Sorority pulls offensive photo from Web site

[Optimist Prime]

We have black brothers.

[Rudey]

Originally posted by crazygirl
This school's greek system is very segrated. Why else would the "multicultural" & historically "african american" greek systems exist? Because the OTHER greek system didn't want them because of their race.

This particular sorority also seems to put their racist undertones on their website and had no problem with it until organizations asked them to take the picture off. If it wasn't a member of that sorority, why else would they put the picture on their website?

So black fraternities/sororities exist only because "white" GLO's won't allow them in? Perhaps you should reconsider.

-Rudey
--You be crazy...real crazy.

[texas*princess]

Originally posted by Rudey


So black fraternities/sororities exist only because "white" GLO's won't allow them in? Perhaps you should reconsider.

-Rudey
--You be crazy...real crazy.

Well said Rudey. That seems a bit ridiculous. I have seen the greeks here @ NT and they are all very unified.

[Rudey]

Originally posted by Hootie
I don't want to play the ignorance card, however...

Maybe the person who designed the webpage and put the picture up was ignorant to the fact that the gentleman in the picture would be offending people by his costume. I come from an area of town where there aren't a lot of black people and only until I took a Intro To Black Lit. class did I find out about black face and what it meant (that was TWO years ago). Call me nieve if you wish, but not everyone has bad intentions.

Hootie

Ignorance cannot be excused. Even if you don't have bad intentions, you are at all times responsible for your actions. A kid who brings a gun to school to show off and ends up waving at someone to scare them, might not have intended to shoot and kill someone, but the scenario is very possible.

-Rudey
--There is no reason to take a class to understand what is offensive in the world.

[DeltaSig]

To be perfectly honest some people may not realize what offends others and what may be inappropriate. Some people grow up in different environments where they may not experience much diversity in different cultures, but it doesn't necessarily mean that they are racist. They just need an experience to interact and mix with different people. Not everyone lives in a multicultural world. THe greeks are really open at UNT so I don't know what the whole deal is in the first place.....I have had a chance to talk to my friends back at UNT and the girls all feel a little angered by the accusations and hurt.

[Rudey]

Originally posted by DeltaSig
To be perfectly honest some people may not realize what offends others and what may be inappropriate. Some people grow up in different environments where they may not experience much diversity in different cultures, but it doesn't necessarily mean that they are racist. They just need an experience to interact and mix with different people. Not everyone lives in a multicultural world. THe greeks are really open at UNT so I don't know what the whole deal is in the first place.....I have had a chance to talk to my friends back at UNT and the girls all feel a little angered by the accusations and hurt.

Do you need to stab yourself with a knife to know it would hurt? I don't see how you can take the ignorance argument far enough to justify their action.

-Rudey
--And if it wasn't their picture they were still legally responsible because it was on their web account. That is essentially the reason why Napster was able to be sued.

[texas*princess]

I understand what you meant Hootie. When people aren't exposed to things, how else can they learn about them? If your class was the first time you encountered that, you shouldn't be beat on the head just beacuse you didn't read the encylopedia as a child. There are many things that I wasn't aware of until I had classes pertaining to it, or until I got older.

[FuzzieAlum]

Hootie, I know where you're coming from. We had a similar incident in college (not with a GLO though), and while I wasn't the one who caused the problem, I was the one who had to make the decision as to whether their behavior was ignorant or hateful. It was one of the hardest decisions I ever had to make.

I would like to think, though, that among the many sisters of this chapter, at least one of them was aware enough to realize the implications of the picture and to mention it to the webmaster, president, somebody. If the entire chapter is really that sheltered, some lessons in cultural sensitivity are in order. I think that perhaps now they may be receiving that lesson.

