So Sigma Alpha Epsilon at the University of Oklahoma really blew it this past weekend. A video went viral showing the fraternity brothers singing a vile and reprehensibly racist song on a bus which led to its expulsion from the university at warp speed. To compound the problem, CBS News sent a black reporter out to interview the house mother (why do frat rats need a house mother, anyway?), who condemned the behavior...until another video was released later that day showing the house mother, all seventy-eight-years-old of her, repeatedly saying Nigger with a big, broad smile. Not surprisingly, Beauton Gilbow (I swear, you can't make these names up...) hasn't been heard from since.
I wasn't the least bit surprised by the revelation of the racist behavior of these elitist punks. Saddened, that this type of behavior still exists, but hardly surprised. Because if one has been around these boys and girls born to expect worship for any length of time, this behavior isn't at all surprising.
Parker and Levi -- those are typical frat boy names, by my count -- have apologized, sort of. Parker has thrown his fraternity under the bus, saying that it taught him that song and his performance was rooted in alcohol, of which I have no doubt. Levi didn't even apologize; his parents did. Boo frigging hoo.
As for Ms. Gilbow, I guarantee she wasn't in Selma fifty years ago.
Students are protesting, an OU football recruit has decommitted and the MSM is feasting on this (for once) true story of racism run amok. There's little that I can add to the racist angle; it is, as they say, what it is, and no matter who taught whom or who drank what, it's indefensible.
But from my perspective, this isn't shocking in the slightest.
I attended, proudly, the University of Illinois, reputedly where the Greek system either got it start or where it's the largest in the nation or some other noteworthy achievement. I can say without a hint of jealousy that in my experience, the Greek system sucks.
Let's start with the girls who, at least for now, are blameless in the OU mess. When I attended Illinois, the Kappa Alpha Theta house had probably the most beautiful women on campus. Homecoming queens, cheerleaders, beauty pageant contestants -- you name it, the most unattainable women in the middle of the country. Rumor had it, however, that to be considered for the KAT house, a pledge had to submit daddy's income tax returns to show how rich he was. So much for sorority.
The Kappa Kappa Gammas were populated by blonde cheerleader types. All of them has long blonde hair and were preternaturally peppy. Think Christie Brinkley with more brains and less boobage.
The frats were insufferable. We used to say that we didn't need calendars because we could just walk by the Pikes' house to see the new model cars in the driveway to know what year it was. Whereas the rest of the campus football leagues played in the mud behind the old but venerable Huff Gym, the Greeks got to play on the pristine surface of Memorial Stadium.
This notion that they exist to promote fraternity and do good works is pure bunkum. They exist to promote themselves and make their trek through college easier. Fraternity? Why, if that lofty goal is on the first page of their charters, are Jews and minorities not more represented in the traditionally white fraternities? Why do so many frats do things like the Sammies at Michigan and trash places, then thumb their nose at the victims? It's because they are elitist and have always gotten away with things, from the time they were wet behind the ears to when they got their driver's licenses to the minute they pledged their houses.
And the cost? Even if I'd been inclined to join a fraternity, I couldn't have afforded it. Where's the money coming from? That's right -- they check daddy's income tax returns.
Parker and Levi will suffer for this for a year or two, then it will blow over and some forgiving Greek will help them out and put them back on their pedestal. Some sorority girl will feel sorry for them, marry them because they're so cute and then breed perfect little Greek wannabes. And the world as they know it will continue virtually unchanged. Ms. Gilbow will be bailed out by some old time SAE who remembers the good old day when they were liquored up and got the old bat to say Nigger repeatedly.
The superficial nature of the Greek systems masks its true intent: These are modern day drinking societies that allow the monied classes to stick to their own. There's little difference between the Skull and Crossbones and SAE and KKG other than income tax bracket.
But their behavior feeds the illusion that whites are all racist, and that's what ticks me off. I can't possibly feel the anger or humiliation a black person feels hearing the SAE boys singing, but they can't possibly feel my anger and disgust at a fellow white person, in 2015, singing as if the Jim Crow era were alive and well.
(c) 2015 The Truxton Spangler Chronicles
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