Diversity in the SEC

[DrPhil]

Having a relative few (which is why nonwhites always have and always will be a minority in such organizations) nonwhites in SEC is not automatically "diversity." The notion of faux colorblindness and tokenism have made people (read: usually many white people) pretend that having a few nonwhites is a quick solution to a silent issue and therefore you (in general) can claim diversity based on a small percent of the total population.

On that note, whether you (in general) want diversity and plan to address the diversity if it ever exists (read: avoid the "you're my brother, we don't see race..." lies) is completely up to you. On another note, if you want to persist with the "only a few nonwhites" in organizations, that is also up to you.

I, for instance, do not want DST to be racially diverse. I intentionally joined an historically and predominantly Black, African American, and African diaspora GLO. That is how I want it to remain and that is how it will remain. That is not a bad thing. I am just making a point to highlight how catch words like "diversity" must be unpacked to see what is really going on beyond the cool catch phrases and catch words.

As long as predominantly white organizations keep pretending that race is not intentionally and/or unintentionally part of their foundation and general makeup, there will be no diversity. That is fine if there is no diversity but you (in general) cannot then pretend that race is not part of your foundation and general makeup. Keep pretending your demographic makeup is mere coincidence, and keep pretending that whiteness is invisible and race neutral and only nonwhite organizations are founded or rooted in race and ethnicity, and you will keep running in circles regarding "diversity."

[carnation]

Any black women--or any women at all, for that matter--are in their sororities (NPC or whatever else) because they are wanted. I can not even imagine someone telling a bunch of women, "Okay, we're looking bad at this school or in this sorority because we're all white. We MUST pledge a black woman." Can you imagine how that would go over? Can anyone imagine any threat in the world that could make them pledge a woman they didn't want?

Nope, if they're there, they were wanted for themselves.

[TriDeltaSallie]

Originally Posted by DrPhil

I, for instance, do not want DST to be racially diverse. I intentionally joined an historically and predominantly Black, African American, and African diaspora GLO. That is how I want it to remain and that is how it will remain. That is not a bad thing.

And if someone said, "I, for instance, do not want DDD/ADPi/KKG/DG/ZTA/XO/etc. to be racially diverse. I intentionally joined a historically and predominantly White, European American GLO. That is how I want it to remain and that is how it will remain. That is not a bad thing."

What would happen? Would that group even exist in ten years after the outrage that someone would say that and a group would embrace it?

I agree with Carnation. Whites can't win. We're damned if we do and damned if we don't.

[sigmadiva]

Originally Posted by TriDeltaSallie

And if someone said, "I, for instance, do not want DDD/ADPi/KKG/DG/ZTA/XO/etc. to be racially diverse. I intentionally joined a historically and predominantly White, European American GLO. That is how I want it to remain and that is how it will remain. That is not a bad thing."

What would happen? Would that group even exist in ten years after the outrage that someone would say that and a group would embrace it?

I agree with Carnation. Whites can't win. We're damned if we do and damned if we don't.

The reason is because this extension of the olive branch does not happen in other aspects of life. So, its hard to believe the sincerity when it comes to NPC recruitment.

A personal example that happened to me over the past few weeks.

I love to needlepoint. My favorite hobby ever. I live in a city (Houston) with about 4 - 5 different needlepoint shops. Of these there is one that I consider my "home" shop. I can tell you that over the years that I have been going to that shop, since ~1999, I've been one of two Black women who frequent the shop. All the other customers and regulars are White.

Just a few weeks ago I decided to visit one of the other shops just to see if they had any great sales going on. I don't visit that particular shop often, maybe 2 - 3 times a year. So, I walk in the shop and every White woman in the shop just stops -dead frozen. The tension in the air became very high. As I was browsing around I could feel them looking at me, and quite frankly I got negative vibes. So much so, one of the women called her husband in to follow me around the shop. THIS IS A TINY PLACE!!

Now, what if I'd been a NPC member, and that woman who called her husband in was my sister. One shop member greeted me, but no one took the effort to do small talk with me. The moment I walked in the door they judged me purely on the basis of my skin.

Its wonderful that NPC pledges Black women, but that needs to be extended to other aspects of life.

