Any of you ladies had any other questions for melita i did um now melina when you were pledging or in your history of being a part of uh your organization did you ever encounter um any of the negativity that was perceived by other people like um the
Hazing for instance i know that you know certain laws have been passed now to where they are not permitted to haze but um maybe when you were pledging or before you pledged or even after you pledged did you have any experience or hear of anything from any other females
That had that were joined uh with any other sororities that um had to deal with deal with hazing well i’m going to give you i’ll give you this is that my organization is a non-hazing organization um and so you’ll hear that from the other the various uh
Divide nine organizations um so i needed to preface that uh but you’ll read uh in the media there are many many references to hazing around the country you know around the world with fraternities and sororities and it’s not just the black greek letter organizations it’s also the predominantly white the asian you know
The hispanic and so what i say to that is is that you have the power to say no anything that you do in life you have the power to say yes and so if you allow that to happen to yourself then that’s on you okay that’s good well that’s it i mean
Choices choices choices well melita we want to thank you so much for taking the time to um to call us today and to share your heart and your journey with us and uh we hope to be speaking to you again oh no problem and thank you so much and
I really do miss my home folks in fort myers and good luck to you with what you’re doing well thank you and good luck to you as well god bless you should i say all right have a good day bye thank god for that caller that was our special guest calling in
Miss melita wilson she is a native of fort myers um has been pledged with her sorority for 20 years i was saying 10 i was like another extra 10 years off but one of the things that i wanted to define or angie if you want to read that
Um hazing for those of you uh charla bella asked a question regarding hazing and um we want you know some of you may be listening and saying what is that you know what exactly is that so if you can read the definition okay hazing is a term used to describe various ritual and
Other activities involving harassment abuse or humiliation used as a way of initiating a person into a group hazing is seen in many different types of groups including in gangs clubs sports teams military units as well as workplaces in the united states and in canada hazing is often associated with greek
Letter organizations such as fraternities and sororities hazing is often prohibited by law and may either be physical possibly violent or mental possibly degrading a person’s practice it also includes nudity and some sexually oriented activities wow so this is right not just for um those of you that may be
Thinking of pledging but those of you um that may be in charge you know in the situation where you’re put in in the place where you make the decisions on what the initial initiation is uh for one and then also for parents you know a lot of parents you’re excited
Your child is gonna go to college um they’re gonna pledge and you’re not even sure if they’re gonna pledge um you just need to be aware of the pros and cons you know we don’t want to just make everything seem beautiful and ignore the things that are going on under the table
As well um because um again and that’s one of the things that stuck out to me again i keep going back to school days but that’s what i got to work with you know but in that movie all i can remember is this guy getting hit and
Saying thank you sir i have another and getting hit again thank you sir i have another and i’m just sitting like oh my god no you know but he said he stood there and he took it you know but i’m like wow you know there is no way
And why and why is that even necessary and it’s just like you know with the ones that are are claiming to be christians it’s just like you got your salvation free all you did was open your mouth and say jesus i want you why do i need to go through being harassed and
Violently to get into this organization what is there that’s greater than god wow that i would go through that type of treatment in order to be a part of it and again there’s a lot of things with individuals you know there could be low self-esteem there could be the need for
Acceptance there could be so it’s no different any other relationship you know why we as women allow ourselves to go through so much with men why do men allow themselves to go through so much for women why why why do we do a lot of
Things that we do and you know this is no different um but i wanted you to read uh first john 3 7 chapter 3 7-10 again this is uh first john chapter 3 verses 7 through 10. it says dear children do not let anyone lead you
Astray he who does what is right is righteous just as he is righteous he who does what is sinful is of the devil because the devil uh because the devil has been sinning from the beginning the reason the son of god appeared was to destroy the works of the devil
No one who is born of god will continue to sin because god’s seed remains in him he cannot go on sinning because he has been born of god this is how we know who the children of god are and who the children of the devil are anyone who does not want
Who does not um who does not what is right is not of god or not a child of god nor is anyone who does uh not love his brother amen that’s strong because that’s even with going you know taking it right back to the hazing you know when you love
Yourself you know you you’re not gonna harm yourself at least most people i know not you know not gonna harm yourself and then if if you’re an organization that’s founded on christianity then definitely even if there’s other people that are doing things you should not be taking part in
Right you know you don’t want to have anything to do with that you want to show love in every way shape you know possible um i’m going to read the nine the nine different well five fraternities and four sororities for you that don’t know and you may be thinking
Of joining but you may not even know the names yet um you may not even know where to go uh we have the alpha phi alpha fraternity incorporated we have kappa alpha psi fraternity omega sci-fi phi beta sigma iota phi theta and then sororities we have alpha
Kappa alpha delta sigma theta zeta phi beta and sigma gamma rho and um these are all of the nine the divine nine and so we want you to just really take the time to research them spend time with them before you make the decision and also make sure that you don’t do
