Newspapers / Black Ink (Black Student … / Feb. 4, 1994, edition 1 / Page 6
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I; [^S i You’re Greek. Now What? By Jarvis Harris /nJk Columnist Look on the yard! It’s a bird. It’s a plane. No, it’s a new group of neophytes trying to make a name for themselves in the world of Greek life. Boy, I tell you the lines are dropping like flies around here. To those new initiates who sport the colors of your choice, I congratulate you and welcome you to the Yard. Don’t relax because with that welcome and congratulations comes a very serious question: Whatcha gonna do now that you have your letters and your new organization? From my vantage point I see two options— one of which should never be a choice, but for the sake of being fair, I will include it anyway. Option One: You can take your letters and run. What do I mean by that, you say? Well, it’s simple. Now that you are not on line you don’t have to do anything you don’t want to do. You do not have to go to chapter, pay dues, bring new ideas for service to the Black Greek Council, etc. You have your letters and to my recollection, I have yet to hear of anyone being kicked out of an organization for being sorry and lazy. Maybe that should be a part of the various organizations’ constitutions—but that’s another whole article. You can just sport your letters to all the parties in the area and let the opposite sex sweat you because you’re Greek and everything that is supposed to go with being Greek. I can hear you now,doing your calls, doing some phat party walks and shouting the most creative chants ever thought of by a neophyte. The crowd would just be sweating you—or at least you think so. The next part of option one concerns how you deal with others on this campus. Option one calls for you to forget to speak to people who you have known all of your career here at Carolina. Also, you will start to antagonize people in other organizations just because they had a different preference than you. It doesn’t matter that you don’t know these people personally because you know their type. Not your type!!! For some, this is what being Greek is all about But don’t go too far with this because I have an opdon two for you. Option Two: Hold on to your seat because this choice calls for a little more devotion, dedication and sacrifice than option one. Every Greek-letter organization that I am addressing was founded out of some desire for unity and community involvement. To my knowledge, those aims have not changed. As a result, option two calls for you to work harder than you did on line. You and your organization need to continuously be on the quest for innovative ways to impact the black life on this campus and in the community. God knows our community needs every bit of help that it can get Under option two, it would be necessary for you to put aside petty tribal differences to work for the common good and well being of the black community. Option two asks you to ask yourself, “Does it matter that his or her letters are different than yours?” Hopefully, you will see that beneath the three letters lies a black heart and mind with the same menrK)ry of the past and present sufferings of the African- American race. Instead of walking past someone who has on different colors than you, option two calls for you to take time to reach out to this person and to recognize that inherently, they are no different than you. Don’t get me wrong. You can have fun under option two, but it is a different type of ftm. When you go to a party at the end of the week, you can chant and carry on with a sense of fulfillment knowing that during the previous week you did something to try to impact the community. If you can look back on your activities of the week and say that you have done what your organization was founded for, then you have a reason to party like never before. You may ask, who am I to try and tell you what your role in your organization should be. Well, I am an African- American male and as African Americans go, I go. If you do well, then I do well. If you do poorly, a poor reflection shadows me as well. Personally, I like to do well, and I want African Americans of every affiliation to do well also. I am a member of the option two club, and I hope that all neophytes, my new brothers included, will enlist and sme diligently in the “Option Two Club.” Somebody once tcdd me that it is harder being a brother or sister than being on line. That may be true, but our community is worth it. Finally, to the indqiendents on the Yard—^Whaichagonnado? Are you going to give Greeks props and dap for throwing phat parties? You should do that, but is that where things stop for you? You should demand that these new Greeks, as well as old, do what they say they are all about Dap and props should be given based on service and dedication to the community. Parties and stepping are valuable parts of our culture, but they are not the totality of our experience. Your props and dap should not be based on those things alone. Check yourself before you say any group is running the Yard. What is that based on? Before you get too critical, you better check your own glass house for dedication and service to the community. Was it Murder or Justice? Camp LogaB A THEATRICAL DRAMA BASED ON THE 1917 COURT-MARTIAL AND EXECUTION OF 19 BLACK SOLDIERS OF THE 24TH INFANTRY Wednesday, February 9 8 PM Memorial Hall $5.00 Students $7.00 General Public Tickets available at the Carolina Union Box Office (Phone 962-1449) Presenied by the Carolina Union Activities Board - Perfonning Arts Committee Graduate Studies at APPALACHIAN STATE UNIVERSITY Im'cst in yoiir future- get a graduate degree! 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Black Ink (Black Student Movement, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill)
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Feb. 4, 1994, edition 1
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