Racism has been condoned at the University of Alabama as all-white sororities win their fight to ban black students from applying. A group of 27 student senators blocked a bill to fully integrate fraternities at the establishment from reaching a public vote, with just five in favour, and two abstentions. It has sparked outrage as critics blast the ‘backwards’ state of student societies more than half a century after the university first granted black students entry. The conflict emerged after the student newspaper Crimson White published an article last year reporting all-white groups had accepted two black applicants. The paper reported that Pan-hellenic society members blamed their alumni for ‘stepping in’ despite their attempts to back the student’s application. Since 1963, only one black student had been permitted entry into the Greek system[.]
Here we are in the 21st century…and we still find ourselves dealing with troglodytes who judge people based on the color of their skin. We could be evaluating people based on the content of their character…but, no, we’re still judging an individual’s worthiness based on the level of melanin in their skin.
I suppose I shouldn’t be surprised that this is occurring at the University of Alabama, the same institution where close to 100,000 screaming ninnies gather on autumn Saturday afternoons to root for their beloved Crimson Tide football team. That most athletes on the team are African-American seems almost beside the point. As long as the Tide wins and the faithful can file out of Bryant-Denny Stadium screaming “ROLL TIDE!!,” nothing else really matters.
Fifty-plus years after the end of the Civil Rights struggle, there are still those at the University of Alabama who have little use for African-Americans unless they’re playing football or basketball. The university was integrated a half-century ago, and yet their sororities are still stuck in the era of separate water fountains and segregated buses.
It seems the more things change, the more they stay the same…especially in Alabama.