[amIblue?]

Originally Posted by sigmadiva

The reason is because this extension of the olive branch does not happen in other aspects of life. So, its hard to believe the sincerity when it comes to NPC recruitment.

A personal example that happened to me over the past few weeks.

I love to needlepoint. My favorite hobby ever. I live in a city (Houston) with about 4 - 5 different needlepoint shops. Of these there is one that I consider my "home" shop. I can tell you that over the years that I have been going to that shop, since ~1999, I've been one of two Black women who frequent the shop. All the other customers and regulars are White.

Just a few weeks ago I decided to visit one of the other shops just to see if they had any great sales going on. I don't visit that particular shop often, maybe 2 - 3 times a year. So, I walk in the shop and every White woman in the shop just stops -dead frozen. The tension in the air became very high. As I was browsing around I could feel them looking at me, and quite frankly I got negative vibes. So much so, one of the women called her husband in to follow me around the shop. THIS IS A TINY PLACE!!

Now, what if I'd been a NPC member, and that woman who called her husband in was my sister. One shop member greeted me, but no one took the effort to do small talk with me. The moment I walked in the door they judged me purely on the basis of my skin.

Its wonderful that NPC pledges Black women, but that needs to be extended to other aspects of life.

I am so sorry that happened to you. I wonder what they thought you were going to do: steal all their needles?

I agree wholeheartedly with your last paragraph, and I'm going to reassertion my earlier statement that there is truth on both sides here. Tokenism vs not seeing race.

No one doubts that carnation loves her children for being her children and not for their ethnicity. Carnation appears to me from her stories about her children to be an awesome and supportive mom. On the other hand, I don't know how many times in my life I've heard a white person say something disparaging about [insert race] as a whole and when questioned about a friendship or other relationship with a person of that race the white person says something along the lines of "well he/she isn't like the rest of them." I do not believe that carnation feels this way about her children, but I'm not going to pretend like other people don't feel this way.

[DrPhil]

Originally Posted by TriDeltaSallie

And if someone said, "I, for instance, do not want DDD/ADPi/KKG/DG/ZTA/XO/etc. to be racially diverse. I intentionally joined a historically and predominantly White, European American GLO. That is how I want it to remain and that is how it will remain. That is not a bad thing."

What would happen?

I was waiting for someone to ask this....

They would finally be an IFC or NPC member who was honest about the founding purposes of their GLO. They would finally be an IFC or NPC who stopped pretending as though their GLO just so happened to be predominantly white since founding.

That is awesome.

[carnation]

Who's pretending that? Who even thinks about that? Most GLOs were formed so people could have friends and in many cases, there were few females of any color on campus. Thus sororities were born, with no thought other than friendship and standing together.

[DrPhil]

Originally Posted by carnation

Who's pretending that? Who even thinks about that? Most GLOs were formed so people could have friends and in many cases, there were few females of any color on campus. Thus sororities were born, with no thought other than friendship and standing together.

You must have missed years of GC threads.

Anyway, TriDeltaSallie asked and I answered. If you are proclaiming that NPC and IFC foundings were race neutral and the membership remains predominantly white unintentionally, then this discussion will remain circular.

[carnation]

Not I!

But just because something is posted on GC doesn't make it right, lol.

[DrPhil]

Originally Posted by carnation

Not I!

But just because something is posted on GC doesn't make it right, lol.

It makes it what people believe. And that is the point.

NPHC are not the only GLOs founded 50+ years ago that were and still are grounded in race, ethnicity, and culture. Not having any or a lot of nonwhite college students during the time IFC and NPC GLOs were founded is an obvious point. Therefore, if diversity was unavailable or undesired (let's be honest) people need to be honest about that. NPHC GLOs are honest about our founding and we do not use the absence of whites to pretend that we were unintentionally Black. Many of our founders intended to form Black GLOs. Race was not invisible and neutral in our founding.

The fact that predominantly white GLOs get to see themselves as "sign of the times" without delving further into the complexities of the matter reinforces the notion of whiteness as carefree, race neutral, and powerful.

BGLOs, MCGLOs, LGLOs are not the only GLOs that are both intentionally and unintentionally predominantly (insert identity of majority of membership).