Another day, another Fraternity hazing allegation. This one involves an Eastern Kentucky University student who claims to have been beaten so bad while being initiated into the university’s Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity Inc. chapter that he was later hospitalized for kidney failure. Of course, as a member of a Black Greek Letter Organization myself, I read various emails that went on to condemn the hideous hazing acts and wonder why members of Greek Lettered Organizations continue to put themselves on the opposite side of the law. Fed up with people ignoring the reality of the situation, I finally spoke up and said what everyone is afraid to say: Hazing and Pledging will never stop. It’s an inevitable part of human society. Ending hazing and pledging would be the equivalent of trying to teach all the lions in the world to stop eating gazelles and zebras and instead start munching on leaves and tall grass. When you take a group of people, separate them from the rest of society by feeding them the notion that they are part of the elite and therefore better than everyone else, you’ve now created a recipe for hazing and pledging to occur.
I’m always amazed by how shocked people are when they hear about a hazing or pledging incident. Hazing/Pledging is nothing new to human society. In fact our history is completely ingrained in it. The main argument against it is that “Beating someone isn’t brotherhood or sisterhood. ” Then there’s the most recent one which is to call fraternities and sororities that pledge “Educated gangs” and say that their “brutal behavior” emulates that of Crips or Bloods. First off, if you want to play the theoretical game of “What came first, the chicken or the egg” then technically you could say that gangs modeled their initiations after fraternities and sororities. Secondly these arguments completely ignore the history and mindset behind these “illegal” activities. Its extremely arrogant (and false among other things) for us to think that we in Greek Lettered Organizations are the originators of secret societies and grueling initiation ceremonies. They all stem from one thing: A male rite of passage. The same people that so eagerly condemn these initiation activities are the same ones who think that 300 was one of the greatest movies they have ever seen. 300 wasn’t a fairy tail. At the age of 7, Spartan boys entered into the Agoge System where they were removed from their families and trained for mental and physical combat. This involved sleep deprivation, physical challenges, diet restrictions, etc. In medieval times, Knights had squires, young boys around the ages of 13 or 14 who aspired to be knights and so became servants under a knight. Growing up I used to read stories about Native American and African tribes who would have the young boys in their villages go through rites of passages or vision quests in order to prove themselves to be ready for manhood. History is ripe with these stories. The actual rites are all different, some more difficult and deadly than others but the overall the theme was the same. First a young man is removed from his family and friends. Why? Because they are his comfort zone. The world is bigger than those that support you and put you in friendly territory. The real test of a man’s character is when his feet are to the fire, he’s in uncharted and unfriendly territory, does he survive? Does he build up the will to continue or does he wilt under the pressure. While removed from his family the young man would be put through extensive training and challenges (both mentally and physically) and when he completed these challenges he returned back to his family a man. Not just any man either. He returned a man who went through and survived an elite process. His community recognized that and respected him for it. His brothers (those that went through that process and those that guided him through it) had even more respect for him (because they had a deep appreciation for what he did to earn his position) and in many cases they would die for him.
These days, we don’t have rites of passage. Some will say we don’t need them. To those that say that, I point to all the “bitchmadeassness” going on in the world today and say that’s absurd. Sure, many of those old rites of passage were in place to create warriors and other elite fighting units. But I think a warrior doesn’t necessarily have to be someone that picks up a spear or a gun, but someone who is mentally and physically prepared to face the challenges of the world. What is occurring today is that we now have groups of men who are seeking that next step, that rite of passage and so they are attracted to underground pledging and hazing activities. You cannot deny that there is a stronger bond between those that have gone through a tough stretch together as opposed to those that haven’t. Adversity, turmoil and chaos breed comradeship between those that endure it together. And pledging/hazing isn’t a Fraternity/Sorority only problem. These activities occur in the Military, High School/Middle School/College/Professional sports, other Secret Societies, etc. The difference between those groups and Fraternities/Sororities is that the leadership in Greek Lettered Organizations seems to think that they can completely eliminate the risk that comes with pledging/hazing. That’s impossible. Stopping pledging/hazing is like the New York Knicks trying to stop an elite player in the NBA (61 from Kobe, 52/11/10 from Lebron…WTF?). You can’t stop it you can only hope and pray to contain. When you are operating a group consisting of elite members of society and you initiate using secret rituals and processes…you will NEVER eliminate the risk…you can only hope to mitigate it. Creating a zero risk Membership Intake Process only shoves the pledging/hazing further underground which in turns INCREASES the risk. The threat that if members of these organizations don’t stop with these behaviors then the organizations themselves will go bankrupt and disappear is also a little bit naïve. If Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity Inc. were to cease to be an organization tomorrow, I would still be an Alpha, I would still have line brothers and I would still be doing the work of Alpha. Just like the Civil Rights movement didn’t end with the death of Martin or Malcolm, fraternities and sororities will continue to live on even if they cease to be National organizations.
