Racist chant reaction needs to persist
After a video surfaced in which Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity brothers at the University of Oklahoma singing racist chants, OU President David Boren expelled the two SAE leaders featured in the video. The incident is indicative of a lack of diversity in university institutions, a lack of accountability and apathy toward race-based hatred — and it should make people rethink our efforts to reduce ignorance in the community.
Boren also posted a response on Facebook which directly held the OU chapter of SAE responsible, while redoubling university efforts to build community. “To those who have misused their free speech in such a reprehensible way, I have a message for you. You are disgraceful. You have violated all that we stand for. You should not have the privilege of calling yourselves ‘Sooners.’ Real Sooners are not racist,” he said in the statement.
In an era in which university responses to hatred among students are often too little too late, Boren’s swift and stern condemnation is the leadership that OU needs to combat a culture of racial superiority and ignorance that allowed the OU’s SAE chapter to tout their exclusion of black students.
“I think it happened because the guys on the bus had an attitude of complacency and a sense of security,” University of Oklahoma sophomore Kristen Baird said. Another video was posted of the same incident, in which the leader of the chant waves at the camera and touts the same reprehensible comfort.
One must take a critical look at the system that permits an attitude of prejudice — namely, the Greek system, which fosters this attitude by excluding minorities and glorifying legacy. At OU, SAE had no black members, and certainly it is not the only fraternity to discriminate against minorities. The lack of diversity in Greek institutions is a detrimental enabler for ignorance of other groups.
“I know there are groups within OU that are not diverse. When you lack diversity and you lack the perspective of others, a chant like this might seem like nothing when in actuality, it’s unacceptable. If they had diversity in their organization, they would have thought twice about it,” Baird said.
At USC, diversity has been widely discussed, and yet in many instances the conversation about more race issues stop short. In the Greek context, the issue is one of representation: when people don’t see others who look like themselves in Greek organizations, it discourages their involvement, further increasing the lack of diversity within these organizations. It is, therefore, the responsibility of the organization to foster a mutually beneficial climate of inclusion — and this is a lesson that Greek life at OU, USC and any other university could benefit from.
The Greek system also fosters a culture of insensitivity by worshipping legacy and tradition. It has been said repeatedly that the culture surrounding the SAE chant was not isolated — and while the attitude of the chant has certainly been prevalent in the conduct of the OU chapter, the chant itself pervaded other chapters of SAE as well.
“I was an SAE at a university in Texas from 2000 to 2004,” one Twitter user said. “The exact same chant was often used then.” The historical context of the chant, especially considering that SAE was founded during the Civil War in the Confederacy, calls into question the worship of traditions which can perpetuate racism.
Worshipping tradition for tradition’s sake — a core component of many fraternities — detrimental because it transforms into a mechanism in which racism is reinforced and unchecked. SAE can never erase its roots that, quite frankly, stem from white supremacy, and it should make every effort to shed its previous legacy instead of continuing to revere it.
As bystanders of this incident, it’s important for us to realize that it is not enough to condemn the racism at OU’s SAE and move on with our lives. “I hope there isn’t a neat little bow put on this issue,” Baird said.
A “neat little bow” is indeed what will stop progress to eliminate individualized prejudice and the systemic racism; the necessity to preserve the image that “we’re not racist” has long overshadowed the efforts to actually reduce racism. A generation that enjoys embracing their superficial — and nonexistent — colorblindness needs acceptance of the pervasiveness of institutionalized racism, commitment to isolate its sources and recognition that “subtler forms of discrimination,” as Boren has put it, are insidious in fostering racist attitudes. The actions to eliminate racism need to come “Sooner” rather than later.
Most importantly, the OU fraternity members needs to act now. Sooner, rather than later.