[Applause] uh So One Loop [ __ ] Yo so what’s up everybody um i want to welcome you all to the newest installment of the get hook podcast once again as always it’s your boy hook uh this is episode number 18 of our podcast for this of the season uh the today’s topic uh we have um
A representative from each of the five um well four right now hopefully the field will be joining soon uh organ the fraternities for the uh divine nine last week we had the uh the ladies on we had the sororities on to talk about their experiences
This week we got the fellas on the uh proverbial seat and they’re gonna talk about their experiences uh you know why they opted to join the organization they did why they opted not to join a different organization so um we did we we we just don’t um they’re
Gonna be as candid as possible and uh we i’m looking forward to some of some very interesting dialogue now before we begin just in case a lot of [ __ ] out they maybe forgot just wanted to remind y’all we didn’t uh brianna taylor’s killers are still uh roman three walking around like ain’t
Nothing happened um justice lebriana man say your name it’s time we put these these people in um we held these people accountable man and we we want to bring uh justice to brianna so um this is our weekly reminder man we’re gonna keep talking about it so y’all do something about it
All right so without further ado i’m gonna go ahead and get the ball rolling i’m gonna let these gentlemen uh tell you a little bit about themselves fellas take it away yes sir hook i appreciate you having me on man but uh just to introduce myself my name is rod lord
Um i am a member of the alpha phi of fraternity incorporated um why why pledge back in fall of 1999 i am pretty seasoned i’ve been in the game for a while but hopefully i’m able to lighten you guys with some information on why and why during this illustrious fraternity um
More about myself i am a um athletic speed and agility trainer so yeah i’m gonna put a plug in i own my own company it’s called c3 where i do speed and agility for for ages from five up to 99. if you want to be a elite athlete come holla at me
Other than that that’s who i am What’s going on everybody my name is shelton broomfield i’m from allendale south carolina i’m a member of a cap alpha cypher training incorporated the best fraternity ever created just want to let y’all know okay uh fall 2000. see you got the red cup man initiate so um yeah i’m i’m almost as
Seasoned as uh some of these guys in here but um i’m thrilled to i guess share my experiences and thoughts as far as you know membership and the benefits of being a member of any organization so thank you for having me too yes sir um my name is yoshi kirkland
I’m from allendale south carolina i’m a member of the best fraternity don’t listen to what they were saying omega top five fraternity incorporated spring 17 classroom university legendary lambda sigma chapter uh mr honor that hook invited me to be on his podcast i’m looking forward to telling you guys about my experience
And about my life my endeavors and so far since i’ve graduated clapping i moved to something south carolina i’m a teacher down here in something school district and also coach football and track at lakewood high school and that’s just a little bit about myself and i appreciate you having me on here hook
Hook man appreciate you having me on man look no government name right here everybody call me ship at ship the dean uh spring 2007 bloody betamu of the illustrious five beta sigma fraternity incorporated shout out i thought a deuce club out there look we already know sigma’s the best
Because the sky’s blue water blue you gotta have both to live look for me i’m a business development manager i’m over here i’m over there make sure you get me on facebook and instagram at ship the dean let’s get into it man my dog hooked let’s go man
All right for sure hey man i appreciate y’all for coming on man i really do so without further ado man we’re gonna go ahead and get this thing started so the first question i’m gonna ask is and um this is something i got a lot when i first i’m
Sure you guys can relate as well what do fraternities do besides stuff let’s see that’s it all right i guess i’ll lead it off man um uh obviously fraternities do way more than just step and party um um there’s a lot of community service a lot of brotherhood
A lot of fellowship that goes on with uh fraternity i’m pretty sure the fellows on there can say that about their fraternity as well so um it’s way more than stepping and partying and and throwing up your what i call your gang sign so uh that’s my take on it
I agree man it’s like i said fellowship fellowship community service got right it’s a lot of heart people understand it’s a lot of hard work that goes into becoming a member of fraternity it’s a lot of behind the scenes they don’t see um it’s a lot of footwork um
It makes you a better person so especially when you get into that professional scene so oh yeah of course now i agree with the everybody’s plan i mean the brotherhood uh of course the community service uh and then just of course using your connections within the fraternity
Uh to possibly connect others who may not be in a fraternity that’s a big part of it uh just trying to be a highlight of the community particularly the black community you’re just being leaders in our own circles abroad pretty much i didn’t oh yeah i know y’all got stabbed when
You know the brothers we hop so but anything but we do more besides talking though we give back to the community and the youth look up to us heavily like i see a lot of kids who say they want to be the brothers and
They look up to me so we like have we a lot of mentors together so we do a lot besides stuff man they look at us as mentors and brothers and leaders so it’s way more besides stepping out three yeah and i think that um one of the biggest misconceptions
Is that’s all that you know we do you know they see stomp the yard they see all the you know burning sands they see these things and they have all these preconceived notions and misconceptions about the stuff we do so this is refreshing to
Hear that we do a little bit more of a side step right um another big question that uh another big big thing that you know we we get a lot of is um about friendships because obviously going into college you know we don’t you know we have our own our individual
