Something that has been on my mind for the past week…
“The brown paper bag test was a ritual once practiced by certain African-American sororities and fraternities who discriminated against people who were “too black”. That is, these groups would not let anyone into the sorority or fraternity whose skin tone was darker than a paper bag. Spike Lee’s film School Daze satirizes this practice.” (source)
For all my brothas and sistahs out there who have gone to the ends of the earth in search for apologies from organizations and/or companies who discriminated against blacks, got a question for you. Has there ever been a demand for a public apology by black organizations such as sororities and fraternities who took part in discriminating against darker-skinned blacks?
Former General President Belford Lawson , Jr. (Alpha Phi Alpha) lamented this attitude and condemned initiation practices of snobbery and exclusivity, and said “Jesus Christ could not make Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity today; they would blackball Him because He was not hot enough” (source)
While this bit of information is definitely good to know, I wonder just how far disciplinary action was taken against such practices (Were chapters ever shut down? Members expelled? etc.). After all, like the first excerpt mentions, this is something that has been taking place (and still does in some quarters) within some chapters years beyond the days of the actual brown paper bag test.
Should these organizations issue an apology as well?
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