[kddani]

Now be honest, how many NIC/NFC/IFC members can say, 1) they attended their last national conference and 2) they have met ACTIVE members with over 20, 30, 40, 50, 60 years of service in their organization in addition to service in the community in the name of your organization

1)As an NPC woman, I can say that I attended my last national conference, and will be attending the next one and the one after that, and the one after than.
2) I can. I can give you names almost off the top of my head. I've met them. I speak and communicate with them almost every day.

The bond you create and the committment you make to the community in in the name of your organization is a bond and committment for life, and I just don't see that same bond or committment after graduation in the NPC/NIC/IFC organizations.

That's a broad, sweeping generalization that is also very untrue. How much experience do you have with NPC/IFC/NIC, etc. groups?

The people you cross with will most likely be your childrens godparents, your best man/maid of honor at your wedding, the one you can call at 4 in the morning when you need someone to talk to, the ones who 50 years down the road you can still depend on just as much as when you crossed, and are the ones you always see helping out in the community.

I'm pretty sure that most of the attendants in my wedding (whenever that may be!) will be Kappa Delta. If i need someone to call at 4AM, besides my family, it would be a KD. 50 years from now i'll be a little old KD lady attending convention with my fellow little old 72 year old KD ladies.

And to be also truthful here, I see more non-NPHC groups in the community where I live than NPHC groups. In my collegiate community, in the city community.

What I think people fail to understand is that black geek ties run deep. It goes deeper than just wanting your child to carry on a tradition. It's about wanting to further your bond with your child. To share common experiences with them. To not only be able to call them your child, but you brother/sister frat/soror, thats something special.

Ummm.. how is this not true for non-NPHC groups? I have many older (i'm only 22) KD sisters who have shared the experiences of KD with their daughters, grandchildren, etc. I do agree that being able to call them your child as well as your sister, is special. I hope to have a daughter one day who becomes a KD. But I will NEVER question her choice if she decides that it's not the right group for her, and that something else would be a better fit.


To have them be a member of an organization that can claim members such as Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., Jessie Jackson, Arthur Ashe, A. Philip Randolph, Bobby Rush, Maya Angelou, Wilma Rudoolph, Zora Neale Hurston, and Hattie McDaniel.

That is an incredibly impressive list. But non-NPHC groups do also have a rich history and a lot of incredible people. Particularly, for example, NPC groups- women that have pioneered for women's rights. Women that went to college when higher education was almost exclusively a men-only experience.

"When I became a Delta, I became a Delta for life. When I graduate I will still be a Delta. When I get married I will still be a Delta. When I have my children I will still be a Delta. And when I die I will still be a Delta and my robe in heaven better be Crimson and Creme."

When I became a KD, I became a KD for life. I graduated, i'm still a KD. I'll be a KD after I get married- i'll be a KD on my wedding day with my bouquet of white roses, my garter from initiation, and my KD sisters standing beside me. When I have children, i'll still be a KD. When I die I will be a KD, and my robe better be green and white.

Its just different.

No it is not.

You post didn't ruffle my feathers, rather it evoked a very emotional response in my heart and mind about my own group. Those feelings, those emotions, are not exclusive to NPHC groups.

I would never dream of saying that one org was better than another. While no one has expressly said that, it has been implied, many times, that NPHC groups are "better" than NPC groups. Saying that they do all these things, and that non-NPHC groups do not. That it's a lifetime commitment to NPHC groups, and not to non-NPHC groups.

While it didn't ruffle my feathers, your post did hurt me. And in all honesty, it kind of seems hypocritcal. These great leaders that you speak of, would they be approving of the elitist attitude shown here? Putting down another organization or person to boost your own? Would they approve of trying to force your child to join an org that they didn't feel was right for them?

I'd NEVER in a million years dream about putting down NPHC groups. That's not right. It's not right to put down orgs that DO do so much for the community and for people. I think that NPHC groups and non-NPHC groups do have a lot in common, and I realized how much more when writing this post than I ever have before.

I have two words that I want to end on: "MUTUAL RESPECT"

I have felt very disrepected throughout this thread, as a member of an NPC group. No where here did ANYONE try to lessen what NPHC groups do. No where did "we" (non-NPHC men and women) belittle NPHC groups or show them disrespect.
So why can't the respect go both waysl?
I'm not sure if you're new to GC or just using a different ID to protect your anoniminity. But take a look around GC, talk to some of the fine men and women of different groups that participate here, and I hope you will gain a different view of non-NPHC groups.