Circle of friends so the question is did your circle of friends change after you joined not at all not at all my circle of friends i’ve had the same friends since uh forever and so basically the friends i already had coming into it my fraternity brothers who of course i
Met late in life they just became a connection to my friends already had so it really was just an extension of my friends already had because you know loyalty is a big thing i’m big on that i’m mostly blowing it off but you can’t break that because you’re going to return you got
To keep it keep it a buck no matter what so uh to answer that question directly no and if it does if your friends change because you join a fraternity ah that says a lot about that individual nature yeah especially yeah when i crossed i was still here with my friends when i
Was hanging with my my line brothers and profiles so of course my circle did not change they was here they was with me every step of the way they were supporting me every day they was asked for anything they always there to help me man my
Circle did not change at all man i still love them now today well it’s for myself man my um i grew up man my best friends okay well he later played as capital we went to the same school so you know my homies still my age right now
Uh my roommate was a cute so no my circle of friends didn’t change at all it pretty much is just group if that makes sen that makes sense well for me particularly um the guys i actually hung out with actually plays kappa as well so i guess the extra that that bond made
Us stronger as far as like friends you know what i’m saying so as well as far as like my college friends i still have my friends from high school that i still communicate with but as far as like in college for the guys that i really hung out with all of us
End up joining the same turn for the most part yeah and i think uh i think that’s another big misconception also because i i would get clowned a lot uh when i went to school because i hung out with all the campers and i did that because we were all
Friends before we pledged now i’m saying that was the crew we just happened to go different ways they tried to get me but i’m like nah i’m i’m gonna stick with black and gold over here but they said my whole voice you know what i’m saying so whenever they
Have functions traveling to other schools other capital functions i was right there with them i don’t even care you know but um so i i think ship said the best man it’s like if your circle of friends changed after you play it and that says a lot
More about you than it does about you know anything else hook it sound like you want to [ __ ] me at one point that’s what i take from that all right that’s your brother what did you know about greek life prior to entering college well me personally i was exposed to it early because
I was in this program called clemson virgin scholars it was a summer program i went to every year in high school these they prepared us for college they used to always have this little session about great life so they always have someone from kemp’s university
The greek come talk to us about be like that’s how i was just going to be like and that’s when i knew exactly what i wanted to do there once they exposed it to it like yeah i had kind of a glimpse and i didn’t have enough factual information
But i had enough so i can do my research on at least have a point to start to i know nothing i ain’t amazing about greek life um one one because i was one of the first people in my family to go off to college
Um um you know one of the youngest so you know i didn’t have any older my father didn’t go uh i had no uncles or ain’t no cousins or anything so i had nothing so um i had to do my research i had
Uh i saw it and i was amazed i’m like oh okay you got the outfits got cues you got the cap you got things so it was it was a shock to me um but you know like i like i said before i joined the right one [Laughter]
I mean i mean for me i knew very little i mean i knew i knew some older guys who were kappas uh i knew a guy who was a singer but i didn’t really know what they did um very very little knowledge which i think a lot of people fall in
That boat uh especially from a small town like i think most of us are uh well you don’t really have that high level exposure outside of just touch and go uh probably for me maybe y’all agree with this maybe i don’t the two most visible uh greek organizations awards
The deltas and omegas just because i guess there’s so many of them yeah that’s how i felt you know before i got to college not like man it was only two that’s it but uh that’s for me i mean so really no no knowledge at all to be real with you
So i kind of fall in that same boat so i think i can speak on behalf of hook and yoshi like coming from where we’re from all you see uh omegas uh especially if you’re playing sports all the coaches omegas uh you somebody you knew that’s older than
Omega omega omega that’s all you heard of so that was the initial uh greek life you know exposure i had and then my senior high school my principal was a sigma he actually um and i really appreciate him for doing this he actually took us to different colleges to tour colleges you know
To give us yeah yeah you know what yeah you know what i’m saying i can’t think so much as far as like college not even just greek life just college you know what i’m saying like we actually toured the colleges walk on the grass you know what i’m saying so
We got that field and then he took us to a step show it was at uh unc um chapel hill we went to a step show and of course the news came out shut down but we’re not gonna get into that but um you know what i’m saying
But that was like the first initial interaction with greek life i’ve ever haven’t had so yeah one thing right quick i’m gonna get omegas a quick shout out y’all don’t ever take out there y’all that’s the only reason we see y’all man [Laughter] i was so visible in allendale because
What i will say is that the reason they go notable in allendale is that so any everybody knows about the coup defense spring festival right yeah they all have a 10 all they’re together it’s all 50 50 live mode you know what i’m saying and if we get atomic dog like 50 million
