These Black Sorority Members Are Speaking Out Against The Racism They Faced…

[navane]

Originally Posted by carnation

Adults need to learn to speak up My daughters and I talked a lot about the racism and sexism they would face when they went to college. I told them it's not right to not speak up and then suddenly go raving to the media years later.

Respectfully, it was attempted to be addressed by a couple of the women in the article. Here:

When Alex, whose name has been changed to protect her anonymity, entered one sorority house during recruitment week, she said she heard women whisper, “I’m kind of upset that the Black girl didn’t drop.”

She said her sorority sisters referred to her as “that Black girl” constantly throughout her three-year membership from 2014 to 2017. When she emailed the sorority’s president detailing her experiences with her sisters and asking to be treated with respect, the sorority president responded with an email (which BuzzFeed News reviewed) five days later, where she apologized for her late reply but not for the members’ actions.

Instead, she asked for the women’s names so she could talk to them. Alex didn’t think the response sufficed, so she didn’t bring up the issue again.

In another example given in the article, a [white] member heard another saying something inappropriate. She says she spoke up to her chapter/board and nothing was done. Here:

Mackenna, who declined to give her last name, recalled one sorority activity, where she said she heard her sorority sister say that her favorite thing to do with her dad was drive through poor neighborhoods and watch the “porch monkeys.” Mackenna claims she told board members and was “vocal” about how wrong it was, but nothing was done.

I can understand the pushback on DEI as going through change is uncomfortable. I understand that many feel that some of the new policies (legacy consideration removed, rec letters eliminated) have gone too far. I can understand that the lack of consideration for alumnae voices when adjusting those policies caused a lot of hurt and anger. I can understand why some members might feel irritated that their HQs are issuing "word salad" statements that are seen as performative at best. Understandable.

Though, I think we would benefit from separating the various aspects that comprise DEI and not lump the whole thing together. As a white conservative woman myself, I cannot wholesale dismiss the experiences of my sisters who say that they felt marginalized and can cite specific examples or events and even show proof in writing. Ok, I get that we might be mad about legacy status being taken away etc; but, surely none of us are going to endorse that it's ok to call a sister "token black girl" or to call others "porch monkeys". Right?