Now I want to address why I used both the words hazing and pledging together. See, all national organizations lump both of these together as if they are one. I don’t believe they are. I believe there is a big distinction between pledging with a purpose and hazing someone for no reason. It would be as if the Spartan Agoge System took these young men from their families, beat them, trained them to be cold hearted killers…then sent them home to be farmers. Unless they were making those angry onions like in that Burger King commercial, that would have served no purpose. Pledging is a linear process that allows those that engage in it to look ahead to see the light and look behind themselves to see how far they’ve come. The months spent pledging to join an organization are only the beginning of the overall pledge process because anyone who has pledged will tell you that the real pledging begins after you have earned your letters. Hazing on the other hand is just senseless acts of stupidity that serve no purpose other than to stroke someone’s ego. It’s pretty easy to tell the difference.
Let me end by saying that it is mind boggling to me that at the age of 18, we allow young men and women to join the military where they learn skills to kill a man, we allow them the ability to gain debt they cannot pay off by giving them loans and credit cards or we allow them the right to smoke (Essentially slowly killing themselves) but when a young man or woman willingly subjects themselves to some form of illegal initiation process we talk about how young, impressionable and frail they are. Does anyone else see the ridiculousness of that? We allow these young men and women to willingly subject themselves to something that they are well aware of the consequences yet when they get hurt or don’t feel like doing it anymore, we reward them with monetary compensation. This is how bitchassness spreads. Human beings like any other creature on this planet have a natural instinct for survival. I’m reminded of the quote from G.I. Jane, something along the lines of Pain is good because it let’s you know when you are seriously injured and that you’re not dead yet. Your body will let you know when something isn’t right. And if you continually show up week after week until it gets so bad that your kidney fails, then you are just an idiot. The story that sparked this post involved a young man putting up with this for two months. After 2 hours he should have known what was going on and that he wanted no part of it. He shouldn’t be rewarded with a lawsuit. Instead he should be locked up in a mental institution for not listening to his own primitive survival instincts.
But we know that won’t happen. And because of that, the bitchmadeassness of America will continue.
February 5th, 2009 at 11:56 am
Ummm I couldn’t agree more with you. Nothing about this post is wrong. Bitch-Made-AssNess (BMAN) will continue for these reasons.
And for those guys who think that hazing younger individuals because of their perceived status is another form of BMAN. How low could your own self esteem be that you will use a platform like a greek organization to impose unfair pain on others?
Then there are those that will sit back and watch other fraternity brothers do the same thing….I have been guilty of it because there is that fine line between what is out of the box pledging and hazing and sometimes you just have to check yourself first and then check the hazer.
Its a cycle of BMAN…from the pledgee who doesn’t respect himself enough to say NO and ENOUGH IS ENOUGH because he is scared of being called a bitch, the hazer (who to me is the biggest bitch in this situation) then the others that sit back and watch it all go down.
Sense of personal responsibility has gone out the window and bitchmade ppl are finding others to blame for their incompetencies and foolishness.
Sidebar: Hence why I am in full support of encouraging women to swallow more and procreate less. (I am running for office with this as my campaign message btw).
February 5th, 2009 at 12:36 pm
been working on that for awhile huh?… if you weren’t an Alpha that would be required reading…
February 5th, 2009 at 12:58 pm
Nah, I did this shit late last night and this morning. Bammas were pissing me off with some of their bullshit “Why won’t this brutality stop?” complaints.
February 5th, 2009 at 1:32 pm
Very good commentary, but what was a brotherhood thing has turned into a business. And the bottom line is whatever frat you belong to it is a business. It is now about quantity over quality!!!!
February 5th, 2009 at 1:40 pm
PREACH!
February 28th, 2009 at 10:46 am
So what exactly is “your rites of passage?”……all you guys do is PLEDGE to be community servants for society….so you beat your pledges????? BIG DIFFERENCE HOMIE than the military and everything else who is preparing to protect THIS COUNTRY….are you and your “WORTHLESS” organization(s) protecting this country….HELL NO….I can’t wait until these organizations fall off the map…they are elitist, exclusive, satanic organizations that are occults.
