Hazing in Black Greek Organizations: How Can it Be Stopped?

Several Greeks that I'm acquainted with were not fans of the movie, "Stomp the Yard," that showcases the entertaining side of Greek life: stepping. I couldn't understand why highlighting an African tradition of more than a hundred years could somehow be taken offensively, but their reasoning was that the movie did not explore the other factors in being in a fraternity or sorority. So, in my quest to learn more information about Greeks, without actually pledging, I came across some disturbing information in interviews and literature: hazing. I'd seen a couple of instances of hazing at my alma mater, and one sorority, Alpha Kappa Alpha (AKA), was offline during the time I was there, so I knew it did exist. At a campus event, I watched a Zeta Phi Beta member viciously smack the back of a pledge member who was covered head to toe in black and a black wrap covering her face so she could barely see in front of her. Friends of mine came back telling me how an Omega (Omega Psi Phi) member had his crutches snatched from under him and was told to hop, a common dance with this fraternity. But the appendix in the book "Black Haze" by Ricky L. Jones floored me more than anything I'd seen with my own eyes. Hazing is absolutely the ugliest side of Greek life that I'd ever imagined. In the movie "School Daze," Spike Lee brought a couple of fictional scenes where pledges leaned over, with gritted faces, and chanted lines after taking wood. In "Stomp the Yard," there was a quickly glossed over scene of the main character, DJ (played by Columbus Short), grimacing as he sat down in a library. I used to find these scenes amusing until I read "Black Haze" but now I'm just concerned.

In "Black Haze," I read about pledge members who'd received cracked ribs, injured kidneys, punches, slaps, kicks, paddling, frying pans slammed into their faces, butts split, drownings, and cane beating. I grew up in a neighborhood surrounded by gang members, and the more I read this book, the more I agreed with one Amazon.com reviewer, Eternal by Choice, who said the book should've been entitled "Black on Black Crime: The Black Greek Experience." I would've taken it one step further and entitled it "How to Get Into An Organized Gang: The Black Greek Experience." Pledging has repeatedly been compared to gang initiation, and judging from my interviews and this book, they are awfully close. When jumped into a gang, as numerous sources have told me, there is an allotted amount of minutes that active members can do anything imaginable to a person trying to join. In BGOs, this same violence is acted on, but it spreads out over several weeks or a semester. I question which is worse, and I'm slightly perplexed that it seems easier to join a gang than it is to join a BGO. In all fairness, the end result of joining a BGO is a sisterhood or brotherhood with a massive amount of positive things like career opportunities, while the end result of gangs is usually being shot or dead. The problem is that several people have died over the years from pledging too.

I support the purpose of BGOs and have witnessed an impressive amount of social events, campus activities, and fundraisers that these groups are linked to. I have had numerous friends over the years, especially in my college years, who became a part of these groups, as well as family members. I do understand why so many people are enthusiastic to join. The connections are endless, friendships are built, and it is commonly stated that joining a fraternity or sorority is the ultimate college experience.

I actually entertained the idea of joining one sorority in particular, but the interest quickly faded after the crutch incident previously stated. But with that said, I do not agree with the hazing process and in the following points, I will discuss Jones' points, as well as my own, to assess how the negative side of BGOs can improve or be eliminated.

Point 1: Blacks have been beaten and whipped for centuries to fit into a culture unknown to them. It was called slavery. In BGOs, pledge members are in groups, called ships. It is disturbing that BGOs would entertain the idea of slavery in order to make pledges cross, with active members acting exactly like slaveowners and the pledges forced into the treatment of slavery. After the pledging is over, active members tend to joke about the situation and recall instances when they were terrified by their leaders. Ironically, I had a conversation with a few co-workers last week where we compared stories of strict teachers and old-fashioned spankings in our childhoods. It was obvious that none of us thought these experiences were laughable at the time, but over the years, the animosity has decreased. But there is a difference between a whooping or punishment that hurts temporarily and something that leaves behind major side effects. I know people who were beaten as a child, and they refuse to talk about it now, so I'm sure that some pledges might not find the physical abuse comical. Ask the family of Kristin High and Kenitha Saafir, who drowned trying to pledge.

Point 2: Blacks were repeatedly beaten and whipped in slavery. This violence carried down after slaves were freed, and it is not uncommon to hear Blacks today talk about being hit with belts, phone chords, and branches, just like slaveowners did in the past. In BGOs, the same tactics are used when a pledge does not know his/her history, steps, or performs a task incorrectly. It is sad enough that grown men and women were being beaten, but the pledging process almost takes a person back to their childhood. Now, we call that child abuse and the child can be taken away from his parents. With BGOs, as soon as the papers are filled out and the fees are paid, they are technically in the BGO, but punished by the members if they tell and abandoned for not "completing" the process.

Point 3: In the military, there are disciplinary acts for performing a task incorrectly or not performing it at all. There is excessive screaming and exercise to make a soldier strong enough to fight for his/her country. A large amount of early BGO members, according to "Black Haze," came from the military, and brought military practices with them. But what BGOs must understand is that the military practices there are discipline for a job that is predominantly physical. Minus stepping, BGOs will never need this type of physical punishment to perform their duties.
Some BGO members say that people who don't want to be hazed should never try to join their organizations, but much like the military, there is a large amount who join for the end result. Whereas the government will provide military members with college assistance and traveling, BGO members will also provide financial assistance, as well as a permanent bond between members. I find it hard to believe that either group looks forward to the physical abuse endured before reaching the positive end results. One Que (Omega Psi Phi member) admitted that after being abused for almost a semester, he'd completely lost interest in the group and no longer wanted to be a part of it.

