Yesterday, I was talking to someone and they asked me why i wanted to pledge Omega. I started talking about how I really examined the organization and believed in everything that the organization stood for. I did not pledge because I wanted to party or hop or for popularity reasons. i pledged because i respected an Organization that tried to give young black males a political voice and a network so they could prosper. I saw a fraternity founded on unifying the black community and uplifting our people when it was unsafe for black people to walk down the street at night.
She then repeated the question like my answer was complete bullsh*t. It bothered me to point that i began to realize that she had a reason to not believe me. It is because a lot of greeks (my org and others) do not represent their organization as it was meant to by our founders. It seems the whole craze is with stepshows, partywalks, and parties and we have forgot about the important things. The sad thing is we are making greeks who want to join for the forementioned things. Which is one of problems with Intake. What good is it to make 80 people on a line when only 12-13 really want to work to make the organization better. I would would rather have 5 men loyal to one cause than 50 who barely even care. How can you call yourself someone's linesister or linebrother and you don't even know their name. BGLOs have become a joke compared to the 30's or 40's when we really worked to make a difference. There are so many t-shirt wearers out there that it is a shame. What happened to major political moves like the deltas marching for suffrage or frats refusing to do business with discriminatory businesses. People used to look at greeks as powerful, honorable, and unified. Now, people see frats as something to go see during blackgreek week or the homecoming stepshow. This goes hand and hand with continous downfall of the black race. We have to get back to the important stuff, things that greek life is really based on.
The Carter G. Woodson's, Martin Luther King's, W.E.B. Duobis's and Johnny Cochran's of our prospective organization's are **** and gone. Our Jesse Jackson's and company are getting old.. Who twenty years from now will be our ambassadors. The day we depend on rappers and athletes to identify our organizations is a sad day.
Well I certainly see where you are coming from in terms of Greeks losing sight of their purpose. However I don't understand what that has to do with you attacking big lines.
Magnolia Steele wrote:
Which is one of problems with Intake. What good is it to make 80 people on a line when only 12-13 really want to work to make the organization better. I would would rather have 5 men loyal to one cause than 50 who barely even care. How can you call yourself someone's linesister or linebrother and you don't even know their name.
I don't quite see what a big line has to do with promoting and exemplifying the goals of the founders. If anything I would believe that it would mean more people to do the work of the organization. I know plenty of Greeks that crossed on small lines that are not active, do not discuss their experience and do not have any connection to their organization. Of course a greater number of initiates increases the odds of a greater number of "tee shirt wearers" because their are tee-shirt wearers" in every organization and it is a game of percentages. If 10% of a line of 10 people are not interested in doing the work of the organization, that's only one person. But if 10% of a line of 100 is lazy, that's 10 people. And while yes that is 9 more tee-shirt wearers than the line of 10, conversely, there are 90 more people willing to do the work of the organization. I don't see what "knowing someones name and calling them your line sister/brother" has to do with the work of the organization or involvement of the community. Majority of the people in your organization are not on your line and are nameless but yet you work as a whole to do the work of the organization. I feel like this was a needless shot at big lines.
Magnolia Steele wrote:
BGLOs have become a joke compared to the 30's or 40's when we really worked to make a difference. There are so many t-shirt wearers out there that it is a shame. What happened to major political moves like the deltas marching for suffrage or frats refusing to do business with discriminatory businesses. People used to look at greeks as powerful, honorable, and unified. Now, people see frats as something to go see during blackgreek week or the homecoming stepshow. This goes hand and hand with continous downfall of the black race. We have to get back to the important stuff, things that greek life is really based on.
Furthermore, members of Greek organizations have other vehicles through which to make a change. While the Deltas may have marched for suffrage, women that are members of Delta Sigma Theta may now chose to march with their employers or with their church or with the NAACP. Perhaps Greek life isn't as all-encompassing as it was back in the day. I know a lot of Greeks who kind of distance themselves after college and become involved in civic groups and organizations with less of a focus on collegiate life. Black people in general have become less unified and that does include organizations within the black community. Greek life is not exempt.
