Okay now introducing Our Guest Carrington Wickam she is a recent Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University graduate where she studied broadcast journalism and theater she now studies at the London School of economics and political science LSC and the University of Southern California fight on fight on Carrington is from the
City where things are indeed bigger and better Dallas Texas she humbly served as a student body president for the Florida A&M University student government Association she’s also a proud member of Alpha Capa Alpha sority Incorporated where she was initiated at Fu in the beta Alpha chapter Carrington graduated
From Booker T Washington High School for the performing in Visual Arts A ranked top 10 performing arts school in America and since the age of eight she has performed at the black Academy of Arts and letters with Curtis King okay purr thank you for coming yeah your Reon fam you
Do snake thing right with right the strip it feels funny not on campus doing it girl are you stuck all right all right okay I just want to say we had a wonderful semester together last semester together so I’m glad that you are here with us we if
Anyone makes me think of sority is it’s really you okay it’s really like I wish I told you to bring the AKA jacket but that’s on me guys I I should have brought the nail yeah but it’s okay um so guys what are we talk talk about today specifically I think we’re going
To start with discussing uh Greek life at HBCU versus pwi and then also discussing homecoming how that looks different which I’m really excited to hear like your perspective since none of us went to HBCU for undergrad um pros and cons of divine n versus panalin sororities and also I thought we could
Talk a little bit about Beyonce bringing HBCU homecoming to the mainstream get it let’s get into it but yeah so um I think for a lot of people like it’s just obviously you know you know you know and then sometimes people they get on campuses and they see
People doing great service great work um like you know they align with what they believe in and what they see um but for me it was um easy from birth my mom is also an AKA so they call that a legacy right exactly so like for me there was
No other option I was not looking left or right like my vision was tunnel oh that’s way my vision was very much tunnel tunnel vision coming next fall right right my vision was tunnel they’re like girl you did not eat um right sorry in theory it was good but um right so
You know it’s just obviously being on a HBCU campus it means so much because you’re not only joining the organization but you also are joining a chapter that has years of Rich history Rich culture it’s just literally 10 out of 10 experience I really can’t imagine being
On a campus that didn’t have a black student union and like an Asian student like a it’s just the Student Union right the culture yeah so you know but like also de and I is very important HBCU campus like that’s something that I had to like help the community understand
Because like then you’re looking at like the homeless population like just to like you know those students do exist you know these institutions are here um for people who are I would say non-traditional you know they were the first institutions for black people period you know so it’s a space to
Welcome everyone but you know you’re looking at lgbtq communi so like comes in its own wave but then I’m from Texas y’all I like didn’t know about Haitian people I didn’t know like you know like black people from France were there so it was just like diverse in its own
Black way and it was just amazing yeah there’s a lot of a lot of layers to Blackness when you’re in a black community you’re like whoa there’s actually a lot more to dig into but when you’re on a white school like USC Dei is just the black community the Asian
Community but then when you do it over there it’s like there’s way more to it and a lot more people helping and you know to be incorporating into the group so exactly and it’s just so interesting though CU it just depends where you are right regionally like up North I’m sure
There’s like a lot of Caribbeans down North I mean down south of course there’s a lot of Caribbeans you know but then like where’s the African population like you know it just it was very nice to like really AB breast myself into like what it felt like to be black and
Not feel like you have to like conform to one type in high school or whatever but to just be around Blackness that just was uncategorizable yeah one thing I do want to touch on that may I think it was kind of trending on Tik Tok
Recently what is that like to keep up in like all black spaces always you know when was Fleek a popular word like edges on fleek like always I’m just saying like to always have to look you know because they will go in on you right whereas at a
Pwi they might not know the difference is that’re they’re on you it’s a thing like I I on um sweatpants to come to class here and I was like oh I would never ifam you because it’s just like you feel like you have a standard to
Uphold and you don’t want to get caught lacking because everybody looks good like the fashion show thing I’m sure y’all saw that like it’s a fashion show like you really want to step yeah so like when I go to other like when I would go to& homecoming GI greatest
Homecoming on Earth they North Carolina it’s true um you literally plan your homecoming fit so I just can’t really imagine having pressure every single day and you know we are culture like we can get into that that’s a whole another episode for real but like the standard
Really is set by us and so many ways of culture so it’s in those spaces it’s like you want to look your best because you know that everybody’s going to look so good that’s crazy cuz like you grew up in Maryland but I grew up in Colorado