[alphaiota]

well, the article said one of the zta members was standing with a man who had a black painted face. so it wasn't one of their members who's face was painted, but a member who was with that person. probably it was a zta sister at a frat party and they thought it was a cute pic and put it up innocently. what the article doesn't address is if the person with the painted face was deliberately painting his face to look like an african american person or was it part of some sort of non racial constume? that's what i'm wondering. cuz if he was trying to do it just to be racist, then yes the steps taken were appropriate. otherwise i think it sounds blown way out of proportion. just a thought.

[ZetaBabe61]

I do not agree with the way the young man dressed up at the Halloween party, and again it was not a Zeta function, just a bunch of people at a halloween party at a club. But, yes it was posted on the ZTA website, which does represent us. We of course removed the pic right away when we noticed the attention it was getting. We did not intentionally put it up to seem racist or degrating of any race for that matter. Some of the Zeta ladies (many of whom had nothing to do with the incident, and a lot of whom were our new memebers) attended the weekly Diversity meeting on campus. It was an enlightening expericence for lack of a better word, and I would love to become more involved with this program. There is racisim every day, and I am saddened to think that ZTA was shown in such a negative light. If you have any questions or would just like to talk...feel free!

ZLAM
<><

[Ambition]

I do have to say that I am disturbed by the fact that no one thinks the fact that they put it on the sorority's website is not a big deal. I am not a member of any organization, but I feel that it does represent the sorority because no one in the sorority thought that putting that pic up might be a bad idea. Regardless of who is who it was on the website, not a personal website. It represents the whole.



Ambition

[alphaiota]

in defense of the sorority, it was most likely only one person in charge of keeping up the website, which includes putting up pics. if you were a part of a glo you would probably know that. i have never heard of a chapter taking a vote or clearing everything they put up on their website with the entire chapter. they vote or appoint someone into place to make those decisions. granted it was a bad decision in this place, it was the decision of one person and most likely they weren't looking at the racial implications, unfortunately, but who was in the pic. it is a shame that it ended up representing the entire chapter and reflecting badly, however, i do think it was simply a mistake and they paid for it.

shelley j

[texas*princess]

yep.. i have to agree alphaiota

[Love_Spell_6]

Originally posted by nyrdrms
crazygirl---I'm not sure what the Greek system is like at that particular school, but I know that at my school we do have NPHC, or "African-American" GLOs and yet there are still African-American members of the NIC and NPC organizations as well. Just because the NPHC organizations exist on a particular campus does not necessarily mean that it's because of segregation.

I just want to clarify a few things about the existence of BGLO'a. They were started in the early 1900's in part because we (African Americans) could not join fraternities/sororities b/c of our race. Just because there may be a few black members here and there in other fraternities does not change this fact. SO in a way, BGLO's did kind of form because of "segregation."

Also, it always amazes me how quick people are to say "what's the big deal?" Supposed black people would have said that when cartoons/pics were posted up around the town of black people being lynched? Suppose we always keep silent? Sorry people, because of the historical background of African Americans in this country, it's going to be a "big deal" when things like this happen.............especially when the government has refused to so much as apologize for the Institution of slavery. Doesen't anyone think minorities get tired of being the "butt" of everybody's jokes?

When it's not you that has been......and still to this day is discriminated against, it's easy to be INsensitive.

[alphaiota]

i think you underestimate how much non african american people know and empathize with being discriminated against. i'm overweight and i'm very discriminated against. the things that people say and do to overweight people wouldn't be tolerated today if it were towards a person of any race. i'm not saying that racism and discrimination don't exist and that there should be some compensation, but i am saying don't think that african american people are the only ones who feel the effects of discrimination. not only do i feel it for being overweight, but also for dating an african american man.
please don't take my last post to mean that i was belittling the situation, but i honestly don't think that it was deliberate and people shouldn't just be looking at the sorority for it, but also the guy who dressed that way. isn't he at more fault for consiously deciding to represent himself that way. i do feel it was a mistake, a big mistake on the part of zta, but how much more do they need to do to pay for their mistake?
i do apologize if anyone is offended by my stance, but if you look at it logistically i think you will see my point.