Well I certainly see where you are coming from in terms of Greeks losing sight of their purpose. However I don't understand what that has to do with you attacking big lines.
Magnolia Steele wrote:
Which is one of problems with Intake. What good is it to make 80 people on a line when only 12-13 really want to work to make the organization better. I would would rather have 5 men loyal to one cause than 50 who barely even care. How can you call yourself someone's linesister or linebrother and you don't even know their name.
I don't quite see what a big line has to do with promoting and exemplifying the goals of the founders. If anything I would believe that it would mean more people to do the work of the organization. I know plenty of Greeks that crossed on small lines that are not active, do not discuss their experience and do not have any connection to their organization. Of course a greater number of initiates increases the odds of a greater number of "tee shirt wearers" because their are tee-shirt wearers" in every organization and it is a game of percentages. If 10% of a line of 10 people are not interested in doing the work of the organization, that's only one person. But if 10% of a line of 100 is lazy, that's 10 people. And while yes that is 9 more tee-shirt wearers than the line of 10, conversely, there are 90 more people willing to do the work of the organization. I don't see what "knowing someones name and calling them your line sister/brother" has to do with the work of the organization or involvement of the community. Majority of the people in your organization are not on your line and are nameless but yet you work as a whole to do the work of the organization. I feel like this was a needless shot at big lines.
Magnolia Steele wrote:
BGLOs have become a joke compared to the 30's or 40's when we really worked to make a difference. There are so many t-shirt wearers out there that it is a shame. What happened to major political moves like the deltas marching for suffrage or frats refusing to do business with discriminatory businesses. People used to look at greeks as powerful, honorable, and unified. Now, people see frats as something to go see during blackgreek week or the homecoming stepshow. This goes hand and hand with continous downfall of the black race. We have to get back to the important stuff, things that greek life is really based on.
Furthermore, members of Greek organizations have other vehicles through which to make a change. While the Deltas may have marched for suffrage, women that are members of Delta Sigma Theta may now chose to march with their employers or with their church or with the NAACP. Perhaps Greek life isn't as all-encompassing as it was back in the day. I know a lot of Greeks who kind of distance themselves after college and become involved in civic groups and organizations with less of a focus on collegiate life. Black people in general have become less unified and that does include organizations within the black community. Greek life is not exempt.
I did not mean to attack big lines.. sorry if i did... i was talking about how greeks race to get number and instead of making quality members they worry about quanity of members... knowing your ls/lb name now that is something I believe you should atleast know. A ls/lb bond is supposed to be one of the strongest bonds next to your family. To call myself someone's linebrother and i never even had a conversation with them is just silly
Well I certainly see where you are coming from in terms of Greeks losing sight of their purpose. However I don't understand what that has to do with you attacking big lines.
Magnolia Steele wrote:
Which is one of problems with Intake. What good is it to make 80 people on a line when only 12-13 really want to work to make the organization better. I would would rather have 5 men loyal to one cause than 50 who barely even care. How can you call yourself someone's linesister or linebrother and you don't even know their name.
I don't quite see what a big line has to do with promoting and exemplifying the goals of the founders. If anything I would believe that it would mean more people to do the work of the organization. I know plenty of Greeks that crossed on small lines that are not active, do not discuss their experience and do not have any connection to their organization. Of course a greater number of initiates increases the odds of a greater number of "tee shirt wearers" because their are tee-shirt wearers" in every organization and it is a game of percentages. If 10% of a line of 10 people are not interested in doing the work of the organization, that's only one person. But if 10% of a line of 100 is lazy, that's 10 people. And while yes that is 9 more tee-shirt wearers than the line of 10, conversely, there are 90 more people willing to do the work of the organization. I don't see what "knowing someones name and calling them your line sister/brother" has to do with the work of the organization or involvement of the community. Majority of the people in your organization are not on your line and are nameless but yet you work as a whole to do the work of the organization. I feel like this was a needless shot at big lines.
