Simple questions about Greek Life that annoy you?

[DSTRen13]

This wasn't annoying so much as bizarre ... I'd been working with this man (an African American man who aside from this incident was very intelligent) for weeks and one day he noticed my Delta keychain. He looks at me and asks me, in all seriousness: "Hey, you're black?"

The most annoying question I get asked a LOT is "Why didn't you join a white sorority?" I don't mind if Sorors ask me those sorts of questions; I expect that. But when someone (especially a member of an NPC group) asks me a question phrased like that, it really irks me - I wouldn't go up to them and ask them why they didn't choose my Sorority; it's rude. I also hate the insinuation that my decision must have somehow been a race thing. Like I joined Delta to insult white people everywhere or something.

[icicle22]

Originally Posted by DSTRen13

This wasn't annoying so much as bizarre ... I'd been working with this man (an African American man who aside from this incident was very intelligent) for weeks and one day he noticed my Delta keychain. He looks at me and asks me, in all seriousness: "Hey, you're black?"

The most annoying question I get asked a LOT is "Why didn't you join a white sorority?" I don't mind if Sorors ask me those sorts of questions; I expect that. But when someone (especially a member of an NPC group) asks me a question phrased like that, it really irks me - I wouldn't go up to them and ask them why they didn't choose my Sorority; it's rude. I also hate the insinuation that my decision must have somehow been a race thing. Like I joined Delta to insult white people everywhere or something.

Actually, that's pretty cool...I didn't know that white people (no offense) were allowed to join historically black GLOs.

[DSTCHAOS]

Originally Posted by DSTRen13

This wasn't annoying so much as bizarre ... I'd been working with this man (an African American man who aside from this incident was very intelligent) for weeks and one day he noticed my Delta keychain. He looks at me and asks me, in all seriousness: "Hey, you're black?"

The most annoying question I get asked a LOT is "Why didn't you join a white sorority?" I don't mind if Sorors ask me those sorts of questions; I expect that. But when someone (especially a member of an NPC group) asks me a question phrased like that, it really irks me - I wouldn't go up to them and ask them why they didn't choose my Sorority; it's rude. I also hate the insinuation that my decision must have somehow been a race thing. Like I joined Delta to insult white people everywhere or something.

I understand why you get both questions. We like to categorize and presume things by race and adding "predominantly (insert race)" organizations helps us to do that. It is annoying that people can be judged as "self-hating" if they join a predominently (insert racial category) group.

This is a general comment and not in response to your post:
One thing that annoys me is when nonblacks join a historically black org and say that race wasn't a factor. They often say that to be safe, which I understand because words and intentions get misconstrued. Race may not have been a factor in an insulting or stereotypical manner. But it should've been a factor given our rich histories and the communities that our philanthropy targets more often than not.