May 27th, 2009 at 12:14 am
Good comments, except for long gone who is missing the point. Like the military pledging seeks to push you your breaking point, break you (mentally) and in doing so you realize your ability to achive anything is now limitless. The process helps you test the believe thay you can do anything you put your mind to. Also pledging done right creates a since of brotherhood(like the military). Also Check the history of the military and it’s leaders.. most of whom where masons. I have frat brothers that are in the military, that protect this country. These orgnzations will be around just as long as their are colleges and universities.
June 4th, 2009 at 12:22 pm
I agree completely with the Value of Manhood Training Programs and Rites Of Passage Rituals & Ceremonies. The Value of Manhood Training Programs have been Proven over Thousands of Years. These Fraternities are one of the 3 Strongest Cultural Institutions in the African-American Community. The Church & HBCU’s being the other two. We should strive to strengthen these Institutions not Abandon them under the threat of a Lawsuit. The Leadership of these Institutions must Decide whether the Benefits outweigh the Risks. I for one believe greatly that the benefits far outweigh the risks. However I’m well aware of the criticism articulated from outsiders. To these critics I say, it is no coincidence that PRACTICALLY EVERY GREAT BLACKMAN IN AMERICAN HISTORY BELONGS TO ONE OF THESE INSTITUTIONS! The results speak for themselves. I’m always shocked to hear individuals criticize Fraternities while at the same time arguing for more Unity among Brothers in general. The Kwanzaa Principles of Umoja & Ujima celebrates the need for Collective Work, Responsibility, & Unity. Fraternities are The Essence of what these Principles call for. Not to mention how Pseudo-Thug & Gangster culture, the idea of being Hard, touches every corner of Hip-Hop in particular & American Culture in general. Million Bucks these proponents of Thuggery couldn’t make it through Most Fraternal Training Programs. We as American Citizens hold our Military & Basic Training in High Esteem. The same should be true of Fraternal Training Programs. The FACT is Fraternities Build Better, Stronger More Capable Men! Men Equipped to Build Themselves, & Their Families, Alma Maters, Communities, & Businesses for a demanding & uncertain Future.
It’s Time Men be Men & MAN UP! Toughen Up! & Prove Yourselves Worthy Of The Wisdom that Awaits You Upon Completion Of Your Journey Across The Burning Sands!
YO! THE NUPES!
June 23rd, 2009 at 2:48 pm
First off Thank you for this article. I find it a damn shame how people choose on their own accord to join a fraternity; in that they are required to do extensive reaserch not only about the frat as a whole but about that particular chpater and in that research you best belive the pledgee will have found out if there is extensive hazing rituals required to join. So how in the world can the courts reward these stupid people with money becuase they didn’t have the common sense after the first day of it to say that it wasn’t for them. if you didn’t want to go through it you should have got out way before you got injured now all you have done is ruin the lives of these men and in turn ruin the chances of the other pledgees who worked hard to join. Now i am by now means tolerating killing or seriously injuring anyone that is just stupid but there comes a point where you have to realize that you are going to pushed and tested both physically and mentally and for you to essentially want millions of dollars cause you couldnt handle it is bullshit becuse you knew exactly what you were gettign yourself into the moment that you approached one of the big bruhs
August 7th, 2009 at 11:59 am
I appreciate your article/ post and it was very interesting, but I gotta say– Oh please!
There is no justification for violence and brutality (unless you are protecting yourself or loved ones). I’m sick of educated, “elite” Black people giving long-winded, fancy explanations (aka excuses) for beating the crap out of their “brothers” and “sisters.” I don’t care what the Spartans or the Native Americans did. I don’t care if it’s ingrained in society and history. Yes, I believe that all stages in life are much like a pledging process. At work, you must first prove yourself in order to get respect and advance. At school, sometimes you have to win a fight with a bully to get some respect.
But we all need to draw the line at beating the crap out of people in order to join a fraternity or sorority. Waking people up in the dead of night to do something productive (and NON-violent) is ok. Waking someone up to beat that ass is not ok and it ain’t got nothing to do with anything positive. EVERYONE involved is wrong, not just the people who are pledging.
Now, I don’t know if I agree that the guy who suffered kidney failure should be swimming in lawsuit damages, but the people who injured him need to be punished. And the least they can do is pay for his medical expenses–no more, no less– as caused by their barbaric actions. That’s not bitchassness; that’s fair.
And as a woman, I’d like to know how these ancient “male rites of passage” relate to women hazing each other?
So, yes, I agree that hazing will never end. But in addition to the reasons you stated, it’s also because there are so many individuals whose thoughts are much like this article– they rationalize something that’s irrational. Blaming the victim and pointing to other societies that do the same thing will only further nurture humankind’s ability to destroy one another.
