I posted my feelings on this issue a while back, but since someone decided to drag this ole' thread up again, here I go:
Kappa Alpha Order is NOT a racist organization. As in any GLO, there will be some idiots who are prejudiced against certain groups of people. However, it's absolutely asinine to categorize an entire fraternity as racist based on the actions of a select few.
The truth of the matter is that some people have problems with the fact that KA was founded in the South during a very sad time in this nation's history and that the fraternity credits Robert E. Lee as being the Southern gentleman who helped get the fledgling organization off the ground.
The fact that Lee is an historic figure associated with the South during the Civil War has given a lot of people reason to believe that the men of Kappa Alpha would like to go back to the days of slavery. And some incidents involving racism that have cropped up at certain KA chapters in the past have helped to perpetuate that myth, much to the dismay of true Kappa Alpha gentlemen who have been embarrassed and angered by those actions.
However, some folks act like KA is the only fraternity to be publicly humiliated due to the actions of some less-than-desirable members, and I can tell you quite certainly that it is not. Before we start calling the KA organization "racist," maybe some of us should check out our own organizations' histories. I'd be willing to bet that we've all had a few "bad apples" in some of our chapters over the years that we'd rather not claim as our own. But does that make it right for someone to categorize our organizations as being "racist" or "druggies" or "date rapists" -- or any other slanderous term that has been used to describe certain Greek Letter Organizations in recent years?
My brother is a proud Kappa Alpha Southern Gentleman, and there is no fraternity that I would rather him join. His chapter brothers are some of the most polite, respectful and intelligent young men that I've had the opportunity to meet, and they strictly adhere to the code of the Southern gentleman.
When I enter the KA House, I have no doubt that I will be treated with anything but the utmost respect. The guys practically knock each other over trying to open doors for women!
I wish that all fraternities offered their pledges the types of etiquette training that Kappa Alpha and a few other groups offer theirs. I think we'd have a lot more gentlemen walking around if they did.
Now, my brother's chapter may not have an African-American member in its ranks currently. However, I don't know any fraternity on his campus that does. It's just one of those things -- down here you don't see many African-Americans in GLO's that aren't considered HBGLO's. What I do know is that I've been to the KA House during band parties and other social events and have looked around the room to see a wide variety of people in attendance -- white, black, Asian, and Hispanic. And these were invitation-only parties. So, if KA is racist, then what were all those non-Caucasian folks doing there? Answer me that.
**dzrose93 stepping off her soapbox**
