Blast from the Past!

The following is a post that I did June 9th of 2006 which is posted on my live journal blog. Just some thoughts I had floating around at the time. Toss it around in ya heads and see what ya'll think...

Nu Beta Alpha - The Self Pledging of my People

Morning LJ. Man it's been a couple months but once again I have been inspired to crawl out of bed in the early hours of the morning to have a lil talk. As always our conversations are a result of something I've experienced in life or recently...this time is no different, except the catalyst for this entry is the dream I've just awaken from.

See I don't know wheither you're familiar with fraternity life LJ. Yea it's all fun and games, mostly business once you're out of school...the pledging. Who was "made" right and who "skated". You gotta love it. LoL don't laugh LJ it's a big deal na mean. I've been fortunate (or unfortunate depending on the day of the week...) enough to have been on both sides of the "made" argument. But interestingly enough, I found that my experiences w/in my own frat closely parallel's my experiences as a young black man growing up in this great country which brings me to this hypothesis: We as African Americans pledge each other each and every day.

I was having a political conversation with one of my roommates some time ago which somehow ventured off into our own personal experiences growing up. Who's experience was easier, what we went thru and so forth. And in the heat of battle (as I affectionately call all my debates), I made the comparison of the Black American's Experience to one big Fraternity. See, if your parents worked hard, did the right thing, got an education and did right by their offspring, well their children would be considered to have had a 'silver spoon' (or bronze in my case...lol). If your parents went thru some kind of adversity perceived to be greater than the next individual, then they are more real. It goes towards this question in Fraternity lingo of being 'Made' or 'Skate'n'. See if you're 'MADE', that means you pledged HARD LJ. You been thru some shyt, you know ya shyt! But if you 'Skated', you ain't been thru shyt...paid a couple dollars to wear the letters. You might say Hmmmmmmmm.

LJ, I propose we give this black American fraternal experience a rightful name since the simularities are so stark. Nu Beta Alpha. Here I'll break it down as such. See our ancestors were brought to this country and called Nigger's. Forced into servitude for hundreds of years. Back then, everybody was 'made' right! Well except for the house negro but to an extent they were made as well. In the early 1900's we came into our own and became more than niggers and negros...we became Black. A state of awareness of self; of the lies that were being taught by our former slave masters and the truth that could be extracted from their behavior towards us. Currently we are (or strive to be) African Americans. No longer (to an extent) succeptable to the lies and corruption of those that onece oppressed us in the past. The transition thru these stages has been long.

What I find interesting about Nu Beta Alpha is that we have taken control of the organization and turned it on ourselves. Kinda like kids/young adults running around affectionately calling each other 'niggas'. For those of us that are striving to be better than our ancestors, to do exceedingly well, and in turn succeed...well somehow it's a fluke or we had it easy. Even if our past is littered with trials and tribulations, once we've overcome those, it's like we were never 'MADE' right. Somehow that 'MADE' status is lost or striken from us by those who have not MADE it yet. Again this is self inflicted now days because I personally believe that for all the grief and strife we put on each other about what the 'white man does', they honestly don't pay us any mind. They are more inclined to let us dismantle and destroy our own communities. Have we...has Nu Beta Alpha become so strong and prevalent in our community that we are actually doing what they have wanted to do over the century's but were unable to do? Nu Beta Alpha has been alive and strong much longer than any of the Divine Nine (especially the Iota's...ewwwwwww lol) who are just beginning to celebrate their centennial. Do we as a people continue to use our fraternity as a means to divide and conquor ourselves for eternity or a means to build each other up and make ourselves stronger? I don't know the answer to that LJ. Even within my own fraternity, the animosity between those who were 'MADE' and those who 'Skated' is so deep, it's hard to fathem how the organization has survived this long. A songwritter once said "I've come this far by faith! And it is faith that will lead me on!" So hence, my heart tells me that faith in my people will continue to lead all of us to a better place. I guess only time will tell LJ. Until next time... ~1~