Times and i’m thinking well dang it’s like every it’s like such a crossover what do you play as q-dog you know every single time so when i started to see in you know alphas and cowboys i’m like there are other fraternities out there you know what i’m saying
Because when i pledge i was the first person in my family and my a huge family to pledge a fraternity you know for me you know i’m saying and then i pledge uh alpha and now we have an sg road we have a sigma we got a kappa
You know i mean so it’s like none of us because we didn’t have that legacy you know i’m saying everybody pretty much did their own thing i was like you were the first like known cue i seen in allender you know and it wasn’t until my class that i
Found out about the other out they were i mean they they were like unicorns but they were there nowhere yeah you know what i’m saying but now now y’all want to come out but you know it’s that’s one of those things where and i think this is why this is good because we
You know i don’t want them to have to wait until they get to college and learn about it you know i mean we don’t have a queue in our family yet but i’m 87.3 sure my nephew gonna play sq i don’t know i’m pretty certain i can already see it it’s high percentage
Yeah i know right all right so let me let me ask y’all man what made you choose your organization what stood out the most to make you say that’s the organization for me especially because in certain areas some groups are more prominent than others so that’s all you see
So what made you go against the grain and choose you know to be unlike everybody else okay um for me it was it was actually i’m not it was difficult because like like we were talking about earlier like i did my research and everything um as far as like the organizations go
And actually when i first went to school kappas weren’t really on campus at the time um and um what really sealed the deal for me is uh like my dad he’s a bro and i thought about like the way he raised us the way he handles business takes care of business
At home and in the streets and work you know what i’m saying like he he’s like my number one role model as he should be and i thought about it like maybe because one of the reasons he is the way he is because he joined the fraternity in college as playing football
Xyz yadda yadda so that maybe that had like a major impact on this month so i did further research on them that helped finalize my decision like i said just like i said i didn’t have anybody to you know that showed me the ropes of greek life going into college um so i
Had to do my research um i’m a light skinned so i’ll stereotype i like the dress i like clothes so i was your stereotypical stereotype captain so but that wasn’t me i mean not the same thing’s wrong with that but i’m saying that high five whatever you want to call it whatever y’all
Hey hook like i told you my my homeboy cowboy we just go to uh parties with him i just said campbell trying to grip me up i’m like nah bruh [Laughter] research man i like what the brothers stood for on y’all um you know kind of it kind of fit my
Morals and my and what i stood for um so that’s why i chose what i chose the best for me for me uh two reasons really one was uh the most honorable big brother huey person newton who was a member of five beta sigma fraternity he founded the black panthers
That’s a big influence on my life uh and two it was some of the brothers who was um some with the usc some of the benedict benedict benedict college from the hometown of gaffney so we was already rocking so it kind of made sense um and they had recently crossed too so
I got to kind of see the impact they was having on the campus and things of that sort and what i tell anybody if you think about joining uh we can get in all the x’s and those you know people you know from a time pass and all that we’re
Really going to make the decision for a lot of people is what are the fraternity members doing why are you on the yard or why you’re in their presence that really gonna be the deciding factor because if you’re not a corn ball or don’t see yourself that way and you
Think an individual or a bunch of individuals or corn balls can save paternity you probably ain’t gonna join no matter how much you want to that’s just my personal opinion i can’t speak for everybody else so for me it’s really about the people how they present their personality to you
And then of course you got some sort of uh study history connection like i did with you with person newton that’s a big influence as well so yes sir uh what with me was the ones from allende know that’s all we’ve seen growing up all i saw was brother coaches
Everybody everybody that’s all i remember and that’s all i really knew so when i got to class and i already had my mindset that i want to be the brother because this one i was raised around that’s all i really know to be honest besides this besides being exposed from
From the summer program that i went to and unless i got there i had two track teammates and they was also the brother so they was in the yard so they was actually cool with me but i didn’t really talk much about them that first year because i was still uh
I want to but i don’t know y’all too well so i’m gonna get to know y’all first so once i got to know them i said okay i think the brothers for me but one thing that really stood out to me i remember this like it was yesterday
My coach coach on brandy bird he used to always tell me all right now let’s pledge alpha now you know the brothers waiting on you i see man just be patient man just be patient he swear he thought it was gonna be your alpha i’ll say no man you will see man
That’s one thing that stood out to me though is man yeah because it’s it’s a because rod and i have a mutual friend who’s a uh who’s the kappa and you know when robert played you know i’m saying i was there and uh i was and i got back to campus the
Following week i’m like hey man you know right alpha right he was like no not my homeboy i’m like because they again they told you we were gonna play as catholic you know what i mean so you know it’s one of those people i think it’s weird that people kind of
Typecast you based on your appearance and how you look i think they know what you’re gonna you go against the green because they would always tell me hey i mean you look like you completely have to be one of the critical and whatnot and i mean like you know they get all
