Black Greek-letter Organizations in the Twenty-First Century: Our Fight Has Just Begun

Afterword

459 afterword Marc H. Morial, National Urban League The recent mobilization of thousands of African Americans to protest the unequal treatment of six black teens in Jena, Louisiana, illustrates the importance of black Greek-letter organizations in advancing equal rights and justice in the twenty-first century. This event helped transcend some of the current media stereotypes of black fraternities and sororities and raised awareness of their role in the black community as agents of social and political change. The Jena demonstration conjured up images of the great civil rights marches of the 1950s and 1960s rather than stepping and hazing—two practices associated with BGLOs in Hollywood movies and pop culture. BGLOs helped provide the momentum behind the Jena Six movement and propel the issue to national prominence. Briefly, in a small town in Louisiana, six black teenagers were initially charged with attempted murder for attacking a white classmate. The incident was the culmination of months of escalating racial tensions touched off when three white students at Jena High School hung nooses from a tree on school grounds. The unfolding trial of Mychal Bell, who was originally convicted of aggravated battery, eluded the national radar for months until university students sounded the call for equal justice. In doing so, they brought the mission of black fraternities and sororities back to its civil rights roots. In the years following reconstruction at the end of the nineteenth century, African Americans, especially those in the South, watched the promise of equality and equal opportunity provided by ratification of the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Amendments to the U.S. Constitution, which gave them citizenship and the right to vote, disappear as southern states began to lay the foundation for Jim Crow laws. That gave rise to the Niagara movement led by black intelligentsia such as W. E. B. DuBois, who fought racism with their intellect, and the “uplift” movement championed by Booker T. Washington, which united the black middle class and elites in support of their less-affluent brethren. Established in 1906 at Cornell University, the first black fraternity, Alpha Phi Alpha, grew out of both movements. It was created to help the few black students on campus combat the isolation, racism, and skepticism they faced 460 Marc H. Morial and pursue a path of excellence in academics and service to the nation’s downtrodden . It kicked off the establishment of eight additional black fraternities and sororities. As African American fraternities and sororities pass the century mark, they have been forced to reflect on their role in black culture and decide where to go next. The Jena protest made them realize that the civil rights movement of their grandparents’ generation has not disappeared but has merely evolved. And despite great progress in race relations in the United States, much still needs to be done to narrow the gaps between minorities and mainstream America, especially economically. They have been forced to realize that the extent of their future influence on the African American community will hinge on their ability to leverage their power in the social, political, and cultural arenas to remain strong through the twenty-first century. Much like the civil rights movement, black Greek-letter organizations face a new stage in their evolution. They can either embrace it and persevere, or fade into the background. ...