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Good post Honeykiss!
"Yes, I read the article about Twilley. Yes, I've read several articles about Twilley. And, yes, I know people who have actually spoken to Twilley herself - and I was referring to those peoples' impressions of her, not anything in the articles, when I said that it appeared that Twilley may have had an "agenda" when she went through rush the second time." -- dzrose
Those people's impressions don't mean she had an agenda. People's impressions can often be colored by thier own biases and expectations. You used this as the basis for saying it was "apparant" that Twilley had an agenda, and those are only opinions. It's funny how little proof you required to conclude that she had an "agenda," but at the same time you require blatant proof to believe that she was turned away because of her race.
You seem to be saying "prove Twilley was rejected because of her race," and my reply is simply "prove that she wasn't." Like Honeykiss, and a couple of other people have said, there's no ABSOLUTE way to know unless you were there or someone admitted to it. What you have to understand is that in cases of racism you rarely have someone come out and say "I denied so and so a membership/job/etc. because he/she is Black." If we waited on something that blatant the African-American community, or any other minorities, would never make any progress. Racism today is much more subtle and concealed than in the past. It's less often what you see on TV with police spraying Black folks with hoses and business owners blocking the entrance saying "no darkies allowed." That's why when we see situations like Twilley's that give the Black community pause, we have to take action and at least look into it. I haven't reached a conclusion one way or the other about what happened to Twilley because I don't have enough information, but articles like this one draw attention to the issue which increases the chances that the matter will be investigated or that change will occur. African-Americans, or whoever the offended minority is, have to be the judges of what could and could not be potential acts of racism. If we relied on the White community to decide what are and are not acts of racism, the Black community would never have made any progress.
Also, you must understand that the measuring stick for what is and is not discriminatory is not intent, but the end result. If the end result of an action/policy/procedure is discriminatory, then CHANGES MUST BE MADE. This has to be the rule, or else businesses across the country, for example, could decide that they weren't going to hire any Blacks (or other minority), and unless we could come up with proof that someone said "we're not hiring any Blacks" we would just be out of jobs. That's why we have to look at the end result and not the intent. The standard is the same for investigating discrimination against women. Believe it or not, some people aren't even aware that their views/actions are racist or discriminatory.
"Because Twilley is black, this turned into a huge racial debate, and I just don't see why. It would be different if the girls in the houses had treated her terribly during Rush or showed any sign that they disliked Twilley because of her race. But, even in the article, Twilley comments on how sweet the girls were and how upbeat they were during the parties. I suppose (to answer another of your questions, Alias) if there was any evidence to prove that Twilley was discriminated against because of her race, I would feel differently. However, not receiving a bid doesn't strike me as a racist move. Like I've stated repeatedly, lots of girls don't get bids and the fact that Twilley is among the list doesn't prove a thing." -- dzrose
You never answered this question, so again I ask you: Short of evidence that someone directly said they weren't letting her in because she was Black (which rarely happens in cases of discrimination), what specifically would it take to prove to you that she was turned away because of her race? You said that someone not receiving a bid doesn't seem like a racist move to you, which as an isolated event is true. A Black person not getting hired for a job isn't a racist move in isolation either, but you have to look at THE WHOLE PICTURE, and African-Americans have to be the judge of whether or not they should pursue the matter further. Using the media is a way of drawing attention to increase the chances that the matter will be investigated, so why shouldn't Twilley agree to be interviewed? If she feels race may have played a factor, she has a responsibility to herself and the Black community to speak up.
"The main point that I was trying to make when responding to Alias is that there are MANY, MANY girls who get cut from formal rush once -- and often more than once -- who appear on the outside to be qualified because of their financial status and/or high school GPA. However, it is only an African-American girl who gets the headlines when she doesn't get a bid at a Southern school. The Caucasian girls who are cut don't even merit a blurb in a college paper, much less a spot on the front page of a national. There is definitely something to be said about that, and I don't feel like I'm being a racist for pointing it out." -- dzrose
No, you're not a racist, but you definitely seem to be out of touch. Why would someone put a blurb in the paper about it being racist for a White girl not to get a bid to an all White/historically White sorority? Cases of racism usually involve victims of a different race than the people accused of being racist. Let's keep it real here. And it's not like African-Americans don't have a reason for watching out for situations like this and investigating them.
You seem to be in a certain amount of denial about the existence of racism in institutions and other forms that aren't blatantly obvious. I, personally, haven't reached any conclusion about Twilley's situation, but I do think it warrants looking into potentially discriminatory practices in the Greek system at Alabama as a whole. You, however, seem to have already reached the conclusion, based on the article and some hearsay, that Twilley's denial of a bid had nothing to do with race. You're saying people shouldn't jump to conclusions, when that's exactly what you're doing. The issue should be examined further to see if there's a pattern and other evidence of discrimination in Alabama's Greek system, which it appears there might be. Then people can reach conclusions and act accordingly.
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