I say, everybody cut the crap and keep your hands to yourself.
August 18th, 2009 at 12:29 pm
i never thought i would here an alpha and a “kappa” speak so ridiculously. hmmm. Somebody that is suppose to transcend all.. and another somebody that’s suppose to believe in achievement in every field of human endeavor…yet you speak as if its the pledgee’s fault for being hazed. When its your org’s fault for hazing the pledgee. Hell let’s say the pledgee says ok i have had enough –is your org still going to make him a member ….no These guys and women subject themselves because they want to belong to your orgs. You( in general not personally)should have some sense of how far to push the pledge. I had a friend that was pledging kappa and the next day he came to band practice wearing a eyepatch while telling a select few close friends he dropped line. My undergrad had 22 let me say that again …22 people pledging and by the end of the semester kappa had 2 people that crossed. You cant say it was grades because you never would let them online if that was the case. Bottom line it needs to stop find other creative ways to teach educate and punish instead beating the crap out of someone.
October 10th, 2009 at 11:58 am
very good article. I believe the pledging process is what separates fraternities and secret societies from other organizations. its about building a brotherhood. this goes for both white and black fraternities and societies. i don’t agree with going overboard, permanently injuring an individual, but I must say from experience that the pledging process helps build leaders. its more than just pain, too. you learn a great deal of knowledge during the pledging process that people seem to overlook. as for people against pledging, you don’t have to go through a process to be part of a fraternity. there are definitely other ways to get in. most grad chapters have abstained from pledging.
November 11th, 2009 at 10:22 pm
Here it is… I am both a member of a frat and a soldier in today’s Army. I tell you first hand that the concept of enduring to gain elite status is present in both. It’s not that you’re greater for taking the process… rather, you’re in touch with your OWN greatness when you realize what you’ve endured… and still you stand. You learn things about yourself that the mundane can’t show you. Sure, we all have ideas of who we are and of what we’re capable… but who knows for certain until you’re faced with circumstances that make you reconsider.
I expect you who disagree to tear my post apart… but I welcome it. The concept of putting aside your own limitations to endure that which you cannot anticipate nor control is one that few will grasp. It’s the reason why numbers in BGLO’s didn’t explode until restrictions were put on pledge processes. It’s the reason why so few choose to defend that freedom which we hold so dearly.
If it’s not for you, then gracefully bow out and allow others to earn it. Don’t allow your yourself to be so mesmerized by the taboo, the secretive darkness of it, that you can’t help but to pass judgement on it. Stop arguing about something of which, obviously, you want no parts.
May 22nd, 2010 at 11:56 am
Being a pRHOud memeber of Sigma Gamma Rho Sorority Inc. I agree with the article to an extent. When I began my process, I had in mind already my personal limitations and boundaries. I always kept in the back of my mind if certain situations happen, I’m done! But that never happened…I believe a true d.p or profyte purpose isn’t to just beat the hell out you and see if you make it…but they have the sole purpose of seeing you become a stronger women or man. And Real profytes always have your best interest at the center of the whole process, even if the plegee don’t understand it at time. I can honestly say that my profytes never pushed me to a place where they would allow me to fail, but they pushed me enough to make me realize that I can conquer anything! And I can say that I am stronger, wiser, and much more ready from the world from my process.
July 16th, 2010 at 10:15 am
Hi
This stuff has no place anywhere. Thing is when parents or students pay for their studies and pay for a place to stay, that’s where it ends. If a stranger touches me I will report them to the police for assault outright. Why do people have this need to be part of a group, who is not of your kin at all, why do they have to bond? And be forced to do so? It makes no sense. Even leadership courses in companies has this perverted undertone. I know of a boxer who was conscripted into the army and the moment he landed at the barracks the soldiers got to him for initiations. He simply said: The first one who touches me, will die today. And they left him alone. He went very far in the army, was a hero of note. It’s like the yahoo’s in gulliver’s travels. Who the hell wants to bond with a bunch of strangers? Your parents pay for your board and lodgings and you can surely befriend whoever you want to. It’s silly and outdated in the modern era
July 28th, 2010 at 7:24 pm
I agree with the article. I was in a frat (Sigma Pi) and didnt have much in common with the brothers. I went to a commuter school and many of the active brothers were 30 or even 40 years old still living with their parents. If anything i felt bad for these people and realize this cult scene was not for me. I am too independent and have too far a vision of diversity to be seculuded to one group for the rest of my life.