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Sprite Step Off UPDATE: Scoring Discrepency Leads To 2 Winners

Sprite Step Off UPDATE: Scoring Discrepency Leads To 2 Winners
Posted By: Reginald Culpepper on February 26, 2010

As first reported, Zeta Tau Alpha, a predominantly white sorority, won first place in the nationsl Sprite Step Off competition. It was later discovered that there had been a scoring discrepency which led to an unresolved issue. In order to correct the issue, Sprite released a statement which awarded Alpha Kappa Alpha sorority, who finished second place, with a first place ruling which leads to them being co-winners with Zeta Tau Alpha.

Here is the official statement from Sprite:
"

After the competition, we conducted a post-competition review and discovered a scoring discrepancy. There is no conclusive interpretation, nor definitive resolution for the discrepancy.



Sprite is committed to upholding the honesty and integrity of the competition. Because the scoring discrepancy cannot be resolved and due to the extremely narrow margin between the first and second place winning sororities, we believe that the appropriate course of action is to name both Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc., Tau Chapter and Zeta Tau Alpha, Epsilon Chapter, co-first place winners of the Sprite Step Off. Accordingly, we will increase Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc., Tau Chapter's scholarship prize to $100,000, consistent with first prize winnings.

Sprite Step Off was created for the primary purpose of awarding scholarships and supporting talented college students in their quest for higher education."
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Samuel Burnham
Associate at Chosen Agency
In general, White America is doing what anti-Black Eur-Asian invaders of African lands and communities have been doing since time immemorial. A segment of Black culture that was previously benefitial to the ones who created and needed to benefit the most from it...Black folk..was coopted in a way that benefited young White women! Sprite then "sponsorsed" this Black cultural event, ensuring that a group of White girls..a group collectively in least NEED of the money...won $100K dollars.

This is the problem when segments of Afro-diasporan culture (known as "Black culture in the U.S.) is "commercialized (aka co-opted and placed under the economic and political control of non-Whites). This corporate sponsorshp is a big two-edged sword for Black folk. But Black leadership is so integrationist/assimilationist in its though process, that these so-called Black leaders do not see the danger. As long as Black folk are economically dependant upon White owned-and-controlled corporations for scholarships, political elections of Black politicals, our schools, etc., we will not be the self-reliant people we are supposed to be.

Our $750Billion + spending power rises up to call those liars who say we are unable to fund self-reliance ourselves. What is lacking is the collective will and collective organized structure...that we have the ability to build.

The We Are One Power Conference, in Leage with the Movement to Bring Back Black (bbBlack) was a conferenced designed to rectify this situation. It went down in late November in Beaumont, Texas. However, the pubilicity it got, in comparison to entertainment and "info-taminment" we Black folks love, was very poor. I will be beating the drum about this years We Are One Power Conference again. Hopefully this incident with the Sprite step off, and placeing it into the proper perspective of cultural theivery that it truly is...for economic gain of non-Black folk...will motivate more folk to pay attention next time.

peace
Saturday, February 27th 2010 at 7:23PM
Samuel Burnham
Associate at Chosen Agency
Thanks you are one of the collective few. But then again...it's only a few people who get a larger movement going with momentum. Well, I'll be posting as soon as a date comes out. It may be a couple more month.

respect,

Sam
Saturday, February 27th 2010 at 9:56PM
Michael Grubbs
Alabama A&M University class of 1977
Brother Sam that was deep . . . "cutural thievey" I wholeheartedly agree!

Mike G in the Gardens
Wednesday, March 3rd 2010 at 11:58PM
Samuel Burnham
Associate at Chosen Agency
Thanks Michael. To give credit to whom credit is due, I did not create the term "cultural thievery" iteself, but I'm trying to remember the author of a book that did so. Just think, in a few years, they'll be saying some other "minority" group (other than people of African decent)"invented" hip-hop!

Sam
Thursday, March 4th 2010 at 12:18PM
Fredrick Lee
Asst. Regional Inspector General for Audit (ARIGA) at U.S. HUD Office of Inspector General (U.S. HUD OIG)
I believe a formal competition, such as a step-off, with these two sororities battling for the true crown of number one is in order. The scoring discrepancy (can you read "screw-up") only makes the competition seem fishy. Almost like a certain election a few years ago in which there were discrepancies at the poll. As such, take money and titles away and have the AKAs and ZTAs battle it out to see who is the true winner once and for all. I do not believe in co-winners, which is a cop-out on Sprite's part. Have the ladies go face-to-face and see who really handled business.
Sunday, March 7th 2010 at 7:34PM
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