Black Gangs Greeks…

Now, I fully understand the age-old human need for and tradition of ritual and belonging. I’m also not at a complete loss of commendation for, and recognition thereof, contributions made by black fraternities and sororities.

But.

I’ve become quite suspicious that black “Greeks” are really just educated gangs. Actually, the educated part is suspect, because it must be hard to focus on academic achievement when you’re busy learning step routines and trying to remember founders’ names.

Colors. Hand signs. Hoots and calls. Sounds strangely familiar to me. Not to mention the violence. Club-clearing brawls and drive-bys aren’t completely unheard of in this arena.

I actually know someone who was involved in an altercation between a frat and...some Bloods. WTF? How you gonna bring a food voucher card to a gun fight?

And the worst part is, it’s not just fighting between different groups, it’s the bullshit that people put up with from their “own.”

How on Earth is a black man/woman going to humiliate, subjugate, and abuse another black man/woman?! Is this a fraternity or the LAPD?

Lemme get this straight...you have to struggle to be deemed “worthy” to “move up” and be “a part of” a larger group? All in the name of belonging and being accepted? Hmmm, sounds awfully familiar.

And brain-witheringly redundant.

The history of black people in America is drenched in forced assimilation. How many black slaves lost their lives trying to get educated just so you can go to a school (that didn’t want you*), and, instead of getting an education (you weren’t supposed to get), you do your damnedest to imitate a white organization (that didn’t want you)? What kind of backward-ass shit is this?

And let us not forget this all takes place under the guise of education.

Seriously. What are the odds these students would have learned the Greek alphabet if it wasn’t related to a fraternity/sorority? How many open a statistics or physics book and see a party invite list?

Ask them about, oh, I don’t know – education (psychology, mathematics, the arts, economics, etc.)?! - and there’s not much conversation forthcoming. But they can snap to attention and rattle off a string of Iota-Omega-Delta-Kappas, Incorporated this and that, with distant, glazed-over eyes. And don’t have a clue who Epictetus or Sophocles was. Aristotle, Homer, Diogenes, Laertius, Plutarch, Strabo, Herodotus? What about Hippocrates (much less Imhotep)?

Rather drink and party than go to class (wait...that’s just college in general).

Rather know what the chapter at the school across the state is called than know what’s going on in Sierra Leon, Sudan, or the DRC. Or the Supreme Court.

Rather learn about the history of the organization than the history of a people.

Rather figure out how to raise money to get some insignia silk-screened on t-shirts than understand financial planning and investment for the future.

Rather go to a step show than serve the community. (And, speaking of step shows, just because you think you’re able to stomp and clap on beat better than a white person, does NOT make you pro-black or righteous.)

What’s the ratio of alcoholic beverages purchased to food for families in need? How balanced is time spent partying to time dedicated to volunteering?

And basing your organization on a European society so heavily influenced from an African society (yet not readily acknowledged as so) seems like there’s a middleman somewhere that should be skipped. Greek hunh? Pan-Hellenic what?

One is so damn busy being brainwashed indoctrinated into this peer group that s/he can’t focus on the brainwashing indoctrination education (another story, another time) s/he’s supposed to be getting to undo all of the brainwashing indoctrination education socializing from high school!

I had a point in there somewhere.

I just want to see young people improve and uplift themselves, family, and community, rather than be castigated in the name of someone else’s glory, all so they can later be the one doing the belittling.

*If you’re attending an HBCU, then you really should know better.

I'll See Your Ghetto (Part II)...

...and raise you a reservation.

We aren’t the only ones slinging the word “ghetto” around. I see far too many young (and old) Black folk using it in absurdly self-deprecating ways. A perverse sense of pride has even become attached to it. I’m sure many have heard the “You might be ghetto if…” take on Jeff Foxworthy’s incomprehensibly successful redneck jokes (which further demonstrates that what we’re dealing with is class, not race–-whole other topic).

I recently read Chris’ brother Tony Rock’s statement, “I didn’t know Whitney was as ghetto as she is,” referring to her portrayal on Bravo's newest horror show.

Essence ran a cover story on Mariah’s confused ass, and in it, the Brat was teeming over with affirmations of Miss Carey’s ghetto nature (she listens to rap music!!). See, it’s a glowing compliment. And, it solves everything. Mariah blatantly denies and embraces her ethnicity to pursue her own ends?! No way, Mariah been ghetto! Translation: Mariah is black, y’all (the assumption that this needs to be confirmed is a whole other issue).

I’m a realist. A lot of us choose to pretend we live in some alternate universe, and espouse idealist thoughts, but too bad, so sad; There is a time and place for everything.

Now, I think I should note I am a firm believer in humor being a remedy for all maladies. I also understand the concept of flipping the tables, and reclaiming vile epithets as a way of building self-confidence in an environment set up to destroy it (the most obvious, argued, and completely misunderstood by white folk is the notorious N-bomb). But I don’t support the practice. It’s superficial and does nothing to defeat the word. The original connotations still hold power, and even worse, the word gains a perceived acceptance in usage. In the end, it has not been reclaimed; it has been given a free pass.

I also want to clear the air of the misconception that is constantly being pushed, of Black people’s (perceived) near obsession with underachievement. This is most often expressed along the lines of “Black kids make fun of other Black kids who speak well, do well in school, yada yada yada.”

I’m not saying, by any stretch of the imagination, that this is pure myth, only that is greatly exaggerated (to serve a contemptible purpose).

How many White kids, who excelled in education and eschewed social pursuits for academic ones, do you know of that weren’t labeled “nerd” or “geek”? And I have had PLENTY White folk call me a sell-out (usually our version of it: race traitor). Once again, we’re dealing with the actions of a certain class of people, not the entire group.

The worst part about the popularity of “ghetto,” as it holds a place in America’s vernacular, is in its connotation. When Whites use it (even jokingly, in a “lighthearted” manner), it’s negative, reflecting the long-held notion of blackness itself being negative in white America.

When Blacks use it, it’s become positive, a badge of honor, even, reflecting Black folks' apathetic/conditioned acceptance of the long-held notion of blackness itself being negative in white America.

It is not Black culture to be poor. Ignorance, poor health, classlessness, lower moral values, etc. are the symptoms of poverty, not characteristics of Black people. That is not the history of Black people. That may be the consequence of history ON Black people, but it is not the fact of blackness. We need to eradicate this line of thinking, and the mainstream use of “ghetto” in this context.

Black people were not born into ghettos, they were sentenced to them. The ghetto was put on Black people, just as the word has been, and neither is acceptable.