Good afternoon southwest florida you are tuning in to divine destiny radio show i’m your host lady jay co-host trilla bella and this is andrew b what’s up world all right all right today we have another great show in line for you guys uh we have a caller
That will uh one of our guest speakers is a caller calling out of california melita wilson sorority member today we are talking about the divine nine how will you pledge but as we always do we always define what it is that we’re talking about so charlie if you could please
Define pledge fraternity sorority and we’re going to be talking about the national panhellenic council so we want people to know what it is that we’re talking about as well okay um a pledge is a solemn binding promise to do give or refrain from doing something to promise to join
In this case it would be a fraternity or a similar organization to pledge also means to accept as a prospective member of such an organization now of course today’s show is about fraternities and sororities so we wanted to let you know what these are now fraternity is a brotherhood though the
Term sometimes connotates a distinct or formal organization and a secret society sorority is a chiefly social organization of women students at a college or university usually designated by greek letters it’s also defined as an association or a society of women um we can talk about the national panhellenic council okay
Uh this is a collaborative organization of nine historically african american inter international greek letter fraternities and sororities the nine nphc organizations are sometimes collected collectively referred to as the divine nine the member slash partner organizations have not formally adopted nor recommended the use of this term to describe their collaborative grouping
The nphc was formerly as was formed as a permanent organization on may the 10th 1930 on the campus of howard university in washington dc nphc was incorporated under the laws of the state of illinois in 1937. the council promotes interaction through forums meetings and other mediums for the exchange of information and engages
In cooperative programming and initiatives through various activities and functions each constituent member organization determines its own strategic direction and program agenda today the primary purpose and focus of member organizations remains camaraderie and academic excellence for its members and service to the communities they serve each promotes community awareness and action through
Educational economic and cultural service activities okay well that’s not a mouthful but it kind of gives you um what the national panhellenic council is all about again this is an opportunity for us to get educated as well as educate you um angie can you please read matthew 22 38
Through 39 again matthew chapter 22 verses 38 and 39 it says this is the first and greatest commandment and the second is like it love your neighbor as yourself all the law and the prophets hang on these two commandments um just with us talking about brotherly
Love it should be love that motivates us to do everything that we do so um with the charity work and with the you know the donations and things like that that are given with these organizations our foundation should be motivated out of love because it’s a god thing you know
Well i wanted to read um an excerpt from the uh the divine nine which is a book that i was asked to kind of look into and uh after reading some of the excerpts i said i really i think i’m going to purchase it it um by lawrence c ross jr
It basically says the achievements of the nine national panhellenic organizations and their individual members are astounding when you consider the total history of oppressed africans in america to have created african-american organizations that stress education philanthropy self-improvement and excellence and to have them successfully thrive to this
Day is a testament not only to the members of the organization but also to the vision of their respective founders there is a reason that the divine nine organizations and their members are successful they consistently step up into the arena in order to make the best effort for their community the
Fraternity or sorority is more than the wearing of letters or the singing of hymns it is it is the collective realization that the unit that the unit is stronger than the individual but that the achievements of the individual greatly enriches the unit in this way scholarship funds may be raised
Mentorship programs implemented and lives affected favorably this is the overall purpose of the divine nine however divine nine organizations are not without their critics some point to the history of hazing and the brutality within the pledge process as having a divisive effect on not only the organizations but the individuals who
Were the victims some say that fraternities and sororities divide rather than unite african americans and others point out that fraternities and sororities have an untapped potential which has not been realized and do you know that the answer is to uh all of these criticisms basically it’s saying that there is like
You were saying earlier hearing some of the negative things unfortunately you you’re going to have it you know in both there are some cases where there’s some hazing but then there’s also cases where you have people that are you know upstanding citizens and they’re doing great work in the
Community and it’s with anything else anytime something is put together for the good there will always be something or someone that willing to take it you know to the next level and um and that’s that like i said the movie school day just painting such a negativity you know
The segregation among the people of color you know all that and it kind of turned me off from a very young age it says and do you know that the answer is to all these criticisms in some ways those arguments are absolutely right as with any organization things don’t
Always work smoothly nor do the ideals of the organization always trickle down to each individual member the fraternities and sororities don’t promise that they will have a perfect organization what the fraternities and sororities do promise is that the greater body will make an effort to strive toward that lofty idea their
Lofty ideals and this alone makes the divine nine organizations relevant and indispensable this book attempts to enlighten fraternity and sorority members prospective members of these organizations high school students and all those interested in african-american history my question is if i can do all these things without belonging
