Most Americans are not very familiar with Black Greek-letter organizations. Their small numbers and obscurity, however, do not lessen their threat, and it is high time we give it serious attention. I would advise college and university administrators, students, parents and all others of good conscience to educate themselves.
Mainstream America’s greatest exposure to Black Greeks has been filmmaker Spike Lee’s “School Daze.” Among his numerous critiques was a story thread that took the organizations to task for their cultural shallowness, retrograde apoliticism and unchecked misogyny. Even though Lee intended “School Daze” to, at least in part, chastise and even condemn Black Greeks, he failed to effectively highlight the groups’ greatest problem — ubiquitous, life-threatening hazing. In fairness to Lee, “School Daze” was released a year before Joel Harris died attempting to join the Alpha Phi Alpha fraternity at Lee’s and my alma mater, Morehouse College, in 1989.
Almost two decades later, another theatrical representation of Black Greek life has entered into America’s public sphere. Disturbingly, “Stomp the Yard” does little to address some of the troubling issues Lee touched upon. Contrarily, it largely plays like a “brag piece” centering on one of the most superficial, but popularized aspects of Black Greekdom — stepping. At the same time, the movie emphasizes the romanticized benefits of membership that Black Greeks glorify without end — purpose, unity, sacrifice, teamwork and love. Unlike Lee’s movie, “Stomp the Yard” makes little effort to substantively speak to the deeper sociopolitical quandaries faced by Black folk. This latest characterization is unfortunate and dangerous.
It should be understood that Black Greek-letter organizations are almost exclusively populated by college-educated African-Americans. Hence, one would expect them to be in the vanguard of the struggle for an egalitarian society. This, however, is not the case. Organizationally, Black Greek voices are, in fact, absent in most discussions of today’s pressing issues. When have they substantively addressed Black poverty, political disempowerment, disproportionate incarceration, police brutality, etc.? Make no mistake, the intentional or unintentional simultaneous glorification of certain aspects of Black Greekdom coupled with the refusal or inability to speak to its underbelly literally has deadly consequences.
