I would like to address accusations that my sorority sister and I were “racist” for wearing afros in the Greek God and Goddess dance competition. A statement was made: “no person can tell me that they were not dressed up as Black twins, calling themselves circus freaks.” Well, I am here to tell you that we were not black twins, but rather white twins with textured hair, which does exist. I understand the cultural association of afros with African culture, but I can personally attest to afros being natural in the white community as well, even though they are not as common. My father, a white Italian man, had a natural afro in high school and college due to his extremely curly hair. Similarly, my younger sister has extremely curly, textured hair that, when short, becomes an afro. My grandfather did as well. So, do not call me a racist for wearing a wig that essentially resembles my father’s hair, because I am the furthest thing from that.
As a white person, I recognize that I have privilege, but I am not blinded by it by any means. My high school was an inner city school in Akron, Ohio and was 75% black, and I have been passionate about fighting inequality for as long as I have been socially and politically aware. I have witnessed injustice at home and have educated conversations about systemic racism regularly with my friends of all ethnicities. Here at DePauw, I took part in the multicultural demonstration and stood in silent solidarity after the protestors originally visited, as I was horrified by the police brutality and what had taken place. After the fact, I also reached out to multicultural leaders to help spread their message. You cannot call me uneducated or blinded when I AM educated about these issues and have reached out to a community I genuinely care about.
A great deal of that education came from my high school friends, many of whom are Black (as I was a minority at my high school). I am not using this as the “my Black friend” cop out: I do have Black friends who I often discuss issues of race with and who I care deeply about. They, along with many DePauw friends, loved the costume, and recognized that the characters we were portraying were not Black. We wore wigs so that we could be identical, conjoined white twins and nothing more. As previously stated, I understand the association of afros with Black culture, but I must reiterate that Black people are not the only culture with natural afros. We did not wear cornrows or dreadlocks, as those are strictly from black culture and I recognize how offensive that would be. We never meant any offense, and to have our actions misconstrued in such a way is something I cannot be quiet about. And I sincerely apologize for any unintended offense that was inflicted. I know some will still accuse me of being blinded, but anyone who truly knows me knows that I am an active supporter of the Black Lives Matter movement and other cultural/social movements and am fully aware of the injustice in this country and around the world.
Additionally, to call Theta a “white women's fraternity” is incorrect. We currently have minority members, and have in the past as well. Yes, all of the girls in the dance were white, but this is no fault of our own. You must look at the campus demographic and the number of multicultural women who rush the Panhellenic sororities and how distribution occurs amongst the houses. Do not call us “all-white” as if we are some white elitist group that purposefully excludes other ethnicities. Do not throw false accusations.
Let’s constructively address issues on this campus by speaking to each other before we throw accusations. Accusing me of being racist for wearing a wig that resembles my own family is not going to eliminate the real problem. Writing an editorial harshly accusing me of being something that I am not does not solve any problems or help us progress as a campus. I am passionate about ending systemic racism and fighting injustice. I am on your side; I am not the enemy. We must come together instead of tearing each other down. Let us all have conversations before accusing and denouncing each other, because you may find that we are all more alike than you think.