[Phasad1913]

[QUOTE]Originally posted by ktsnake
[B]This attitude is not limited to your campus.

There was a gentleman that sat in my section in the school's orchestra who I tried to recruit. He happened to be black.

He told me basically that he'd be very interested, except for the fact that his roomie was an Alpha Phi Alpha. He had been told essentially (and this is definitely paraphrased) that he'd be ostracized by many of his friends if he joined a "white" fraternity.

I think this feeling that you had/have as a result of this being said goes both ways. There are plenty of white people who probably would not mind joining a BGLO, but who are afraid of how their friends and family would react and treat them. People do not want to come out of their comfort zones or he old set-up systems of division.

As for the white organizations being more accepting, I don't think so. They may have these spoken or unspoken methods of diversifying or even establish some form of a quota system, but what do we see happening a lot of times once these non-whites get in? What we see are events like the black-face incidents. Yes, I brought that to this thread because it's relevant. Not all white chapters have had members who have done this, but the word definitely, as we have seen on this message board, has gotten around and I know I would feel incredibly uncomfortable if I were in a white org. and another org. with black members had a chapter whose members were so insensitive as to do something like that. Its things like that which make black people (a lot of the time) say to themselves "there's no way I'm joining one of those orgs if I have to put up with that". I also have YET to hear about a black org. having a chapter whose members dress up in white-face or doing things culturally insulting to white people. he black people around your friend asked him those questions probably because of this very reason. So, while people are trying to draw a conclusion of mutual responsibility for these orgs to diversify their memberships, there are many reasons, at least from the vantage point of the BGLO, why there are still differences. I am speaking directly to you, Ktsnake now, just like anything else in this society of stereotypes, while its great to feel like thinking in terms of generalizations is wrong, the actions of a few do affect the whole group. If you're so concerned about black people not wanting to or flocking in great numbers to join white organizations, think about that concern the next time you jump so fast to defend the likes of those in white orgs who already have bad histories in this area who do humiliating things to the people they are trying to attract.

Your friend may have had a valid point, I am sure he did. I could see that happening and it is really unfortunate. But can you honestly say that had you joined a BGLO that NONE of your family or friends would have looked at you funny or questioned your reasons? Let's be real.