When non-black members are initiated into BGLOs they may experience a process of tokenism and assimilation similar to that of non-white members in white GLOs. They tend to have heterogeneous backgrounds where some join because they grew up around black people while others are just intrigued by the values of the organizations, especially as it relates to their personal liberal social aims (Hughey 2007). Non-black minority members tend to join in order to politicize their own racial and ethnic backgrounds and
50 In my discussion of black immigrants I use African American in order to differentiate
define themselves as people of color as they align themselves with socially aware black Greeks (Chen 2011; Hughey 2007, 2008a). During my interviews with several non-black members they demonstrated what Hughey (2008b) labels ‘cultural capitalism,’ which are those members who believe their membership gives them an opportunity to develop their own racial selves in relation to black popular culture.
Mario, a Latino member of Iota Phi Theta (Iota) from Florida that I mentioned in “Chapter 3: Black Identity Scripting Processes,” researched both Latino and black fraternities before making his decision to become an Iota. Since becoming a member he nicknamed himself “Ocho” to represent his line number51 and Latino background. Mario
explained that even though he is not able to pass as black phenotypically he does
behaviorally according to himself and other members, therefore essentializing blackness and credentialing himself as an authentic representative of black identities. Kristen, a non-black member of Zeta Phi Beta (Zeta) from Georgia, was unimpressed by the Panhellenic Council’s (PC’s)52 intake process in which some of her friends participated
and opted instead for Zeta based on their involvement in the community. She was also impressed by the fact that unlike the predominantly white sororities black Greek
membership lasts beyond the undergraduate years and that membership also provides an opportunity to bond with other members even outside of the college environment. In fact, about half of the members I interviewed were members of alumni chapters who are still active in their organizations and I was initiated into a graduate chapter in which I have been consistently active. White GLOs, on the other hand, do not have alumni chapters
51 During membership intake initiates are typically arranged in height order and given a
and consequently view Greek life as a strictly undergraduate experience (Hughey 2007). She states, "I can go outside the grocery store and find a member of my sorority or a Sigma or even another black Greek. There's a bonding factor to it, you know, regardless of everything. And I could see that on campus and with people. And it was just, it's a good feeling."
Another group of multicultural members includes those members of BGLOs who claim some variation of black identity but do not identify as strictly African American. In this section, I use the term African American to refer to black people born in the United States with no direct known or recognized connection to any other country and or racial/ethnic group. Eugene Robinson (2010) identifies three oppositional groups within the black community in the United States: (1) poor versus elite, (2) native born versus black immigrants, and (3) black versus multiracial. Due to the similar class background of BGLO members I was only able to include individuals who identify with the latter two of the three oppositional groups.
As a black immigrant Bayo, a Nigerian member of Phi Beta Sigma (Sigma) from Georgia, has a unique relationship to his organization. Since BGLOs are an African American phenomenon continental Africans do not join in large numbers. When I asked why he elected to participate in African American Greek life, Bayo legitimated his membership with an Afrocentric argument and claims that many of BGLOs’ traditions stem from African traditions:
Well as far as people know a lot of black Greek organizations actually originated from Africa. What a lot of people don't know is that if you look at the history a lot of it originates back to Africa. As you see now in modern times the traditional
styles or dances or strolls originated from African dances. If you go to Nigeria, you see different kinds of dances that look similar to some of these Greek dances. These are dances that we've been doing since maybe I would say as early as 1700s. If I talked to my grandparents about it they'll tell you. You know, so a lot of things you will see for black Greeks originated from Africa.
By qualifying BGLOs as an extension of continental African traditions Bayo has created his own space within the historical development of African American Greek life. He is able to make this discussion specific to his own nationality by mentioning Nigeria and a hypothetical conversation with his own grandparents, specifically.
