Thank you, Blackwatch, for your response...
But since you do not know me personally, or my views, or what I was looking for in college, or the type of friends I like to associate with, you really have no place to judge me or my choice. I made the choice that
I felt was the right choice
FOR ME! That choice did not come easily, nor without some consequences. I am as proud to be a member of Phi Kappa Psi as I am proud of my father being an Omega Psi Phi (Go Que Dog!!!) and my mother and sister being Sorors of Delta Sigma Theta, Incorporated. And when I marry, and if I am blessed enough to father a son, and that son attends college, I hope that he will choose the organization that is right for him, whether it is A Phi A or Omega or Kappa or Sigma or a traditionally white fraternity, or maybe neither. And if we have a daughter, the same for her (but on a sorority level). Sure, I see that my parents are still involved in their respective organizations, and that is great
FOR THEM. But you see, I have had many more opportunities than my parents had when they were attending college. They both attended Tennessee State University, which at that time was one of the few schools that blacks could attend. They raised me to believe that I could achieve what I wanted if I studied hard, and I was able to make that belief a reality by getting into, and graduating from Stanford. Am I any less black because I chose to do that? I think not. Having gone through high school in the south, and being called Oreo by other blacks because most of my friends were white, and I was the ONLY black in my AP classes, I really don't give a damn what anyone thinks of my choices. I have white and black friends (in fact, my best friend at Stanford was also a Phi Psi, and is black), and believe me, I never for one minute forget who I am, and where I come from. I KNOW the bonds that can occur when a parent and child share the same affiliation. Believe me, going home to visit my mother and sister, and seeing all the crimson and creme (NOT pink and green), and all of the elephants, I understand completely what it means to them.
And I actually thank you, Blackwatch, for I am actually
MORE proud than ever now to be a strong, independent, free-thinking Black Man, able to
NOT be constrained by either side in determining who or what I should be. I mean, when one out of every three black college age men in America is in prison, just the fact that I am a college graduate means a hell of a lot to me. Add that to the fact that I am nobody's Baby Daddy yet, and I think that I am doing pretty well for myself.
"...who dat is??? It's just my baby daddy" 