Hello UI. The Spirit of Thoth is once again upon me and I desperately feel the need to enlighten the masses. Now recently I saw a post on Urban Intellectuals’s Facebook page asking the question of what people thought (black particularly) of Black Greek organizations. Now myself being a member of Phi Beta Sigma delighted in the question and eagerly wanted to see the responses. I was horrifically disappointed. I saw some of the most hate filled, uneducated, and downright idiotic responses I had ever seen. I saw retorts such as… “They do nothing for the Black community” … “They are nothing but an extension of high school and a reason to exclude.” … and the one that recently made me almost laugh… “They are sell outs. They’ll claim Greek but not Africa or any of its culture.” I was astounded at how misinformed that people of the UI community were. It was almost sickening.
The first thing we have to do is break down who, what, and where these Greek letter organizations came from.
Before you make any judgment you must have a basis for your claims. Secondly we must understand their purpose in our community, and lastly truly understand why they exist. It is common for people to lash out or even defame things that they don’t know about. So that we are no longer confused about these great institutions I will explain what those who are non-members don’t understand. Don’t worry members of the Divine 9… All secrets are safe with me. However, we really need to let those who don’t know the truth about our significance, our rich history, and why we are so desperately needed in this world for Blacks.
Let’s begin with well… The beginning. The first organization where people who were not of biological brotherhood or sisterhood, but considered themselves to be as such was called a “Kiononia”. The first one appeared around the time of the man that most called “Jesus”. Originally the Greek word for companion, it was used to describe the Greek followers of Jesus because of their family-like following of him. They considered each other to be brothers and sisters in what they referred to as “Christ”. Before them there were the “Free Masons”. This organization developed during the times of King Solomon. His master builder had a falling out with his workers by refusing to give away his methods and the builders revolted. They lost and for doing so King Solomon banished them from his kingdom. The brick masons then developed a system for looking out for each other for at this point all they had in this world as each other. These 2 entities would one day to form modern day fraternities and sororities. Fast forward to a more modern time we have Phi Beta Kappa Honor Society which was the first student organization to use Greek letters as an identifier. This organization marked the best of the best at the University of William and Mary’s academic elite. They adopted the example set forth by the Freemasons and the Koinonias of the past and formed the first fraternity. At first only white males of English descent were able to join, and over time they began to allow females. In even more time they began to allow other races o whites to join.
As time went on the fraternities branched out and allowed females to have their own organizations called sororities. At first since whites were the only ones who could attend college which gave them a heads up on the way American life was ran. It was a microcosm of the cronyism that existed in the newly formed American culture. Naturally through the fraternal order system, organizations began to be able to control the college campuses, businesses, the community, as well as most of the money being earned at the time. It was a natural system of keeping it in the “family” and they could not do enough to ensure that their own people thrived. After things changed, Blacks finally were able to go to schools of our own. We began to educate ourselves on how this new world of commerce and capital truly worked. For a long time we struggled. The struggle was not because of lack of intelligence nor was it because of in accessibility to wealth back then. We struggled because we did not live understand the power of networking and operating business with said network… At least not yet. The first appearance of a fraternity at a black college was the emrgence of Alpha Phi Alpha which was organized in 1905, but came to fruition in 1906.
This special group of young Black men were on the verge of something big and did not know it yet. Attending Cornell University was hard enough, but being Black at such a university was even harder. The century had just turned and not long ago did the school allow blacks to attend. The cronyism of the white fraternities was so obvious and dominate that black students barely had a chance. They decided however that that the old ways of only looking out for one’s self was hurtful more than helpful and the men decided to look out for each other. They had become a fraternity of sorts and decided that if the whites had the right to organize and look out for their interests, then why can’t they. A year later Alpha Phi Alpha was born. They then chartered chapters at as many schools as possible. This then led to the creation of Omega Psi Phi, Phi Beta Sigma, and Kappa Alpha Psi in later years. In a time when Black needed each other for survival and protection, the frats were there. The strong black women who admired these daring young men began to form their own groups as well, and because of rules involving academics and service set by those groups it set the leaders apart from the others who did not have such ambitious goals.
More time passed and not we are in the great depression. Times were tough for America. Whites were in soup kitchens, and dealt with filth associated illness like cholera and typhoid. They lived in dirty city dwellings and were rationed government resources. The Frats and Sorrors however were not in the same boat. They thrived in a time where others did poorly. Then men of Phi Beta Sigma in particular owned businesses, had farms with abundant livestock, helped Blacks that would take the help get out of the ghettos of the city and onto their feet so that they could feed their families. They also threw some of the most lavish parties of the time. That is something that they won’t tell you. Not everyone was broke during the great depression… There were MANY well to do Black people in that time and most of them were members of these organizations. Of course whites were upset that Blacks were doing better than they were so lynchings commenced, but the point is that business and financial freedom were obtainable even then and the “Greeks” showed us the way.