Point 4: There is a crabs in a barrel mentality about members who have joined by paying fees and through documentation (i.e. paper members). An AKA stated that since she went through the hazing process, everybody else should. This is also the attitude of an overwhelming group of high-ranking BGO members and active members alike, according to "Black Haze," regardless of hazing being illegal. Jones states that one of the best ways to make hazing stop is to have more high-ranking paper members. But, the author continuously states that paper members are not given respect and are more likely to be bullied by members of their own Greek organization for not completing the process. If they cannot reach the top and are made to feel unwelcome, this goal is unlikely. I believe that the best way to get hazing to be taken more seriously is to target past haze members and make them realize that it is not a right of passage; it is a crime. If the same actions that pledges endure in the pledging process happened outside campus, there would be assault charges, battery charges, and murder charges. Some letters and a name on the back of a jacket should not make a bit of difference.

In the same review from Eternal by Choice on Amazon.com, he talks about how he got "permanent sinus condition due to a broken nose, a bruised larynx from a punch to the throat, and...cracked ribs." A comment from another reviewer, L. Smith, tells him to not "trash the entire experience based on your own. Don't be a hater." In order to be a hater, one has to be jealous. Considering Eternal by Choice had all of these physical injuries, I question what could he possibly be jealous of. Is he jealous that he could not be brothers with men who wanted to permanently injure him? I doubt it.

Point 5: A Phi Beta Sigma member agrees that "there needs to be a system set up to protect the new recruit." He stated that there was one during the time he was online. In "Black Haze," Jones explains that the Dean was the person who makes sure that the pledges are not in danger. The problem with this responsibility is that the Dean is not present for every single event. On top of that, pledging underground has been around for decades, so even when a BGO is offline, there will still be people who want to be in that fraternity or sorority enough to risk the dangers of it. Unless the active members are willing to draw a line somewhere, this plan will never work. There has to be harsher punishment for harsh punishment .

Point 6: A Sigma member explains that the active members should know well in advance if someone has physical issues (ex. asthma, heart problems) so they do not harm them there. He states that "they are supposed to only punch from the shoulder to your waist" and that active members should "teach the pledges how to take wood because if you don't, someone could seriously get hurt." Isn't the whole point of punishment to hurt the other party? Why would I want to be taught how to take a hit from someone who's hitting me? I learned to fight from several guys on my block, as well as watching my brother and his friends, but never once did they abuse me to show me how to take a hit. Maybe it is because I'm a woman. But, even watching my own brother with his sons or with his male friends, there is always a limit. There is an anecdote in "Black Haze" where frat members laugh about splitting one pledges butt. Why is that funny? If I was a pledge, I'd be terrified to admit any of my medical conditions fearing that active members would constantly use that as a threat or act on it.

Point 7: I've heard several BGOs become irate with a pledge for not knowing the history of their organization, and that, I do understand. As a nonGreek, I can quote several pieces of information about the groups simply from reading, so I know I'd be on the ball if I ever pledged (which will never happen). One BGO member states that "A lot of people pledge just to say they did it and to get some pub[licity]" and "the pledging was the easy part. After you get in, that is when the real work starts." I definitely agree with this statement. Unless a pledge fully supports a group, he/she should not be admitted, hence the reason why I'm not very supportive of paper members either. I was approached to join Sigma Tau Delta, the International English Society, thinking that this was going to be a connection into the publishing field and help me with my English major. I paid the fee and have only connected with one member and that was moreso because of our beliefs on vegetarianism and not at all to do with the organization. I cannot see how paying a fee can make someone feel like they are part of a group, because when attending grad school, I was not made to even feel welcome in the Sigma Tau Delta chapter there, and became an inactive member. In BGOs, there should be some type of connection, besides wanting to learn to step, wear the jacket, and get a couple extra eyes checking you out. But, breaking a person down physically is not the way to go about teaching someone to learn, regardless of the criteria. Personally, I would feel like that group owed me for life for risking mine during the pledging process.

I am well aware that predominantly White Greek Organizations (WGOs) also have a hazing process, but it usually includes liquor and food. This is not to justify their wrongdoings either, but I am much more concerned about the state of any Black organization that can help Black people as a whole. While I understand that without some form of testing, BGOs would be like a club in which anybody can join and have no private bond, there has got to be a way to reach those who are content with the violence. I have heard the pitiful excuse that since positive black leaders like Martin Luther King Jr. were in Greek fraternities and "did what they had to do," then present BGOs should be hazed. First of all, there is no substantial proof that King was in support of the hazing process, and he has long advocated nonviolence. It wouldn't be surprising to me if his ideas of nonviolence came from pledging. To try to excuse violence by saying that it is tradition is equal to saying black-on-black violence, racial profiling, harassment, and racism are necessary to be Black. Black Greek Organizations, what if your ancestors were around today and complained about how Blacks had it too easy being able to read, write, go to school, and sit wherever they wanted on the bus, and we should all have to be whipped and abused the way they did in order to have this freedom? Exactly. Hazing should be put in the past the same way slavery was. Appreciate the legacy, but perpetuate the positive goals by practicing them through peaceful measures.