I really wanted to stay away from this, but once again, I just couldn't help myself. And I apologize now for this being long as hell, but I had to let it out
Artimis, you've made some good points in your posts. I'd like to address some of the other points you made that were of a concern to you. And this isn't necessarily to just Artimis but to anyone else who would care to respond.
I'll start at the end of your post where you ask:
Quote:
This draws me to a question.. what about greek organizations that have formed in the last 20 years? Some of them are note traditionally of any "race". Where do they fall in? What do you think their impact on the greek system will be?
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Well as everyone on this board should know by now, I am a part of a multicultural sorority. So to answer your question of "where do they fall in?" Well we obviously don't fall into the "black", "white", "latino" or "asian" greek orgs becuz we've got'em all! Therefore, we make up our own category: multicultural
Simple as that.
Now, what is our impact on the greek system? Well it is my sorority's desire and part of our purpose to create a more unified campus and community. That means doing things that will bring students of all races, backgrounds, creeds, nationalities together--greek or not. That's what we want to do and are doing. As far as our impact on specifically the greek community goes... All I can say is that my org has come up w/ quite a few ideas to better unify the greeks at my school. I have stated on another board that the greeks at my school aren't that unified in many different lights. So many, that I could probably write a novel! But that's what we are trying to do. The greeks we have encountered on my campus accept us because it goes w/out a doubt that regardless of our skin color, histories, colors, and letters, we are all greek! And as greeks, most of us have a duty to help our respective communities. Therefore, as a multicultural org, we are trying to create an atmosphere where ALL greeks will come together and do things like community service or programs together that will benefit our campus. I think as a multicultural org we will definitely create a positive impact on the greek system b/c at my school, the greek system is very segregated.
Now to address this whole WGLO/BGLO issue. I myself try not to say "white sororities and fraternities". I really try not to. But I think that there can be a number of reasons why we need to differentiate b/t them. For example, on my campus, the NPC/IFC orgs are predominantly, predominantly white. The percentage of minorities w/in the Panhel and IFC is 2%. So if you were on my campus and see virtually NO minorities (ie black, indian, latino, etc) w/in these systems, tell me how would you distinguish them from the BGLOs or the LGLOs or even my org, a MCGLO? They have been that way for the past 4 and 1/2 years I've been at my school. The same goes for the BGLOs on my campus. They have been predominantly, predominantly black. I can make this statement for the LGLOs and the AGLOs on my campus as well. So if your campus has a mixture of ethnicities w/in the NPC or IFC or even BGLO groups, then maybe you don't need to differentiate by ethnic identity. Maybe you can say, "Oh she's in XYZ" and everyone will know what org you're talking about. But at my school..ha ha...you try going up to someone who's in the NPC and say "hey the So and Sos are having a party next week". I can
GUARANTEE you that the first thing they'll think about will be all the orgs w/in Panhel and IFC. If they can't place it, they'll probably look at you like "what?" So on my campus, you HAVE to say "Oh, XYZ, that's one of the BGLOs" or else folks will be looking like "what the hell?...who's that?"
Another reason I tend to identify orgs based on white, black, latino is b/c of who they chose to uplift in the community. Ok, now I know that the "white" GLOs are saying "but we weren't founded to help/uplift/support whites, etc, etc."
Ok, damn good point. So I ask this: who did your founders chose to help/uplift when they started out? Let a sista know!
Were your founders uplifting blacks? Nope. Were your founders uplifting latino/as? Nope. Were they uplifing asians? Nope. Umm, well I'm running outta ethnicities here...oh were they uplifting indians (those from SE Asia/India) or were they uplifting Native Americans? Nope and nope. So who does that leave us w/? Hmmmm? If you say your founders were helping the community back in the day, then what "community" might that have been? Cuz the way I'm seeing it, blacks (and other ethnic groups) weren't even allowed in these orgs so I doubt they were helping other ethnic groups if they didn't even see them fit to be
in the orgs in the first place! But hey, if I'm wrong, please do correct me!
I'm not trying to be mean about all this cuz what it all comes down to is: "to each his/her own". I personally think that we can debate/argue about this until we are blue/peach/pink/red/gold/black/green/maroon/purple/white/brown in the face! People are gonna refer to a particular org in the way that they see fit to. I say that for those who are new to the greek system, it's all about research, research, research! If you are planning on joining a sorority/fraternity, yet you are upset/concerned about why they are called this or that--do us a favor and just read up on it and you can decide for yourself what you wanna call it. Or better yet, ask the members what they'd like to be called. That way you don't offend anyone. Hell, I'm damn proud to be in a multicultural org and ya'll can call my org that anytime cuz that's what we are!! All this technical wording and stuff is nothing but stress. So let's de-stress and worry about something else.
peace
oh and if you've got issues w/ my post, please email the hate directly to me. Don't torture other GCers with it.
Thanks!
[This message has been edited by ZChi4Life (edited August 19, 2000).]