard that it would have permanent teeth marks, I see someone who is pretty calm and collected. She has a trait that does not come easily to me. So that's the basis for my perspective. : )

Idk how we got to this point, but I never intended thus thread to have to do with race. The topic in the video was secondary to why I posted it. I posted it because I'm impressed that a young college woman was so composed when caught so completely off guard. It's not easy to stay graceful under pressure.

I'd have the exact same feelings if it was an anti-hazing group, or an anti-greek life group etc... Interesting how this became all about race.

:D

Sorry, apparently we no longer have the right to be proud of a young Caucasian woman who handled a very difficult situation well.

Everything lately is being turned in a racial commentary. Don't you know that is ALL that matters? :rolleyes:

Oh wow. Was this thread supposed to have nothing to do with race? Are certain GCers (who happen to be white, since we're playing that game) that obtuse?

Could it maybe have anything to do with the fact that she's on video?

I guess I'm not seeing what's so impressive. In my opinion, she looked like a deer in headlights through most of this, and she stumbled over her words. Yes, she was kind of "ambushed", so her struggling to find words is understandable. I just can't comprehend why everyone thinks this is something worthy of praising ::shrugs::

I'd also like to think that both sides learned something. The woman behind the camera was a little out of line and seemed to be looking for an argument, but I would hope that MEChA and the Tri Delta President came to understand the views of each side, and that they now know context is everything.

ETA: We still haven't seen the actual costumes that were worn, so it's a little difficult to make an absolute judgment about who's "right or wrong".

Personally, I thought the guy in the video handled himself well too. He was articulate, direct, and yet respectful. Yes, the situation could have gotten out of hand, but he made sure it didn't.

Well the video has been removed by its user according to Ytube. I wonder if her privacy being invaded had anything to do with the video being taken down? Mecha is pretty out there philosophically so i'm not surprised that this sort of encounter happened.