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The issue of other non-black organizations stealing stepping is one that has been well addressed in many mediums. I cannot agree more with Eclipse, though, because sometimes I believe we get carried away with "ownership", and forget culture is usually a grand transposition of social activities we do not own patents to.
Stepping is an artistic form of expression which a lot of historically black organizations take part in. Usually, if there is one characteristic the average Joe on the street can attribute to the D-9, it most probably would be stepping. Still, this is by no means the greatest asset of the D-9; the countless hours which are used to uplift our society is the greatest legacy of our organizations. Much as we'd love to think otherwise, the D-9 do not own patents on stepping. As much as I love to see a stepshow, you have not seen one until you've seen an original boot dance done in Africa. I understand the frustration when one sees a routine perfected by a particular org appropriated by another, but no matter what form of imitation, nobody in a nonblack GLO will ever stomp like an Omega, or twirl a cane like a Kappa. What BGLOs have is something unique, that cannot be touched by any organization, no matter how hard they try to "copy".
Now, for me, "stealing" is a strong term. What gives us the right to say culture has been stolen from us? Lest we forget, a lot of hispanic people have close ties to us ancestrally. Some have roots to Africa, from where we imported and developed the art form. In the strict sense of the word, we did not invent stepping; thus to accuse people of "stealing" almost borders on the preposterous. Eclipse used a set of seemingly simplistic arguments, and they make a lot of sense.
This is my attitude: Let them "borrow" the art form. Just let them. Latino people go through a lot of the stuff we do, and their using the art form is not the worst thing happening to the preservation of the great things the Divine Nine do, or the continuation of the programs that help black people and society in general.
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