And then I went to a pwi so I went to ASU Forks up anyways so like sority like Greek life there is way different like when you you rush I think that’s one thing that I like I do not understand the difference cuz like rushing at a pwi
Is like from what I’ve seen like on Tik Tok it’s way more laxed and like way way different so like what are like I know you didn’t see it but are there anything things that you like similarities differences that you see being on USC like kind of being around this Greek
Life versus Greek life I would like to say we do not condone haing on this podcast right at all but my thing is um it’s like my best friend went to a pwi and oo no T no shade bestie if she sees this but she was like yeah I signed up
Today with the AKA I’m like you signed up what do you mean and why cuz that’s crazy like to me I’m like that’s crazy don’t do that like but it’s just you know I feel like this the standards are different right it’s just like but I I I
Like that I like people kind of to like stay in their own lane because that’s how things go AR it’s like oh we’re trying to be this institution and it’s not like the things that you do on other places just don’t do it but I have noticed though from like non panh
Helenic organizations on USC campus like you guys know the um like the sorority jackets like the line jackets they’re called they have line jackets and that just took me back like I literally almost fell out my chair I’m like a line jacket that’s crazy because like you
Know I know where it started so I’m like wow it’s just so interesting how that culture has just like infiltrated in different organizations um but other than that I feel like the Greeks hold it down on USC’s campus so that’s really nice to see that’s good do you see like
Um I don’t know I feel like there’s not a lot of blending between HBCU and pwi Greek life is that something that you like maybe want to touch on like the blending of those different groups of people wanting to do it more maybe like some people think like this is our thing
Like we don’t want to blend so right like this is our bubble this is your bubble I think some campuses some like college cities have kind of that sense of like I guess rivalry which is stupid cuz they’re all a part of the same organization but FAMU is in Tallahassee
Florida and we share with Florida State University so like the AK is over there we try to like comp combine and I almost say compare Lord have mercy compare right we try to compare to no we don’t do all that like we like you know we try
To combine we collaborate we do like the same initiatives when it comes to service so we’re like why not just double the success like right yeah for sure for sure I get that so Maddie can you tell us a little bit about your sority experience I guess like for me I’m from Baltimore
My mom went to Morgan State University so she went to HBCU and like I felt like my mom was going to kind of give me like some guidance as to like the whole College in general but also like sororities and she was like oh girl I
Don’t know anything about that like I we we had AK we had Delta like I don’t know what you’re going to do and I was like oh okay well like I think I want to rush like a panel inic sorority because I was on the cheer team I went to Loy and Mary
Mount okay right I was on the cheer team there and like all the other girls on my team were like you know rush like we’re all part of it so you should do this too and I was like okay and also at the time there wasn’t like divine nine sororities
At LMU now they have AKA in that might be it actually um which honestly I think that was because LMU students you have to come to USC to do like a divine nine sority USC would like take in like LMU Pepperdine any black students that yeah wanted to be a part
Of it they could come W over here but I feel like that’s so disconnected from your campus which kind of I feel like can take away from the experience a little bit but I was like sure I’ll do it but going through it was just so uncomfortable that I was like I don’t
Think this is for me because none of the I mean there was one sorority where like kind of one sorority and one fraternity where like the black students kind of just took those sororities and fraternities over even though they were like panal liic quote unquote like when
I went to the parties it was like oh this doesn’t feel like Panic like you guys kind of took it over but other than that it was just really no sort of diversity in the sorority and I felt like not that sense of home and it kind
Of almost made me regret choosing to go to LMU even though there were other experiences that I was like oh I really like this school for those experiences it was like hard to find community and I do think that like Greek life whether it be panal linic or Divine N is a great
Place to like make community and meet people especially when you’re moving so far away so for me going there and then not finding that Community was kind of like damn like maybe this is wasn’t the right choice for me and I think it made me even look back on my college decision
In general cuz I was so pressed about like oh I have to move to LA like I had this dream in my head since I was like 12 for some reason where I was like I have to Mo move to LA and my whole family was like what are you talking
About like you don’t know anyone in La that’s across the country like there’s there’s no reason for you to do this and like looking back on it they were right like there was truly no reason for me to come out here like why are we here but
You did it I mean like no and I love it but like and you’re eating it up so like like but like there was nothing that I was coming to pursue so there was there wasn’t really necessarily a reason to come and like I kind of shot down other
