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

[AGDee]

Originally Posted by joliebelle

I'll probably come back to this post, but the onus shouldn't be on the women who are being racially targeted. I guarantee you that there are women in those houses that didn't agree with the negative views, but stayed silent. Those are the women that need to speak up and be true sisters and allies. The women being targeted likely felt like they would face further repercussions for speaking out, because it has and does still happen.

I agree. We don't expect abused children to out their abusers, we expect rational adults to notice signs and report it. There are even some people who are mandatory reporters. If a man sexually harasses a woman openly in a meeting at work, the woman shouldn't have to be the one to call them out. If any sorority sister is doing something racist, it's up to ALL sisters to call them out, not the one who is targeted. Just like with hazing, if you know it's happening and don't stand up against it, you're an accomplice to it. We have to do better.

[carnation]

It does happen but this is like marriages. I know of several marriages that had almost broken down before one partner or the other came out with a concern or complaint and the other one had no idea there was a problem. Women need to learn to speak up on all issues.

[NoID]

Originally Posted by AGDee

I agree. We don't expect abused children to out their abusers, we expect rational adults to notice signs and report it. There are even some people who are mandatory reporters. If a man sexually harasses a woman openly in a meeting at work, the woman shouldn't have to be the one to call them out. If any sorority sister is doing something racist, it's up to ALL sisters to call them out, not the one who is targeted. Just like with hazing, if you know it's happening and don't stand up against it, you're an accomplice to it. We have to do better.

We're not talking about children here. We're talking about adults, and those who wish to be treated as such.

[33girl]

I wonder if NPC groups will still be all in on DEI if Awesome Alpha happens to take a pledge class that is majority WOC (on a campus where that’s a new thing) and their numbers plummet, leaving them up to their nips in debt with a half-filled house. Will Alpha Nationals stick behind this chapter - who after all is doing exactly what they’ve been told they should do - or will they close them due to lack of members?

I certainly hope it would be the former, but I stopped believing in the Tooth Fairy and Easter Bunny quite a while ago.

[navane]

Originally Posted by 33girl

I wonder if NPC groups will still be all in on DEI if Awesome Alpha happens to take a pledge class that is majority WOC (on a campus where that’s a new thing) and their numbers plummet, leaving them up to their nips in debt with a half-filled house.

Why would a pledge class with a lot of WOC cause numbers to plummet?

Is that a "thing" on some colleges? To label a GLO as the "ethnic house" that no one wants? I have a difficult time understanding because I'm from Southern California. Seeing a lot of WOC in a pledge class here is not unusual.

[ASTalumna06]

Originally Posted by navane

Why would a pledge class with a lot of WOC cause numbers to plummet?

Is that a "thing" on some colleges? To label a GLO as the "ethnic house" that no one wants? I have a difficult time understanding because I'm from Southern California. Seeing a lot of WOC in a pledge class here is not unusual.

Thank you. I had a hard time following what was being argued there.

Also, did some people here not read the article?

From the article:
Some of her sisters in her sorority, Sigma Kappa, attended the game and, as she played, held up a sign that read: “Token.” The sign meant that Wilson, the only Black member of the sorority at the time, was the chapter’s “Token Black Girl” — referencing an “award” her sisters had given Wilson months prior.
.....

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.
.....

Even sisters who are not women of color told BuzzFeed News they were disturbed by the casual racism they witnessed during their time in Greek life. Mackenna, who is white, and was a member of Gamma Phi Beta at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga from 2016 to 2018, told BuzzFeed News racism was omnipresent in her sorority experience.

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.

“It was so common for people to say the n-word, whether it was in conversation or in a song,” Mackenna said. “And there was really no shame to it or even an understanding of why it’s wrong, which in itself is concerning.”
.....

Melina Psihountas, a Phi Mu at the University of Missouri from 2017 to 2018, told BuzzFeed News she was the only Black woman in her pledge class, yet her sorority was considered one of the more racially diverse sororities on campus. The sorority’s reputation as “racially diverse” also led it to be considered a “bottom house,” she said. (Phi Mu headquarters did not respond to a request for comment.)

Mary, who is white and declined to give her last name, but who was in a sorority in the South, said that during recruitment week in 2015 when she and her sisters were deciding who to let in, several women shared microaggressions toward the Black potential new members.

“I just remember hearing women who I thought I shared similar values with say things along the lines of, ‘We don’t need women like that in our chapter,’” Mary said.

Originally Posted by NoID

Once they pledge, though, they have a responsibility to start conversations if something bothers them. If they fail to mention it, and just resign, or complain later, is counterproductive.

I and a number of my long-time alumnae friends (most of 20-50 years' membership) are tired of "You have to change to suit me - End of Story" that the NPC language and process changes are pushing.

The burden should 100% be put on WOC? Is that what we're really saying? Because that's what it sounds like.

We don't want DEI training, and we don't want to change how we operate, and we want to put the burden completely on WOC. And then we're going to be annoyed when they resign and don't put in any hard work?

Pleeeeaaaaase tell me that we all see the irony in that.

[Cheerio]

Originally Posted by navane

Why would a pledge class with a lot of WOC cause numbers to plummet?

Is that a "thing" on some colleges? To label a GLO as the "ethnic house" that no one wants? I have a difficult time understanding because I'm from Southern California. Seeing a lot of WOC in a pledge class here is not unusual.

I imagine any chapter labeled as the "ethnic house" may be rejected as "too different" and/or "unacceptable" by the closed-minded students/PNMs doing the labeling.

It brings to mind my campus decades ago, when one sorority chapter after another closed after becoming THE house that ended up with the most Jewish pledges (even though these chapters were not of Jewish origin nationally).

And from various postings on that site, I gather it still occurs that chapters full of awkward/unattractive/unusual women are often rejected by closed-minded students/pnms, causing said chapters to dwindle in size and close.