Jordan, a Chinese Jamaican member of Kappa Alpha Psi (Kappa) from Florida, explained that he associated himself with other members of BGLOs upon entering college and was therefore more inclined to join one himself. Although Jordan does not self-identify as black he does describe himself as multiracial and I suspect there is an element of blackness to his identity as a Caribbean person. It is this subconscious self- alignment with a pluralized multicultural blackness that led him to join a BGLO instead of an Interfraternity Council (IFC) or Multicultural Greek Council (MGC) fraternity.53 I
would like to note here that even though both Bayo and Jordan identify as black immigrants to some degree, they have had distinct experiences as members of African American fraternities based on their countries of origin and current location of residence in the United States. Miami presents a very unique situation of great diversity of black subjectivities. A large percentage of the black population in South Florida is from the
53 The Interfraternity Council (IFC) and Multicultural Greek Council (MGC) are
comprised of the predominantly White fraternities and multicultural sororities and
Caribbean and Latin America. This difference in narratives is indicative of the difference in positionality of various diasporic groups. Continental Africans can make Afrocentric claims of “motherland” authenticity due to their status as being from the “homeland.” However, Caribbean people can relate to African Americans based on claims of a unified African Diasporic experience, to which Jordan's claims were more socio-cultural than ethnic or racial.
Charlotte, a biracial member of Alpha Kappa Alpha (AKA) from Georgia, explained that while her mother is a white woman from the UK she has spent more time around African Americans through her interactions with her father’s family and attending an historically black college or university (HBCU). While her connection to her African American identity is familial she also indicates that it has been socially reinforced. Warren, a multiracial Sigma, explained that he is Venezuelan, Native American, white, African American, and Guyanese. Although he was raised in a diverse area of New York he explained that a lot of people he has encountered do not know a lot about South America so he looks for opportunities to educate people about his background through food and music. He also revealed that he was not aware that his fraternity was historically African American prior to joining. He was attracted by the camaraderie and by the
welcoming invitation extended to non-black people to join. This final sentiment is resonant of the color-blind collaborator group that is discussed below (Hughey 2008b). Although he did not dismiss his own raciality he treats African American Greek life as if it is not a space that has been deliberately designated as black.
Finally, William, an African American and Native American Iota from Illinois, explains that constructions of blackness in the United States need to be expanded so that
they acknowledge and respect variation and diversity. He states, "A lot of times, when we say African American or black, there's a lot of diversity that often gets overlooked
because the race is just so diverse." So while he identifies himself as a multiracial person he insists that blackness in the United States is inherently multiracial and that this point needs to be highlighted.
While the black immigrant and multiracial participants in this project are uniting their own narratives of blackness to some degree with those that are based in the United States through their membership in BGLOs, they do recognize a difference between themselves and African Americans. With the exception of Bayo who had an accent and Jordan who does not phenotypically appear to be black, all of them could have passed for African American, even though they revealed that they are multiracial at some point before or during the interviews. These participants highlighted the fact that there is a great deal of heterogeneity within what is sometimes called “the black community” in the United States, and that this diversity should be acknowledged and recognized. It is for this reason that I am skeptical of such post-racial arguments as that expressed by Touré in
Who’s Afraid of Post-Blackness? What It Means To Be Black Now (2011). He claims that
the category of “blackness” is expanding and becoming more inclusive where all configurations are being accepted because the boundaries are constantly being renegotiated based on specificities of contexts.
In his work on Caribbean immigrants in the San Francisco Bay Area in northern California, Percy Hintzen (2001) explains that they may identify with the myth of the model minority in order to be perceived favorably but also identify as black in order to gain access to the resources that are necessary for socioeconomic mobility. He explains
that their perception as “upwardly mobile, meritocratic, and foreign supports cognitive distinctions that differentiate them from African Americans…When blackness is acknowledged in self-representations, it is constructed in ways that lack the negative stereotypes that exist in the white imagination (2001:160). Black identities are defined differently as context changes because of the regional histories that may exclude mixed- race people and black immigrants (Robinson 2010). Categories are constantly being re- conceptualized based on the circumstances where it may or may not be advantageous to have an inclusive or exclusive conception of black identities; at some moments all of these people are black while at others the differences are emphasized.