I've been reading these posts for a while and well here's my take on things. I am an African-Am. woman and I'm in neither a white sorority or a black one. I'm in a multicultural org--our sorority was founded upon the principles of promoting multiculturalism specifically. Therefore, I have sisters from all different cultures, ethnicities, etc.
Now although I am apart of this type of org, I can understand where those that are in BGLOs are coming from. When I do see someone who is white or another race who belongs to BGLOs, I often question their motive. As any black person will tell you, being black is a very different experience than being white, Indian, Asian or whatever. For example, I have a lot of white friends cuz I went to a predominantly white high school. When I was there, I can't count the number of times that I was questioned about things like "oh, how do black girls get their hair braided" or "how do you guys get a perm but it ends up straight, not curly" or "what are greens or what is 'soul food'". Now, these questions were fortunately directed to me in a nice, polite way in their attempts to understand what my culture was and/or did. And I had no problem answering them. But my point is: WE ARE DIFFERENT! After explaining these things to them the best I could, sometimes, by the looks on their faces, I could tell that they just didn't get it! I'm sure black people in here can back me up on this cuz I'm sure at one point or another, we've had to explain to someone of another culture what we do or why we do something. For me that's no problem and I'm sure that's not a problem for many other black people as well.
However, in saying all this, I can easily see why black people would want to join a black greek org and why it's kinda weird to see a white person belong to a BGLO. While the majority of joining a greek org (white or black) is about doing community service, creating an everlasting bond w/ your brother/sister, etc, etc, it's also about finding a group in which you will connect w/ others period. While some people are fine w/ connecting on a level of "oh we like the same things, share the same interests, etc", some people want another type of connection....one that is more of a cultural connection. Now for me, I feel I can connect w/ anyone no matter what race/color/ethnicity they are. I personally like to find out about different cultures and what they do. That's why joining a multicultural sorority was right up my alley. Hey, I'm also an anthropology major for goodness sakes!
But that's just me and I'm sure there are others like that as well (hey, my sisters to be in fact!) But there are others that want to be w/ people that will really really understand where they are coming from on that level I mentioned. For some black people, that may mean that they need/desire to be around other black people. So that they not only have a connection through their sister/brotherhood and share things that are in common, but they also get a cultural connection.
Now, when a person of a different race, in particular a white person, wants to join a BGLO, then a black person may tend to question what is their motivation. It's b/c although people CAN have things in common w/ one another and can be sisters/brothers in a greek org, a white person (Asian, Indian, etc) will never be able to fully understand the
cultural experience a black person goes through. Just like black people will never be understand what the
cultural experience of a white person. This can also be reversed when you see black people joining white greek orgs. But like I said, that may not matter to those people. Maybe they are just looking for what I like to call a
surface connection, meaning: that person just wants to find a group in which they can feel comfortable w/ and share common interests as well as share in the ideals/purpose of that sister/brotherhood and they don't mind not having that cultural connection w/in their org. And that's totally fine but maybe others don't possibly see it as such. A black person in BGLO may think "what could this white person possibly have in common
culturally with black people?" I'm not sure if that's what black people in BGLOs are saying, I'm just giving a scenario or possible thought.
Now don't get me wrong, I have no problems with blacks joining white greek orgs or vice versa. I'm just saying that I can
see where blacks in BGLOs are coming from with this. I hope this made sense somewhat. Anyone feel free to ask me to clarify things cuz I know I probably said something confusing. I just think overall, there are people that need to connect with others on a level that goes beyond what your organization stands for, ya know? For me, yeah I'm in a multicultural org and I love all my sisters to death! However, I still communicate with my black friends inside and outside of the sorority b/c there are just some things that my other ethnic sisters won't get. I can try to (and I do) help them to understand. But sometimes, you just to want or need to talk about things, specifically cultural things, that are more common among people of your ethnicity/race WITH people of your ethnicity/race. Does that make sense? Is anyone feeling me on this? Holla!
[This message has been edited by ZChi4Life (edited August 09, 2000).]
[This message has been edited by ZChi4Life (edited August 09, 2000).]