Ideas of like places I could go because I was just like oh I have to go to La and there’s no HBCU in La so that’s not like even really option so I was kind of forced to like look at pwis and and kind of decide what I thought was going to be
Right for me I don’t think there are hbcus on the west coast I don’t think so I don’t know if that’s a fact or not but I think you’re right yeah I fact check me but they if I’m being honest guys I didn’t even know P or PCU were a thing until I
Got to college really yeah it’s bad like my parents are from Africa like they don’t know nothing they didn’t know what was happening they’re like go to school and I was like bet like right and I went to Colorado so it was like Colorado State University Boulder like what is
The choice here you know what I mean so honestly I think it was um I was watching Tik toks and it was like is it strolling that’s when I started seeing like HBCU I was like yo that’s kind of lit low key that looks like right let the people know no
Literally and I was like wait this is like a thing I didn’t know this and then like when I went through rush I was like I’m so used to being around white people that it was just like anything I say was cool you know what I mean like I’m just
Talking and just like having a good time you are the black Bo like I’m chilling and then I didn’t realize it until they like started like doing like you know officer positions and stuff like that and it was like okay who’s going to be the Dei chair and then um like
Specifically after I rushed they were like red you need to tell your story and I realized that the people that they were saying like share your sorority story it was like usually the people of color like you know different cultural people to like show that there was a
Diversity but then when you’re like deep in it like your senior year and stuff like that you’re like that was a that was a facade you know like they really playing it up to seem like they’re really open but when you really look around the room it’s not it’s not like
That and I was I was looking at those Tik toks and I was like damn maybe a hpcu would have been fun like it would have it would have been so much more fun it was a cloud like I’m like this is not real in high school it was like so funny
Cuz I was always like too white or whatever this was to mean which is so stupid but then it’s like when you get to um an HBCU it’s like there’s no such thing as anything that’s like not wrong with you like you’re perfect and you’re black and like fit in literally find
Your space but also it was a great time to be Black by demand at an HBCU because you know 2020 happened and it’s like all these organizations want to invest into the black community like I’m telling you so many opportunities fell into my lap
And I feel like if I wasn’t there when I was I wouldn’t have had it I think we could talk about like the difference of the experience at a pwi versus a HBCU in 2020 because like for me personally I definitely felt a lack of support in
2020 um I was definitely I was at home for part of that because it was Co but like from institutions and like from my Prof I definitely felt a lack of support So wow I don’t know felt so safe and supported right like everyone around you
Was feeling the same anger rather it was because of like injustices or Co we all were going through the same thing in like a similar manner um with when it comes to our emotions but like I think my career started in Co like um I was running for a student body vice
President at the time and the elections were moved virtual so I had like an opportunity to speak with Dwayne Wade that wouldn’t have happened like on campus Kiki Palmer um like people who were at home they were like why not like I have the time so let me like do this
Let me invest into you the White House I got to work with the White House a lot like it was just like I feel like if people weren’t still it wouldn’t have happened so I’m just kind of grateful for the opportunity to have been like at
An HBCU when people are like all right let’s look towards the black people that you know kind of need these this support right now that’s really interesting because I feel like at a pwi it was like radio silence radio silence World fell through nobody said nothing about
Nothing to the point where I had to ask people like what are your thoughts like did you see this like is this happening in your world like it was just I felt crazy I literally felt so crazy were you silent or silenced right but no and then election on top of
That it was like wa was crazy colors were showing oh yeah yeah yeah crazy I had I had to cut a couple people off during that era cuz I was like this is crazy like it was big chop time and we’re cutting our friends off we’re cutting every chopping everything
Chopping everything chop year honestly 2020 I want to bring this home with like that Beyonce homecoming era it was really an era like if you didn’t watch it go watch it one of my one of my college classmates was a she Defender Queen she was playing
Guitar during it so yes shout out to Ari O’Neal um but yeah that’s like one thing that I think is super super super cool about HBCU and homecoming and the combo that is the one time marching band is cool homecoming you go for the music you
Go for like Battle of the Bands is it’s huge the major Reds they they tried to do that a little bit here I mean they are good the Cardinal Divas I just feel like they are underserved they’re pushed to the side as compared to like the song girls
I’m trying to choose my words yeah they’re not giving them any sort of like support I feel like cuz weren’t they like on the Jennifer Hudson show Jennifer hson I know gave them uniform someone else gave them uniforms like supporting them crazy they got to go to Jennifer Hudson and get uniforms but
