You think you know what a sorority girl is think again thank you especially now of what Greek life is like for example like what’s the sister of our sisterhood whatever it is sorority sisters people seek out wretchedness people seek out destruction in a black community destruction and even if it’s not
Directly about their life to play and somebody act in the complete fool but she’s the Delta but she’s data then it makes it that much harder there’s a very big stereotype increasing at home and we just everybody flashes and everybody’s it’s a lot of green community is not as
Much as it should be you know but it’s growing there’s a lot of people that’s putting forever instability I mean it’s television so I mean people shouldn’t take it that neat but at the same time it is our representation so if I watch it and I feel like I was
Misrepresented I’m gonna have a problem so we have to be mindful as a collective whether you’re Greek or not that you know there are certain things that we need to talk about and be honest about and portray the truth all of it what’s going on everybody this is Jared
Henderson creator the beyond this place project and you’ll have to excuse my dress i came in and thrown a hoodie and wanted to get out to the lab late night because i wanted to record this video blog before the premiere of vh1 sorority sisters there’s a lot of protests and
There was a petition that was signed earlier this year and made its way around the internet and last week we found out that vh1 didn’t care about any of that and decided to go ahead and proceed with the show originally it was executive produced by Mona scott-young
Her name has since been removed from the show as executive producer but I’m not sure entirely what that means as we’ve seen the trailer for the show kind of mimic the one that existed several months ago and so it was really on my heart to get out of here and kind of
Make this video today and I wanted to start by showing members of various sororities that I recorded out in Detroit when I was out working and shooting for a Relay for Life event and I’m glad those sisters I’ll share their perspective about this show and I think
It’s going to mimic and reflect a lot of the conversations that are being had right now social media and so I just wanted to kind of share a few of my thoughts and then also talk about this idea of how do you combat these representations one of the dangers with
A show like sorority sisters that I think is being articulated across social media is this idea of the danger of representation what does this mean for us having this show come out and as members of divine line organizations I think we have to ask ourselves not only
What does this mean to have this thrust into the pool of content that represents us but also how are we supporting alternative narratives that need to combat the ones that are being showcased and thrust into the spotlight by organizations such as vh1 and one of the best solutions I think came from my
Brother Lawrence Ross was a member about I had to shout him out for this idea and what he said was to watch the show yeah watch the show but what you’re not looking for is the show itself what you’re trying to pay attention to are the various sponsors who have paid
Really good money to be in that prime time slot for advertising and his suggestion was that you go straight to Twitter and Facebook and you add those companies and you write them messages about why you will no longer patronize their businesses because of their support of the sorority sister show
Brilliant we want to trend these people for all the wrong reasons so hashtag boycott sorority sisters hashtag boycott whatever product or service is being represented at the time so I support this strategy and I think for me it’s the main reason why I wanted to come and record this so late tonight
Because for me it’s not really about the show it’s about the message I mean this might ultimately be one of the best things that has ever happened to a sisterhood of black Greek letter organizations ever I mean who knows I highly doubt it but for me it’s about
The message I’m from st. Louis Missouri I grew up just north of Ferguson in Florissant I see a lot of my friends and family on TV all across the nation protesting the unjust killing and for me that’s what this is it’s about the thousands of members who have been
Flooding the streets New York LA and Detroit and everywhere around this country who are protesting the unjust killings of people of color in our communities it’s about supporting these organizations so that they can continue to uplift and offer solutions for our communities who are going through the
Most right now it’s about honoring you yes you the person that’s watching this video who is a worthy member of a divine night organization or a worthy community member who is fruitful and producing meaningful work in your communities every day it’s about honoring you it’s about offering an elevated conversation
About these organizations in the 21st century it’s not about who’s wearing or who’s not wearing letters it’s about talking about the roles of these organizations in the 21st century and how we can start to offer more solutions about the things that plague us and again let’s not lose focus on
That because ultimately the thing that unites every person who wears three letters across their chest it’s Brotherhood sisterhood scholarship service community that’s it if we can’t do anything about it if we can’t voice our own opinion and tell people how we feel and they respond to that favorably vh1 then let’s move on
Trying to create some other things some other stories let’s tell our stories the way we want to tell them and I think that’s what it really comes down to in our next video blog I’ll be talking to Mercedes fulbright Mercedes made headlines all across the country as the
Girl with the Delta hoodie whose photo showed up on the Dallas Morning News and I think that’s so offensive that these articles in AP and other people are mentioning her like that she has a name well I had a chance to talk to Mercedes about her experience in being detained
And what she thinks about all of this controversy about wearing your letters versus not wearing your letters while protesting but anyway tune in next time for that check out sorority sisters and don’t check it out if you want if you don’t want to check it out and you still want
To participate in that strategy you can follow me at jarred tweets where it beyond this place and you can retweet my tweets that way you don’t have to participate in the viewership but you can definitely get the message out there to these corporate sponsors that we are
Not happy with the representation of our women on these shows and we’re definitely not happy about the representation of our beloved organs that’s all I got it’s late I’m gonna edit this and go to sleep and hopefully get it online before you guys check out the show tomorrow as always let’s get to
Your build it’s almost like they don’t respect us anymore they see a movie like that and I say oh that’s what Greek life is and it’s really so much more to it it hurts my heart because I’m like I work for my letters and I’m still working for our letters
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