You know to the organization what is the benefit you know it’s kind of like if i’m gonna be a member of something what am i getting out of it right you know not that it’s just about me but what is that incentive what is that thing that
Will make me choose this over this well one thing you gotta look at is um all of these are in college and like you said these are people that are away from their families right so they do join it because you know they like the camaraderie they like to be together
They like to have a force but for me i was big into our black student union before my black student union you would not have gotten me up to speak in front of people let alone sing in front of people to read anything in front of
People to be on a radio show it was the influence of those other people that reeled me in so i mean i know now because of the influences that i had that i can do it um you know it it takes people like you who can do it without having an organization
To draw people like me who could not do it without an organization now you know one of those people i know i can i know what i can do and i want to do it and you know that’s how that is but it takes people like you to pull
That out of other people and i think that’s one of the biggest things that um that is one of the biggest things that made me want to pledge because i wanted to pledge delta at one point in time but um you know by being in the black student
Union i found everything that i needed in the black student union that i was looking for in the deltas so i really didn’t feel a need to pledge um but you know all in all that i think that that’s why these things happen because you know someone like you saw somebody
Like me and said hey they can be something bigger and better let me help them okay we do have our guest caller miss melita wilson and um she’s is she on the line right now um this is um lady j i spoke with you on last night
And um i just wanted you to call in and just share your heart um about the greek life and just tell us a little bit about who you are in your experience your journey okay um well as you as you mentioned my name is melita and i’m actually a native of
Fort myers but i now reside in rancho cucamonga california you know i was really excited to hear about the topic that you were presenting today because it is near and dear to my heart i’ve been a member of my organization for almost 20 years now i’ve been active and financial since joining
I did join after i graduated actually a year after i graduated from college i’m a graduate of bethune cookman the great special cookman university in daytona beach florida and i have a bachelor’s from bazoon and i have a master’s from central michigan university and let me see i’m a mother of two
And i also have a non-profit it’s called hbcu campus tours where i do ment where i mentor students and take them to visit historical black colleges and universities around the country um how i became interested in my particular organization um i guess it would start when i was a
Young a young lady growing up in fort myers there were various mentor groups mentor mentorship programs and my particular organization had a group then was called the dell teens and our mentors a lot of my mentors were my educators in school and so in this in our adult team program they
Taught us how to act like young ladies um and they took us to visit you know the various colleges my mentors helped me filled out my college applications you know helped me to prepare for the sat the act those type of things and so that’s really how i became interested in it
They also taught us about volunteerism you know to give back so that’s how i i got introduced to it okay one of the things that you said to me which is i actually heard from a student right now that is attending fgcu um she told me that that one of the
Reasons why she did not pledge is because it was a fear of the god factor um and something that you mentioned to me as well that you would never put anything before god so apparently uh she is not the only person that is thinking that way so what would you say to
Encourage her that it’s not about putting anything above god i think sometimes the misconception um with folks is that you know fraternities and sororities are like a cult and when we look at the cult you know there’s always these demonic you know demon evil you know things and
With the divine nine which is um uh all nine of the fraternities and sororities um i know it with in particular my organization was founded on christian principles and when i say they were founded on christian principles everything that we learn about our organization primarily comes from the
Bible what it what it stands on comes from the bible and i tell people all the time that becoming a member of my organization has helped me to become a better christian um even though i grew up in the church i don’t think that i was really well
Versed you know in the bible and its context you know until i began to study it more you know through my organization and so saying that you know putting god first i god is first in my life and everything that i do my family you know my livelihood you know and then my
Organization all of these things all of these things collectively help make up who lolita is as a person so to that person who says that you know that these uh sororities and fraternities you know um are not for the good of the order i would i would ask that you do your research
Um and just look at maybe it’s not for you but that’s not to say that it’s not for somebody else one of the things that i was asking um of you is if a person wanted to pledge but they were unsure of which organization to pledge with
What would be your suggestion to them there’s a book that i always encourage especially young people who approach me about joining my particular organization i tell them don’t want to join an organization because i’m a member of it or because you know um you know someone else that’s
A member or they step the hardest or they’re the baddest or they’re the prettiest you know do your research um there’s a book called the divine knight and it’s by uh lawrence ross who lives here in southern california and he’s done a thorough research of all the divine nine organizations and
It lists the five fraternities and the four sororities in their history you know why they were founded why certain people um you know joined them and also some of the celebrities or notable people that are part of that organization and so i would say definitely read that
Um you know go to some of their functions that they have participate you know in the community service you know aspect of it and get that feel for yourself
source
