Straight Gangsterism

Swimming these academic waters is dangerous…

This is pretty far out of the scope about my blog, but I feel the need to speak on it a little. That being said, I won’t spend too much time on this bullshit.

Monday, I am scheduled to give my bi-annual lecture on stepping in an United States folklore class at Indiana University. For those that don’t know, I am a member of a Black Greek organization (Blu Phi!!!) and did step in my undergraduate days. It just so happens that I will be speaking on this phenomenon a week after a white sorority, Zeta Tau Alpha, won the grand prize at the Sprite Step Off Competition in Atlanta. The results upset many Blacks who felt that the runner up team, Alpha Kappa Alpha – Tau chapter, were more deserving and only lost due to racial politics. Many feared that one of their beloved cultural productions was being co-opted and even accused Sprite of straight racism.

Ok. I am not going to spend any time discussing who should have won the competition. I’ve watched both performances and they looked about the same to me. What really concerns me is the sudden backlash against Sprite. I had issues with this competition from the very beginning. I saw it as another example of one of our sacred traditions being commodified and mass-mediated by corporate America. I feared that it would lead to us losing control of it. However, the prize money was huge, so how could I really tell an organization not to participate? If I was a broke-ass undergrad, I probably would have as well. But, I would have been aware of the implications.

Look, our Divine 9 organizations were cool with selling-out our traditions and kissing Sprite’s ass as long as the money was coming in. As soon as  they felt short-changed, as the AKAs did, they starting crying foul. You can’t have it both ways. By relinquishing the cultural rights to this tradition, which we did through our participation and support, we opened the door for outsiders to step in and establish themselves within it. Actually, because this was a Sprite production, the labels of “insiders” and “outsiders” were skewed or even reversed. If there were any “outsiders,” it was the Divine 9, as ZTA holds more of a kinship with Sprite in terms of power. Stepping left our control and became part of the established American power relations which usually results with us being dominated (or losing a stepshow).

Lets be real. None of our organizations were in the show to uphold heritage. It was about money. I’ve never heard of a sorority having a member of a fraternity as their step-master. Stepping is supposed to be inextricably tied to an organizations history, icons, rituals, and identity. By having a non-member of your org play the role of step-master, you’re placing your heritage in an outsiders hands. This case is especially disheartening because, at least to me, it makes these girls appear to lack the ability to lead themselves. It looks like the stereotypical case of helpless women in need of male aid in order to achieve their goals. I guess when money is involved, though, all sense of pride goes out of the window. You do whatever it takes to fill up your bank accounts, even if that means undermining and dismissing your organization’s fundamental purposes.

Sprite ultimately cowered under pressure and used a bullshit excuse to make the AKAs co-champions. I guess squashing all the negative press was worth the extra $100,000 in pocket change. Congratulations to Zeta Tau Alpha from the University of Arkansas and Indiana University’s Alpha Kappa Alpha. I hope this serves as a lesson of what can happen when you place your heritage in the marketplace.

Str8 G

Check out this story from CNN. The long running Austin City Limits television program aired its first hip hop hour this past Saturday featuring Mos Def and K’Naan. Though I am barely a fan of Mos Def and not at all a fan of K’Naan, this is definitely a historic moment.

-Str8 G