In present times we have grown even further.
We are not just nationally known but every single Divine 9 organization is now international with members of all races. There are programs that help the community every day. There are junior high school organizations that keep kids off drugs, and improve social skills. We provide positive role models to most of these kids who m not have had a role model in the first place. Phi Beta Sigma started Bigger and Better Business which is an organization that helps Black businesses grow and preform as best they can. There is a group of Aloha Kappa Alpha women called “The Ladies of Distinction” that take young girls and steer them away from bad behavior and teaches them the importance of being a lady. There honestly too many programs to name and to count. Many organizations have done literally billions of hours of community service with nursing homes as well as homeless missions. We have raised over 2 billion in the last 10 years for various Black charities… So, what has anyone else done about the state of Black people in this country in the last 10 years? Think about what you say before you say it. If these brave organizations had not stepped in to help, we would be in an even more sad state of affairs.
Another complaint is that Blacks don’t appreciate our history. The rich history of the Black Fraternity or Sorority is a valuable one that must be taught. In a world where people stereotype us and say that Blacks can’t organize and that we don’t stick together has never met a member of one of our proud organizations. We have been sticking together, helping each other, and uplifting our community for decades. This is the most prime example of how and why we are needed and our own people refuse to believe that. Yes there are those who step outside the confines of brotherhood and go too far with hazing. However some people cannot take the true awakening of unlocking how this world works and become zealots. For those we cannot be responsible for and take measures to weed them out. However to build anything up, you must destroy what was once there. One thing that an older member of my fraternity told me was that “A bad idea cannot stand with a good one, because the bad idea cannot stand once the good one has exposed it for being bad, making it insanity for you to hold on to what you now know does not work.” What he was telling me was to not be afraid to change my way of thinking if I am wrong, because if I let bad ideas linger I will never fully realize my good ones. Philosophies such as these have been passed down to the generations of Black Greeks as to enlighten us on our way to uplifting our community.
It seems that there is a lot of hatred for the organizations amongst non-Greeks. These same people who claim to want to uplift the community and also want to see the advancement of Black people want these well-established institutions to be done away with. They have claims of the men and women being sell outs and not being of an African mindset. That cannot be further from the truth. 80% of all Black Greek organization art and paraphernalia is derived from some type of African culture. There are Dashikis, head wraps, Kente cloth, and tapestries you name it have African origin… Not to mention that 90% of all African college students join one of the great institutions.
So the bottom line is that if you ARE pro Black and feel that your cause needs advancement then why are you shunning organizations such as these. In this world the people with the money and power make the rules. Those rules have been backed up by decades of power shifts and cronyism. Many of those who are in power and have a strangle hold on our economy are members of all sorts of collegiate organizations. They not only have that power, but the people in place to keep that power. For all out protests and rallies, we are shouting and making noise to people who don’t care about us or our problems. It’s all a game to keep us in line and their money flowing in. No matter what’s right or wrong, this is the system/society that they have created for themselves. This is not a world ruled by the strong and inhabited by the weak. This new society that is not going anywhere is a system of organizations 1 more powerful than the next. Unfortunately this is life in America, a place in which we choose to live in. We need to not bash our organizations but nurture them, and build them up so that we can finally help each other, share money and business, and finally have something of our own to govern and rule. It starts with 1 group… Then another… And another. Soon enough we will be the ones making power moves to ensure that black children don’t have to worry about struggling to find jobs because we can make sure that they are the ones getting 6 figure salaries because we own the corporations that can provide that sort of life. We can provide our own prestigious letters of recommendation because we have the prestige that calls for that type on influence. Poverty amongst our people will be not a circumstance but a choice because we have the resources to give a poor African American child a fighting chance to become more than what he or she may think they can become. However, it all has to start somewhere. That somewhere is with us, the Black Greek letter organizations that have been taking care of our own for decades.
Now that you know a little more about us, tell UI what you think. Are we still the enemies that you hate with the utmost loathing? Or do you now want to join the ranks of the leaders of our community? Or are you already a leader and want to examine my summation of our esteemed organizations? Until next time UI… Blue Phi… And G.O.M.A.B…. (#2 NO chapter, SUM 01)
It’s really nice that you explained how 80% of Black Greek organization, art, and paraphernalia derives from and is intricately woven into African culture. This should give my nephew Mark good cultural grounding for his fascination for wearing colorful dashikis and kente cloths almost every time he goes partying and malling. These colorful clothes are considered iconic Black Greek items that have integrated themselves in popular fashion and culture. This is awesome!