That time I was called MILITANT (How pledging a Black Fraternity made some people nervous)

 

That’s right folks. I was once called militant. 

If you know me, you will know that militant and me in the same sentence doesn’t make any sense whatsoever. Or at least in my mind it doesn’t. But I still remember having a conversation with someone and being told that there were concerns about me being militant. 

This came about in the fall of 1989. I had just pledged my fraternity, Alpha Phi Alpha fraternity Incorporated in the spring of 1989. Now, pledging a black Greek letter organization wasn’t anything special in my mind. But considering that I was the only person initiated into my chapter that was attending my school, it was a unique phenomena.

And for those of you who may not be familiar with what pledging was like back in the late 80s, I would encourage you to see the 1988 Spike Lee movie ‘School Daze’. When young people ask me what pledging was like when I was in college, I point them to that movie.

Now, you have to understand that in the spring of 1989, in order to pledge, one of the things that you could not do was speak to anyone other than your big brothers or your big sisters. In addition, during the day, you typically had to be dressed up in either a suit or a shirt and tie. In addition, you couldn’t walk on the grass and you had to square all of your corners when you were walking.  Considering there were no Black Fraternities or Sororities on my campus (I attended the University of Tampa but I was pledging at the University of South Florida), you can imagine how wild it must have been for those who either 1) had never seen anything like this before or 2) didn’t understand what I was doing.  Aside from a few friends who were aware of me pledging and what it meant to pledge a Black Greek Lettered Organization, I was truly an anomaly.

And on top of that, I was in Army ROTC.  So whenever I would go to ROTC, I would only speak unless someone directly spoke to me even while I was in my uniform. So imagine the surprise of my fellow cadets as well as the ROTC staff.  On any other day, I am, a loud, country kid, from Arkansas who (outside of uniform days) used to regularly wear his hat turned around backwards baggy T-shirt baggy sweats and sneakers and who is known to be very loud and sociable. Yet, for 6 weeks, I had become clean-cut, always wearing a shirt and tie, and not speaking to anyone.  Cadets pledging fraternities and sororities was not a new thing but, at the time, no cadet was pledging in the same manner I was pledging.  So you can imagine what went through some peoples minds when they were literally watching me do all this and not have a clue what I was going through other than the fact that I was pledging a “black fraternity“.

Fast forward to the fall of 1989, and I’m getting ready for my upcoming summer to go to advanced camp.  One of my mentors (and surrogate big sister) pulled me to the side to tell me that she was approached (since they knew she was my mentor) regarding some concerns within my ROTC unit about me. Of course, I’m thinking what possible concerns they could have about me because I pretty much keep to myself. In her words, there were some concerns that I was becoming militant. Of course, I’m 20 at the time so I couldn’t process what they meant by being ‘MILITANT’.  l was offended because I didn’t understand what I had done and more importantly I didn’t appreciate it. My name was being thrown around and nobody had the courage to say something to my face.  

Interestingly, my mentor told me the sole reason for concern was because I pledged a black fraternity so they thought I was becoming militant. Now I can tell you, I was very offended and, to my mentor's credit, she was not saying this to get me angry but just to put me on notice that my actions were being observed.

No I can tell you, in retrospect over 33 years later, I am not validating or justifying any of their perceptions. I have no idea what was going through their minds.  However, considering I was the only black cadet in my class, I underwent abrupt change in behavior, demeanor, and presentation without any indication as to how it got there and with very few people in my orbit within the ROTC community to actually educate people about the change, I can see how they may have gotten to the position of me being militant. (Again, just come and ask me.  Just saying.)

That experience taught me very early on the power of realizing that even when you think no one is paying attention to you, they truly are. And it also taught me the importance of having people in my personal circle who were at least bringing to my attention issues that I need to be aware of.  From that moment, I became hyper cognizant of recognizing how important it is for me to move strategically in terms of my actions.