The women right i’m like well i mean i do okay in that area don’t need no help hey you know what i’m saying you know but but it is i think it’s when you peel back the layers man you see that there’s really i think what we what what i
Based on what you guys were talking about really you could have gone either way but it is there’s something that stood out about your organization that you joined to make you say you know what this is organization for me uh ship you mentioned uh uh huey p newton you know when i found
Out that dr king thurgood marshall alphas i’m like that pretty much solidified it for me i’m like oh okay well you know so that’s you know that’s one of those things where you know it’s there a lot of factors that can kind of go into that
Um so let me ask you all this man what words do you have for people who say they refuse to pay for someone to be their friend and they don’t know the true essence of being being a member of an organization man it’s not about paying for friends you know what
I’m saying like that really hurts me like oh you had to pay for friends and it’s not about that that’s that like just you join any kind of membership so you have to pay fees period so when you go to the gym you gotta you
Gotta pay for friends when you go to the gym you know exactly it’s not about you guys you see they don’t understand the the everything that goes on behind doors like you have fees things to pay for that’s what it covers you know what i’m saying but they just they don’t know
About the organization they haven’t done their research they don’t they don’t want to take the time to do their research about it i think that’s what it is so and they’re afraid of like that they’re saying people are afraid of what they don’t know i think that’s what there’s a lot to do
With it hey but on the flip side and i don’t know if i’m telling well i’m gonna say no name but i’ve seen plenty of people that play that have paid yeah you’re right you’re right you’re right um that’s great i’ve seen it so you know i’ve seen people
Are a certain way before they pledge and now they just top-notch once they cross oh oh you’re that guy now you’re that girl now so just on the flip side of it i just remember i remember yesterday you you know i’m trying to say but you know some people do it right yeah
But i mean like in hindsight but see that’s that’s right that’s for the people that that know about the organization yeah and they like they have to do that you know what i’m saying but most people that don’t really know anything about it or like
They may be afraid of it they say oh you’re just paying for friends you know it’s like an excuse yeah you’re right yeah i wouldn’t say i wouldn’t say too much pay for friends i’m paying for a lifetime experience because so far since i became the brother there’s so much
Networking so much people that i’ve met so many people that helped me out just because they found out the brothers so it’s way more just because you want to make friends you paying for it’s a lot like he’s like he says a lot behind closed doors man a lot of
Help a lot of great people everything there’s way more besides making friends man yeah i agree with that man anybody think it’s just um you’re paying a friend that’s crazy i actually never i never heard that before to be real not like that uh it’s definitely not that it’s more of
An investment i mean anytime you put down money on something you want to roi so you know the rest of your life you can get your roi back in various ways so that’s really what it is just an investment and of course man let’s be real we gotta
Keep the lights on man that’s what you’re paying for gotta keep the lights on you know you gotta pay to go here you gotta pay to go there come on man people can’t be that stupid i never heard that before man i wasn’t oh man that’s crazy
A lot of people they look at it that way and again i think like circus said it’s like they don’t really do their research so they’re ignorant of what exactly greeks do and you know quiet to skip you know when we talk about networking it’s just not networking amongst people in opportunity
Because you know i’ve met people simply because you know if i see a sigma i ordered you know cute whatever it’s like you know we might start off you know going back and forth just you know laughing and joking but they look out you know because they they already know so it’s
Bigger than it’s bigger than just you know alpha or capital or whatever it is we they call us the divine knight for a reason you know what i’m saying so we’re networking amongst ourselves any any way you look at it let me matter how it actually um you
Know let me look at that for anybody you get in the corporate world everybody greek becomes your friend at a certain point always already already know how it is black men black people when you see somebody else especially if they hire you or got some sort of authority
Man look here they feel like you just found a new best friend it don’t matter what they play it so that’s another big huge advantage uh joining the divine that’s like a steven cole within a secret organization within the organization man you can’t go wrong honestly yeah absolutely agree
And that’s actually the uh the perfect uh the next question um let me get it pulled up here do you get along with other fraternities or are there rivalries of course we get along man three of my close friends are nukes and alphas like close friends
Hey he was like now we was friends and we all was friends before we even crossed like we know like we used to talk about it my sophomore year everything like we say yeah i’m a pleasure some players i’ll say you don’t want to be the brother man
You want to be a newton no i want to be a nuke now but we all still going to be cool though we all was cool ever since before and after we crossed like they are like my best friend even though we did fraternities i wouldn’t look at no kind of rival
Everything is just performed man oh yeah i mean that’s already hooked every time you know we have a function [Laughter] No i was gonna say i think i guess it just depends on the person because you have some people who don’t like other organizations just because but as far as that on a personal level i think i get along with i don’t like i don’t just look at him because of the