Anything that is demeaning to you your character uh your family name you who you are your christian walk and make sure that you know you’re you’re you’re becoming a part of something that will help you grow uh spiritually as well as naturally um joining a lot of people
Want to know what do i have to do you know to join and it says the process of joining a greek letter organization varies from organization to organization organizations governed by the national panhellenic conference or the north american uh inter-fraternity conference commonly begin their process with a formal recruitment period often called
Rush week or formal recruitment which usually consists of events and activities designed for members and potential members to learn about each other and the organization at the end of the formal recruitment period organizations give bids or invitations to membership most organizations have a period of pledge ship before extending
Full membership some organizations have changed the name of pledge ship due to negative connotations to the process such as uh calling pledges zobs or new members or have uh given up the process in favor of other joining uh requirements upon completion of the pledge ship and all its requirements the
Active members will invite the pledges to be initiated and become full members initiation often includes secret ceremonies and rituals organizations governed by the national panhellenic council or the national association of latino latino fraternal organizations or the national multicultural greek council have very different recruitment processes oftentimes the fraternities and sororities associated with these
Councils do not participate in a typical recruitment process nor do they host a rush week instead interested students must formally express their interest to a member or more often times than not members of the particular organization they are interested in requirements may be imposed on those wishing to pledge
Either by the school or the organization itself often including a minimum grade point average wearing a pledge pin learning about the history and structure of the organization and performing public service when a school places an age or 10-year requirements on joining this is called deferred recruitment as
Joining is deferred for a semester or year the pledge period also serves as a probationary period in which both the organization and the pledge decide if they are compatible and will have a fulfilling experience i really like that one i like the fact that um they they’re
Given time to spend time to learn and to really see you know um i’m on probation but you’re on probation too right you know what i’m saying to see if there’s something that i even want to be a part of we have a few more minutes and i just
Want to answer to read some statistics these are the following the following are some statistics about greek life it says according to the nationwide study of fraternity and sorority members belonging to a fraternity your chances of graduating are greater about to 10 percent greek members on average donate more
Than four times as much as their respective universities as alumni than non-greek student as alumni greeks give approximately 75 percent of all money donated to universities as undergraduates greeks raise approximately 7 million per year for charities that’s a lot of money yeah it is as undergraduates greeks give approximately hundred and fifty thousand
Volunteer hours per year uh studies prove that seven out of ten people list um listed in the who’s who are greek uh 40 out of seven uh 47 40 out of 47 us supreme court justices have been or are greek 63 of all u.s cabinet members since the
1900s have been or are greek studies prove that fraternity and sorority alumni are much more likely than non-greeks to participate in community service activities after graduation 36 percent of the house of representatives are members of a sorority or fraternity all of the apollo 11 astronauts were greek there are approximately uh 400 000
Active members of greek organizations nationwide less than 3 percent of the united states is greek a study by the university of missouri found that greeks throughout the us and canada are more involved on their campuses and rate their overall university experience better than non-greeks do well that’s good i mean and seeing and
That’s what i wanted i don’t i didn’t want to just be the negative because these are all very you know positive things very very positive things um so we hope that um and us being here today and taking the time to tell you you know what we’ve learned
Thus far and and hearing from someone who has actively um been active in her organization for the last 20 years that um that you weigh out the pros and the cons and that you do do your research the divine nine is a good book from what i started to read i have not
Read the entire book i’m also going to give you a few more um a few more books that were listed on amazon.com for those that were purchasing the divine nine it was also in search of sisterhood delta sigma theta and the challenge of the black sorority movement
By paula j giddings also black greek 101 the culture customs and challenges of black fraternities and sororities by walter m kimbrough there was also disciplining women this is alpha kappa alpha black counter publics and the cultural politics of black sororities by deborah elizabeth whaley and the last one was african-american fraternities and
Sororities the legacy and the vision by uh tamara l brown so we hope that you take the time to um to do your research and parents you know you know your child’s not pledging don’t just you know inquire know what’s going on with them what they’re doing what they’re spending
Their money on what they’re spending your money on and um we just want to thank you just for taking the time to uh to listen to what we have to talk about today and if you have any questions um after the show please feel free to log on to our
Facebook page and send us a question we will definitely answer it for you or do what we can to find out the right answer anybody have anything else okay but we want to thank you for tuning in to divine destiny radio today where our title of the segment was the divine
Nine how will you pledge again we will tune in next week we are going to two hours next week so we are excited about that um we have some great things coming up we also have um miss um tanya richardson who will be coming um being a part of
Our team and god’s baby girl she will be coming on next week and so we have some great things coming up we’re looking for a whole new format for our second hour you
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