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As I stated earlier, as a question, I don't quite understand the reticence to address general questions about BGLOs. I have my own ideas why on a deeper level this is the case,but I do find it interesting, just as I find the prickly responses from NIC and NPC members not wanting their groups to be referred to as "white" fraternities and sororities interesting and revealing.
I may be a newbie to GC but not to Greekdom. On 17 May, I will celebrate the 25th anniversary of my initation into the Omega Psi Phi Fraternity,Inc. I've always been interested in separating the "BS" from the "hype" and really coming to understand the role Greek-letter organizations play in society. What we say as PR is not necessarily what is really the case. There really are such things as organizational cultures. How this fits in with the wider issue of race,etc. interests me greatly, esp. since we are living in a more multicultural society.
Just the other night, some of my chapter brothers were talking about how the corporate ethos and mentality is seeping into the Fraternity. One stated that a late chapter brother, a judge, said that he loved fraternity meetings because he could say what he wanted to say and be himself as a black man without being brought before an ethics review board,etc. Our Greek-letter groups, as African Americans, like our churches, are places where our unique sense of personhood in this society can be affirmed and where we are not "on trial" or trying to conform in an environment where we are exerting tremendous psychological and emotional energy "shifting," etc. So we do tend to percieve "Others" as interlopers, trying to peer in on this sacred space also. But the fact is that in the information age and more scrutiny of GLOs across the board,and since BGLOs are on white campuses and our activites transcend the environs of our groups,the things we do and say do have an impact on the wider world, and the ramifications are not simply relegated to intra-racial discussions. And simply being on a forum like GC is a part of this phenomenon.
But this goes beyond the ritualistic things we tend to be so defensive about. That was the point I trying to make. I do think, to a certain degree,Greek-letter groups among blacks and whites do serve a different function in a psychosocial sense,and these things are only fleshed out by real human beings, not a website. The same goes for how we, BGLO members, perceive the ethos and culture of our own organizations, and how this has historical roots.
(I apologize If some DST members were offended by the mention of the goddess Minerva. )
"The value of our Fraternity is not in numbers but in men, in real brotherhood..." Bro. Walter H. Mazyck
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