Organization that know it’s it’s like that person you know what i’m saying just like you being an organization to give me like some some ammo to you know job with you a little bit but i feel like i get along with pretty much everybody organizations yeah even from from the start when i
First played man it was uh like i said my roommate was capable of my attitude that was omega you know i got along with everybody else i was part you know i got into free all day parties because i was cool with everybody else but i think you know the younger you are
When you’re an undergrad um but that’s true when you’re an undergrad some people they do have that bickering that you know i’m all about my fraternity nobody else thing but the older you get it’s like i said it’s about the network and you should i mean you should feel
That way from the start but you know you should let all that uh bickering and bitterness go that’s what i said like you said before that’s where the network network will begin yeah i agree i mean the undergrad undergrad it’s all gonna see some rivalries you know everybody trying to
See who can do what and who got the most clout and whatnot but uh once you graduate that kind of go out the back door it’s kind of like man whatever let’s uh let’s move forward and push for it um so yeah i mean to answer the question
Yeah i get along pretty much pretty much everybody at every fraternity um i got best friends like uh don’t make a brother said i got friends who in all all fraternities and it’s all love ain’t never been nothing crazy post-graduation not undergrad now that we adults a little different but uh
Now that’s all i love man it’s all up yeah definitely and i think the uh the key takeaway here is that um you know i think they’re going to be rivalries just like anything because even during football season you can see how to go back and
Forth with a lot of people by clemson and usc you know it’s all you know we all joking it’s all love you know i mean but it’s i’m not going to hold that against them you know what i’m saying so at probate shows the captains would diss us we did
This the capitals and then we’d be in somebody’s room drinking right after that you know what i’m saying you know think i think people who didn’t pledge take it a hell of a lot more seriously than we do like you know we don’t even hold on to
And if you do hold on to it um like somebody said earlier i think that says more about you uh as an individual because you you can’t have you gotta have tough skin when it comes to stuff like this you know i’m saying oh yeah yes sir so um you talked about
Stereotypes earlier so what are some of the stereotypes that people associate to your organization and is there any truth to alphas are smart and nerds [Laughter] you know it’s crazy my huh mom mom wanted me to pledge alpha she said because of that same reason yeah typically a smart nerd
Now like i said i consider myself smart i’m not a nerd by any means but um we pretty soon we can be pretty and cool i feel like that was a shot at me you know what i’m saying [Laughter] we can get the women [Laughter]
But you know it’s crazy like i never saw myself as a pretty boy you know what i’m saying so but that’s one of the stereotypes that we the main stereotype especially when i was coming through that we had so and i never people thought i was cute because of my size
So i’m like yeah stereotype for us they say we nasty we wow and we all big and muscular y’all one thing i heard about signals they would just say think about the country which i’m highly offended that people would say that sigma is a country because [Laughter] [Laughter] [Laughter] Organization and again i think that people who didn’t play as they hold onto this more than we do it’s like you know look like no alpha you don’t look like no capital like what the hell is the damn album they kind of look like you know what i’m saying
I’ve been kind of brothers who fit in my organization who fit every single stereotype i know some alphas who quite frankly weren’t right they just weren’t very smart at all they just happened to have a 2.5 and they were eligible to play you know i’m saying
I know some alphas who you know they they lived them brothers had been a dick when i went there you know i’m saying they lived in a gym that’s all they did you know what i’m saying and it’s like it’s you you found it you find a you found a
A member of the organization that fits every single criteria and you know until you are it walk in it you don’t really you know i mean that’s when you start to peel back the layers you like it’s everybody you know people fit different stereotypes and stuff like that but there’s not a one-size-fits-all
Mentality you know what i’m saying and that’s why i think being a member of an organization is like like you can’t you can’t explain the feeling like the gratitude that you have because you get all walks of life you get to experience different you know what i’m saying
Like my lyme brothers are so different oh yeah all the so different you know what i’m saying like we come from different walks of life and people don’t understand that they don’t know that they don’t see that from the outside so that’s where that stereotype is it comes in
Right and i think that’s the biggest thing because like lord knows me and my ob it was only two of us but me and my lb we’re like night and day yeah yeah he was you know heavily into the church you know he you know yeah prayed
You know 24 hours seven days a week and it’s like i if i was considered the heathen of the line and we lost [ __ ] but until he’d be back um i was confident he’s not blind man’s like you know i mean like you know you know he’d be like you don’t
Need to be doing that you know hey bro i mean you ain’t gonna tell me what i need to be doing you worry about you and not worry about me but that’s that’s that’s my man you know what i’m saying so i was the best man in his wedding he’s
Gonna be the best man in mind so um it’s one of those things where you know it’s amazing the beautiful thing is how people from different walks of life and people who ordinarily wouldn’t even hang out you know i mean now all of a sudden
You have this bond for life so i think that’s one of the things about this entire experience um let me see all right so and and hopefully when ship come back he can he can uh chime in on this one and um we got we still got yoshi here so