They did what they had to do they did like Ser literally it’s just crazy at this sort of school that values football so much to have a performing team at a football game and y’all are going to do nothing like support them at all it’s but it proves like that even USC still
Has people of color fighting for their place on this campus you know what I’m saying like fighting for their culture to be seen and appreciated and funded and invested in so it’s like all right now USC like you have a good standard to uphold but we’re here in reality yeah
And I feel like if anyone would talk about why they aren’t supporting the Cardinal Divas it would have to go back to like tradition because the song girls have been like the tradition since like the 80s or whatever but it’s like time to evaluate our tradition and our
Traditions are rooted in white supremacy and how can we change that stay traditional in that tuition lower to the way it was when y started this institution how about that stay traditional financially yeah we’re clipping that to the right no that’s a bar that’s so yeah
I feel like if you look at almost any group of color on a white or PW campus it’s like it it always goes back to that you know like we’re rooted in our traditions all right well now we got to talk about the history of your traditions and how they don’t support
Anyone else besides you know that white Community we’ll be talking about that on another episode in this podcast because broke college students is not a hashtag it is life and it affects some of us way more heavily than others so but uh back to that homecoming conversation I feel
Like HBCU homecomings are lit I can’t even remember a pwi homecoming my thing is it was Thursday of 2023 last year I said isn’t it homecoming week Thursday it was a Thursday but you know homecoming starts from Sunday to Sunday on HBCU campus okay that’s right so the
Whole week have been over in my head it’s Thursday I said where are the the people like what what’s going on they were like oh no Saturday game day that’s homecoming I’m like that’s nuts that’s nuts but like it’s a festival at an HB to you Sunday to Sunday you start with a
Gospel concert you end with football game end with another concert end with parties um there are parties here so you know of of course the festivity aspect is intact at USC um or at the P I’ll stay General at the pwi um but I was like where are the festivities like also
HBCU homecoming like you see celebrities up and down like have you noticed that like the trend of like you want to just be at morous you want to be at Howard you want to be at FAMU but USC is a clout School too so that was nice to see
Too like Keith powers and Ryan Destiny just like walking by Tommy Trojan so that’s cool but yeah but it’s not an HBCU home it’s it’s not I mean like the celebrities be walking up and down the streets of LA here but like at any other pwi like in the middle of the country
Like there it’s not like that or they try to make it like that but it’s it’ll be nothing compared to HBC maybe your sprinkle of celebrity alumni but it’s not like yeah it’s like cuz like here rooted in the the faces the names the alumni HBCU that’s culture that’s Bible
You are going like like Grand parents like their parents Mom Dad everybody’s out like they’re showing out like that’s a part of their like like truly their livelihood it’s like within the homecoming and celebration and it’s like we know we’re going to have a good time homecoming week but not too much fun
Because you’re granny your mom your aunties like you got to make time for them you got to be coherent you know you you got to be you know in the right mindset to say hello to your mom and dad go get dinner because they also want to enjoy homecoming but I mean
It’s just it’s nothing like it my first homecoming I was like what is this classes were canceled um people were like pushing back things like because they knew homecoming was approaching it literally is just like vacation damn insane vacation with parties and with resources and lots of events it’s just
Like you get Hella free stuff it’s just amazing I’m so jealous of the the cookouts that’s the food looks so good the tailgates oh my God the tailgate please Lord please and it’s so funny because like on HBCU campus like there’s alumni tailgates and stuff but the fraternities throw the tailgates so you
Know you’re going to hit up the alpha tailgate right for like right you hit up the alpha tailgate for their specialty you hit up the Omega tailgate for their chicken like you know it’s just like you know what to do like what’s going on yeah it just sounds like from everything
We talked about there’s a lot of support in different aspects whether it’s like you know the tough time of Co but also like the fun times of homecoming like there’s people around that want to celebrate with each other be around each other even if you’re in a sorority like
It sounds like there’s a lot more support for the community right I would say that too yeah for sure and then it’s like now you guys are like competing with each other for financial assistance you know it’s not like competing for like to be seen or competing for
Existence it’s just like we need money now I got to compete it like Pro to them why we need more money for this you know instead of like prove to we need money for uniforms something as simple as like the girls needing uniforms like mhm you know yeah fighting different battles
Literally so different battles but same skin color Lord have mercy ORS you know but like I would say like reach like continue to like look for a black sorority period because it is a lifetime thing like that’s guaranteed sisters guaranteed like community that you have and I would
