Quote:
Originally posted by lovelyivy84
Well then I have to say that the people who PM'd you are COWARDS. If they dont have the strength of their convictions to actually come on this board and discuss this instead of hiding behind you - who I absolutely respect for saying something, even if I don't agree with what you said- then they are NOT EVEN WORTH OUR CONTEMPLATION. Straight up.
|
Well, I'm one of the people who discussed this thread with carnation, so I guess I'm a coward for not standing up sooner.
I'll make up for that now.
Considering how many times I've been shot down on GC for stating that HWGLO's are not racist, I had originally just decided to keep my hands off the keyboard concerning this particular thread. I knew that all I'd get in return would be a bunch of comments to the tune of "whites shouldn't be in BGLO's because they don't understand our black culture" or "whites can't relate because they aren't discriminated against in this country" or, my own personal favorite, "I feel white people may try and DILLUTE our focus and try and use our resources to help EVERYBODY."
May I ask what in Hades is wrong with white people wanting to help "Everybody"?????
Or a better question, what in Hades makes it right for blacks to only help their "own kind"? If whites tried to do that, we'd have the black community on our a$$ faster than we could blink. There would be massive protests, marches in Washington, boycotts, etc. And we'd be labeled racists in a heartbeat.
What's good for the goose is good for the gander, folks. And quite frankly, I am highly offended that black GLO members can so calmly state that they would not want a white or homosexual person in their organizations while, in the very next breath, denounce a HWGLO for not offering a bid to a black female who went through Rush.
Quite frankly, I don't care one whit that BGLOs were originally founded during a time when discrimination and racism against blacks was common. The REASON I don't care is because, the last time I checked, the calendar said 2002 -- not 1902. Times have changed and our organizations need to change with them. Discrimination is not NEARLY as prevalent now as it used to be back in the days when our orgs were founded. I'm not saying it doesn't exist, mind you. But it is minimal when you compare it to 50 years ago -- heck, even 25 years ago.
My organization was founded by 6 white women who were studying to become teachers back in 1902 -- a time when women were discriminated against on a daily basis and no one thought anything of it. But does that mean that my organization should be dedicated solely to helping white women teachers in 2002??? Hell no. But, if we followed the same mentality that APhiAce and some other BGLO members seem to follow, then we would be doing exactly that -- and a lot of very deserving people would be missing out on the literally hundreds of philanthropic services that Delta Zeta sisters provide each year simply because they aren't the same "kind" of people as our founders were.
APhiAce says, "We as black folks need our resources dedicated SOLELY TO US! Its human nature to look after your own. If I was in a white organization, I would be thinking of how to use their resources to help my people. I find it hard to imagine that a white person would exclude their OWN people to help ours."
That comment is what separates my idea of philanthropy from APhiAce's version -- see, I don't think of whites as being my "OWN people". People are people, and I think we should help the ones that need it the most. If I used APhiAce's philosophy, then I suppose my local chapter of DZ would be looking for some new charities to support because, right now, our two main local philanthropies are an after-school program for low-income children in a predominantly black neighborhood and the Big Brothers/Big Sisters program. Can you imagine what kind of reaction we'd get if we went up to the BB/BS office and said, "We're willing to help out your organization, but we only want the
white girls in your program." ????
Jeez, you want to get your name in the headlines fast in this country? Go do something like that while wearing the letters of an NPC sorority.
From the things I'm reading in this thread, and in others found in other BGLO forums, it sounds as though many black GLO members prefer the idea of keeping things "separate but equal" between the black community and the non-black communities. In case someone forgot - we tried that for a while, and the black people weren't too thrilled about it. In fact, if I remember my history book correctly, they called it discrimination. Go figure.