I’m sure yoshi can provide some some inside as well but do you think there’s a difference between pledging at an hbcu versus pledging that a pwi i think there’s a difference you know pwi here vwi i feel here it’s a different because hbcu is majority african-american so you know
They’re exposed to the greek life more so they’re going to be more hype about greek life they’re going to be expecting lines to come out parties to be going on events to be ha they’re having events so hbcus are real like big when it comes to like black fraternities and sororities
Because that’s something they try and like empower and put us towards like coming together more as like like you said we’re games but we’re like organizations that’s there for each other respect each other and have fun at the same time so hbcus are real heavy on greek life
Like every year they look for a line to come out every year but see it’s i got a contradictory whatever man well see it was different you know of course it’s going to be different hands down it’s going to be different yeah yeah but i don’t think because we actually
Might my brothers actually had this conversation one time i don’t think it’s like any like significant difference you know what i’m saying like as far as like but i think just it depends on the chapter you know i’m saying the kind of effect they have on the campuses
And their members but as far as like you said people expecting the line to come out every semester that’s the same at pwis this difference is we don’t have as many minorities that attend that college but the minorities that attend that school that know about greek life or do
Something about greek life they’re looking forward to those probations they’re looking forward to those parties because you got to understand at a pwi a greek life function is one of the rare occasions where all the black people on campus come together all the minorities get to come together
You know what i’m saying and then they get the experience that it’s like okay so we do have a voice here on campus there’s an organization we can join we can make a change and make a positive you know effective campus you know what i’m saying it’s just a little different yeah
It’s majority black hbcu and it’s you know a little lighter at the pwis but i think it’s i think it just depends on that specific chapter at that school it does so another you say well like i said i went to went through so that’s pretty much all right but um
But i i agree with you saying um that’s that’s a chance for all the people of color or minorities to come together and and you know and and have fun or live so yeah i’d love this line coming out tonight but when they see you yeah
I said even that like i said if you’re playing different we have benedict’s and state and john c smith coming to all eyes though so you know we kind of supported each other but at the same time even during our process they were they were a part of so i don’t think it’s
Different at all i just i agree to saying that you know we have a smaller crowd coming together to unite but i don’t think it’s a a a lot of difference hey welcome back hey [ __ ] i know we lost you man y’all lost me man i didn’t pay my
Do you think there’s a difference between pledging at an hbcu versus a pwi oh hell yeah i mean the experience in itself is different i mean let me not speak well let me say this i never went to a pwi so let me start there but i’m gonna speak third person when it
Seems to be that being uh going on a fraternity on a predominantly white institution it seems as if uh i i think some people join a black fraternity at a pwi to get to feel more i guess to feel more black at least that’s what they’ve told me i don’t
That wasn’t really my thought but they i’ve heard people say that so again i don’t know if it’s true third person i’m just sharing the information but at hbcu you know it’s the real deal you know where it originated from in some sort of way we all came from
Howard university the mecca where it all began at that’s the hvcu so i feel like the roots going to hbcu are closely connected to the origin of what we all started at so the process you know starting with this is going to be different uh not really getting everybody’s
Individual process but i just feel like it’s going to be different so i definitely think it’s a big difference uh going to hbcu versus the pwi i don’t know what i had to say about hey i missed that man apologize hey [ __ ] what you think about it you see
That comment what do you think about the comment what’s the comment oh pwise is playing so wow okay i didn’t know they played up yeah oh that’s what was told to me i see somebody saying they left black because you played the pdi pw i know you are not less black
I said specifically that someone told me that they felt like it made them more black because they played the black fraternities come on now this is what i told yoshi man i told him it just depends on the campus man yeah that’s true here’s on that chapter that’s you know
What i’m saying like you have chapters at hbcu’s that you know what i’m saying they all they do is sign their name you know what i’m saying do you have chapters at pwi’s that you know i’m saying they have a process you feel me so i think it just depends on that
So and uh and and playing devil’s advocate i think the biggest difference between an hbcu and the pwi is that at an hbcu there’s already an established legacy with black organizations you know what i’m saying like when you get to campus you already know kappa’s out with sigma
I mean there’s people already know but going to the pwi you know i’m saying we have to do more research because quite frankly we don’t i’m saying so and and this may just me being biased but i think that at least with me i know when i made my decision
It was based not on the popularity of the organization at the time it was based on you know uh how the the standards they said and they’re visibly on campus and stuff like that and often times i wish i went to a peter uh hbcu simply prepared for this big but you
Know we didn’t have that the luxury of we have to explain who we are you know what i’m saying on the because to white greece and the dean and other stuff we have to say hey alpha phi alpha is about yadda yadda but if you go to claflin benedict you know