Magnolia Steele wrote:
BGLOs have become a joke compared to the 30's or 40's when we really worked to make a difference. There are so many t-shirt wearers out there that it is a shame. What happened to major political moves like the deltas marching for suffrage or frats refusing to do business with discriminatory businesses. People used to look at greeks as powerful, honorable, and unified. Now, people see frats as something to go see during blackgreek week or the homecoming stepshow. This goes hand and hand with continous downfall of the black race. We have to get back to the important stuff, things that greek life is really based on.
Furthermore, members of Greek organizations have other vehicles through which to make a change. While the Deltas may have marched for suffrage, women that are members of Delta Sigma Theta may now chose to march with their employers or with their church or with the NAACP. Perhaps Greek life isn't as all-encompassing as it was back in the day. I know a lot of Greeks who kind of distance themselves after college and become involved in civic groups and organizations with less of a focus on collegiate life. Black people in general have become less unified and that does include organizations within the black community. Greek life is not exempt.
I did not mean to attack big lines.. sorry if i did... i was talking about how greeks race to get number and instead of making quality members they worry about quanity of members... knowing your ls/lb name now that is something I believe you should atleast know. A ls/lb bond is supposed to be one of the strongest bonds next to your family. To call myself someone's linebrother and i never even had a conversation with them is just silly
Of course and I agree with this as well. In spite of the fact that I come from a big line, I can honestly say that I have a special unique bond with each of my line sisters. I think that the issue with taking big lines just to get numbers up lies within the national organization, not within the line itself. No one on any given line chooses how many people are on that line with them. Additionally, I feel that the lack of involvement is more of a national issue. I believe that every Divine Nine organization on Howard's campus marched in the Millions More March. Every year members of Howard's D9 participate in the Homeless Walk and the **** walk in Washington, DC. So I look around and see major community involvement within Howard's D9; however, I assume that this isn't big enough to make a huge recognizable impact. I do think that national organization do a lot collectively, but perhaps its just more behind the scenes.
I agree and totally see where he is coming from. But the truth is that different people join for different reasons, most join for the wrong reasons. The fact of the matter is that ALL lines have their slackers. The ones that get their letters and straight bounce but they r always the 1st ones to rock nalia...we don't have to hide these things. Nothing is perfect. It is also evident that time HAS indeed changed and a lot of the pressing issues are resolved, as blacks we are not struggling in comparison to what we once were. As greeks I feel that we need a positive change, we need SOMETHING to stand for. And it hurts my heart that we rest on legacies of the past instead of creating one through OUR present. we need a movement we need to unite and teach others (blacks in particular) how to unite. I think one of the biggest issues is to form a connection with the talented tenth (as stated by W.E.B ) and the not so well of blacks. Maybe by doing this we can empower our race. I think that it is a necessity that we take care of issues within the Black race and then move on out from there. But UNITY is everything, not just unity among greeks but unity amongst ALL people (blacks in particular). lets stop thinking that we are better than another person but instead help that other person to be a BETTER person. That's my concept
first off on the school level.. I would sponsor a candidate for SGA presidency. Then for Mayor, become more active in the local scene. Participate in some major charity events and invite the media and all the local politicians too it. Then hold forums about issues that affect our community. A future forum I plan to hold at JSU is "the future of the black male: an endangered species" on the national level I would love to see the NPHC sponsor a canidate for presidency if not the individual orgs. i would love to see a presidential candidate speak at the clave. I have ideas.
Im not doging ur program, but every 1 is so quick to discuss the future of black males...who is doing something about it? the only things/types of people that these forums bring r people who are NOT going through the issue them self. what about using the forum as a 1st step to a mentoring program with big brother big sister or something?
y not go out in the streets and do some dirty work so 2 speak?...get ur hands dirty instead of just running your mouth on it A-C-T!