Because I have a question now like so the um analytic sororities just college right just College yeah right so like that’s what I was actually going to ask you like how do you feel about like cuz I was in a panalin sorority and it feels almost awkward reaching out to the
Alumni chapter of them because in the back of your head there’s like that thought that some of these alumni are 70 plus years old like they were in this chapter when black people weren’t allowed to be in the chapter so now you’re asking me like hey let’s celebrate 70y year members like deliver
A flower I don’t know if they want me at their doorstep they might not view me as a sister so like how does it feel in that comparison having that support postgrad you know as you continue into grad school alumni all that stuff it’s it’s amazing like my aunties like you
Know even they’re my sorority sisters like my aunties my my grandmas like everything like that support is unmatched if like someone is looking at my resume and they see it and they’re an AKA like that’s like guarantee like support it’s it’s amazing the network is vast it’s an international organization
It’s it’s literally like it’s like the cherry on top like always like it’s always the Cherry you know and even if they’re not AKA and they see that I’m a part of like a Greek organization that also is another connection that usually like gets us in the door mhm definitely
Yeah sounds like a lot of again support a lot of love you know you never have to question you know somebody else even if they’re not in the same you know AKA maybe they Divine n at the same school they’re like right yay we’re sisters you
Know like it’s there so I think that’s definitely another Pro are there any cons that you think you could say during your time in a Divine n during your undergrad or outside of your postgrad life yeah I would I would just say cons is that like um people kind of put Greek
On different campuses to a different pedestal but in reality it’s like calmed down you know so obviously like your life is Amplified almost like people are like really paying attention to you so it’s like no longer was I Carrington I was carington AKA you know what I’m
Saying so it’s like I had to represent myself like obviously you know that’s what I sign up for like that’s a part of the commitment that I made but it’s like um let’s say I ran a light oh carington AKA ran the light like now it’s aka’s
Fault that I ran the light you know so it’s just that part I would say is a really big con when it comes to like Greek life on campus um but another con I have to say um it just in hard time s people look for you they look to you
They look to your organization as like the answer so like let’s say for example if there was like an injustice it’s like okay what are the Greeks going to say about it you know so it’s like we’re all experiencing we’re all processing like everyone else so like that’s kind of
Sounds silly but it’s just so true like it’s like your opinions are Amplified almost or your actions are Amplified where people are like what are you guys going to do about it or say about it so I would say that’s a con but other than
That life is good yeah I guess get that it’s it’s it’s definitely a commitment you’re committing to being a sister and right I guess yeah a lifetime Comm lifetime seriously but then it’s also like service because you know a lot of people which I like is they hold you
Accountable like what did you do this for you know because it’s bigger than undergrad like you can have a good time and enjoy the benefits of you know the sorority life on campus but it’s like what are you adding to the organization when it’s not cute anymore you know it’s
Like you’re 20s something old like what service or like what initiatives are you bringing to this world for real which I like that accountability that’s I like that too thank you so much for joining us of course it was so fun to talk to you all it’s been real I hope it’s been
Insightful for y’all shout out y shout out to the listeners um Takeways want to don’t be afraid to pledge if you if you missed it an undergrad still got grb if but being in HBCU world there’s so much support that you might even be walking on an unrealistic Cloud so I only say that because like when I got to the first
Institution I went to there were a lot of non-black people that were like wow you’re just so different like almost trying to dim my light but I was just like on this light right where it was all about being great and thriving in your environment and you weren’t worried
About other races because you were around so much black Excellence that it almost like intimidated those around me we like interesting why are you so confident in Black like that’s kind of how it felt but it’s like why would I not be I graduated from an HBCU where
Like the standard is not even black like the standard is just Excellence period because we’re not worrying about race so I would say my takeaway is like just be you unapologetically fight for your space like the girls did on their dance teene fight for your space because
You’ll be seen if you got to go to Jennifer Hudson to get it then you got to go to Jenifer and get it like just do you PR no I think that’s actually a strong message especially for people that are not in those communities that constantly feel like they have to prove
Themselves like you’re not proving yourself you’re just showing the world how amazing you are right so continue to shine your light exactly cuz in these spaces we have to show up as that first layer black then we have to show up as our second layer woman then we have to
Show up as our third layer intelligent capable like worthy yeah you know but like whatever we’ll shed through the layers and you’ll see us we got it got it online yeah that was amazing that was good that was so fun yeah that was a good first episode Wooh
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