Whatever they already know you know what i’m saying so we don’t have that luck so so personally um i think that’s the biggest difference and contrary to popular belief we do now hey but a lot of it too if you go to a pwi like us you got a huge
Uh african-american i think they got one of the highest uh african-american student populaces of the pwi so at different at certain pwi’s you’re gonna get the nod and it’s like alright i see you but you go to unc pembroke or something like that i got to be real with you guys
But check this out though i know with some pwis for some individuals they feel like they have to pledge a little harder to hsus because they have to prove themselves that’s bad yeah so like i said it just depends on that chapter that’s actually what it comes down to just depends on the
Members of the chapter yeah all right man i see you calling this man we have to have a little conversation brother yeah kind of someone connie’s doing today man i don’t know man oh brother brother johnson brethren hey we can’t we we can leave high school man [Laughter]
So let me ask y’all man how did you um how did you guys go about expressing your interest prior to joining like you know how did you make it known to those organizations that hey i want to be a part of your [ __ ] man
Boy are you going to have it back in the memory bank yeah exactly it wasn’t that difficult for me man um like i said a couple of guys that are that that all that are really cool now like we’re really good friends now they placed the semester before i did and we actually
All came into school together like we started college challenging together like we were the same street mates and all that stuff they just happened to pledge a semester before me so i just let them know and then they’d let me know what i needed to do it was actually relatively simple
I can’t remember [Laughter] after my freshman year it was spring 13 on the yard but after freshman year we didn’t really have no bras on the yard because we was up the yard for a few years so we couldn’t really talk to bruhs that was on the yard but however i still
Knew of some brothers like coaches i had some friends who was the brother still so you know i talked to them about joining they always say you show you ready for this bro i’m ready for the task man and so i was exposed to it by talking to other references because
There weren’t too many brothers on campus after my freshman year that i could have conversed with about joining the fraternity so i got some insight on some other chapters but not specifically for my chapter i wouldn’t talk to my advisor about it one time well a few times i told my advisor about
It so the interest wasn’t too stand out for us because we weren’t on the yard but it’s still some girls out there i communicate with so that was kind of helpful yeah i mean for me uh with some guys from uh from gaffney who i put the bug in their ear back in
The day and i was like yeah you know it’s time for me to take the next step on this and you know it’s always funny when you it’s always funny when you try to get when you’re at that point and everybody’s so secretive they don’t know
What to say nothing man it’s like they sent a note on the pigeon and you got to catch [ __ ] right here that’s what i did i just reached out to one of the uh folks i knew from back home and they they plugged me in okay
Yeah and i think that was that was that was one of the things for me too because i didn’t know a lot about going into you know uh school i didn’t know anything about fraternities or anything like that so outside of going to entrance meetings that was probably it you know i mean
That was my way i was never the type even if i want to do something like i’m just not the type to put myself out there you know what i’m saying i feel that you know although i know that alpha was going to do a lot for me
Like [ __ ] alpha should be lucky that they even think about joining you know what i’m saying because i felt that i brought you i brought things to the table so you know people would i mean i didn’t go out searching or saying hey can i be down with y’all i
Went to the intermediate showed my face put my credentials out there and i’m like if y’all want me to be down then go ahead and you know you know let’s go ahead and do it but that was that was kind of like my way of doing things
And um we got a few minutes left man and uh i want to end with one more question from you guys so we’re gonna go ahead and make it a uh you know we’re gonna try to make it a good one but um because we talked earlier about uh you know
The the cavs going into college now don’t know a lot about greek life so i just want to ask y’all what advice would you give to someone who wants to join well well i kind of uh ping off what you say last uh the last question but you
Know i’m a coach now so i’m getting i’m getting a lot of former athletes coming up to me you know they’re going to college that i’m sending off to school i’m a track coach so i sent a lot of athletes to school too and um you know they coming back coach
Uh what would you say you played this again i’m like i’m alpha man i told you that before so you know they just ask me these little questions you know i don’t i don’t i don’t try to push alpha on anybody you know i tell them do their research
For you hopefully i was a good mentor for you to show you in the right direction but at the same time like look do your research man this is a good thing for you pleasure any fraternity it’s gonna be awesome for you in the future it’s gonna be good networking
But make sure you do do your research and make sure that’s the fraternity for you and and on the flip side the females too um so it goes both ways yeah and i’ll now take the one don’t just don’t just do it for the fan but don’t just do it
Because you see they can dress or they having fun because you’re doing it for that reason you’re doing it for the wrong purpose because it’s so much more buying it scholarship behind it um so much you can do on community service like it’s way more mentoring
Everything so if you just want to do it for partying you think it’s cool you ain’t gonna last too long like it’s not you’re not gonna once you pledge and after some time went by you’re not gonna want to do it no more so now you don’t waste your money your
Time by doing it because you thought you could it’s gonna be fun and have fun you’re not gonna be in college forever so you gotta think about the future as well what you’re gonna do with being in a mega man with being a mega man after college how you gonna be how are
You gonna help the youth after that what you go what what endeavors you’re going to have what what goals you’re going to have to achieve to help everyone not just about partying and hopping and turning up and neck rolling it’s way more besides you threw a lot in there though not a lot
Everybody the same thing man just do your research research research research everybody ask me the same question like just do your research whichever organization just speaks to you follow that path just look just look into like what they do for the community do your research the best person you are that’s that’s
The routine you take that’s why i tell you i even tell my sons the same thing i got two kids that are 13 or 14 so hopefully they’ll go to college one day and i’ll tell them hey if you plan on joining just do your research
First i’m not that type person but you join this that’s it hey you know you might disown it for a minute though i’m not paying for it to be in capital so advice i would give uh it was for you is for you and if you’re right
If you don’t feel right then it ain’t right and if you feel right then it’s right i mean that’s that’s that’s really the right side give you i mean sometimes it’s just a feel about how you feeling but no just like a lot just like really few things in life
It’s like a marriage i mean once you win this thing you connected to it forever oh yeah so uh ain’t no back bailing with you don’t you dip your toe in there hey that’s it gotta go i’m trying to tell you hold on yeah yeah cause cause i already do it
Don’t man i’m pretty sure not me and my nephew have talked about it briefly but i’m pretty sure he can play it’s cute like i already i’ve already mentally prepared myself when he called you know i’m saying so um but i also let him know it it like even with
With him choosing what school you want to go to i’m going to provide like a voice i mean try to influence you but ultimately it’s your decision because you got to live with it once you make it you know like i you know i’m not you decide to play a sigma that’s you
For the rest of your life you know i mean you can’t like ship saying no back pedal you know what i mean um and i think the biggest thing is my biggest piece of advice people see the parties they see the the step in the the party walk and whatnot you
Know they see your party into three four in the morning what they don’t see is you’re getting up at six months yo i remember one time i came to a party in spartanburg i was in charleston i didn’t leave that party like 3 30 had to be to work at 6 [Laughter]
It’s deeper than the you know when the leathers that’s great that’s cool stepping that’s great also just the notoriety that comes with it but i think the biggest thing is it’s it’s way more yeah once you make a commitment it’s like you’re committing to doing something that um and you’re committed
To doing something that actually is is meaningful and uh lo and behold congress has the last comment of the night another q in allendale it county hey it is what it is man it is what it is okay if you guys enjoyed this episode
Man you know it’s like uh i want you to make sure that you find us on uh facebook obviously uh we’re available on youtube we’re also available across all podcast platforms um so basically you know just sort of get a podcast you know like comment leave a review
Um everybody who’s watching make sure you continue like commenting and sharing as well and um i want to thank you guys for joining man i really do i appreciate you guys taking the time out to you know to voice your opinions and and give us commentary next week i hope everybody from
Mellondale county tunes in because what we’re gonna do i’m gonna have about five uh panelists they’re either in public office in allendale or they’re vying for a public position and we’re gonna talk about some of the wolves and ills that are going through allendale county and what we can do to improve that
People who know me normally rob allen there you know i’m always going to going to bring y’all up i know we have our issues but we’re going to have the people on who can potentially uh you know force us to do the right thing down there so i want to make sure you
Guys tune in and whatever questions you have you can inbox me throughout the week and we’ll make sure we get those get those online for you um but do you guys have anything in closing anything you want to leave for the people in the world leave this man hook shout out
Shout out to you man appreciate the opportunity man thank you for having us on uh i enjoyed it and for anybody who think about doing the five beta sigma if you’re mine right your heart right we got y’all yoshi what you got man oh yeah man i hope
I hope this is very helpful for some of y’all because like like so many guys say they didn’t have no kind of knowledge and no awareness about any greek life y’all and i hope that you join the best fraternity there is you know making south africa fraternity incorporated
But if not it’s okay man but i appreciate you having me on here hook man for real yes i wanted to be here man yes sir all right sir where you go hey appreciate you having me on here man um always love for the home city um also everybody that’s watching i got
Some stuff brewing in my uh coming up soon so be on the lookout and i really hope i have your support all right hey let us know man we’re going to be there we’ll do man yes sir all right yo hey i appreciate you having me on man
I had a good time with the other uh brothers on here but you see the best for last why we are the first we are the first black greek eternity um um i appreciate you having me on here man um it’s a blessing it’s good to
Speak about this uh you know i haven’t talked about this in a long time but it’s good to express ourselves and let everybody know that’s watching you know what black greek is about and then that we’re not just about stepping so once again i appreciate you having me
Brother yes sir and again i appreciate you guys for joining uh for the audience i appreciate you guys for tuning in uh make sure you continue like commenting and uh and sharing and again i appreciate y’all man i’ll holla
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