Now if you don't know... I'm a proud member of Groove Phi Groove Social Fellowship, Inc., an organization that prides itself on being the first Non-Greek fraternal organization for African American men. By no means am I a hater, nor am I Anti-Greek... as a matter of fact, some of my best childhood friends were Greek. But I am Anti-Black Greek. Sure, one could argue that many of the top figures within the Civil Rights Movement were members of these BGLOs, but do I want to continue being a miseducated negro, or live in the past for that matter? Would it be possible for me to take Africana Studies seriously as a Black Greek (at least from an afrocentric approach)? No.
"But... but... you can't just take a random English word and place it around Phi and call yourselves members of the D-9! That's ignorant!" - Confused Greek Negro
Many often ask me why we use the letter Phi, instead of using an "African" letter. Well, without diving into the significance of oral tradition in African cultures, I'll just ask you: Would you really be able to recognize a hieroglyph and pronounce it correctly? If you don't care enough about Africa to call yourself an African... you probably wouldn't (hell, I couldn't). Our Phi is Kemetian in origin, representing the fire of life. Even in regards to the Greek use of Phi to represent the Golden Ratio, I'm one to agree with the notion that the Golden Ratio manifests within the architecture of the pyramids of Kemet. The fact that this organization was founded 6 years after the publishing of George G.M. James' Stolen Legacy hints at the fact that the organization is aligned with the foundation of the Black Studies Movement. Rapidly assimilating, Africans in the New World no longer feel a need to reach back to home. Maybe this is why I'm met with such nonchalance or even opposition from my colleagues as I challenge the cultural hegemony of Western civilization... most deny the existence of such hegemony. Look into the past of your educational career... how much time was spent discussing the achievements of Africans in your 9th grade World History class? I know that we skipped over it entirely in my class. Why must we attribute the development of philosophy to the Greeks, when the first philosophical text came out of Kemet (The Teachings of Ptah-Hotep)? Even the Greeks themselves agreed that the Kemetians were the most ancient people that they knew, and wrote of their greatness. It seems that we have fallen victim to the campaign to erase the African from history, exemplified by Hegel's handling of Africans within his philosophy.
"Ok... so you've said a lot of nothing... 'groove' still isn't African..." - Confused Greek Negro
Neither are you, apparently. I hear this way too often from negros who love to make excuses. Groove was chosen as it was a very important word within the African American lexicon at the time (and still is). I don't find it necessary to go into complete detail of what "grooving" is. Groove to me is essentially equated with the concept of Afrocentric rhythm... the drums that sound deep within our souls. Groove is synonymous with Swing, Jazz and Funk. I'm tired of hearing excuses for Black Greekdom. We are Non-Greek by CHOICE, and that CHOICE becomes the only viable one if the words of George G.M. James are taken seriously... to reiterate, James asserts that New Africans must "relinquish membership from all Greek lettered fraternities and sororities and abolish all Greek lettered fraternities and sororities from all colored colleges because they have been a source of the promotion of inferiority complex and of educating the Black people against themselves."
"Well... who's he anyway?" - Confused Greek Negro
Please... PLEASE stop using 'Stolen Legacy' to promote your events in order to project an "afrocentric" image. PLEASE don't talk about the book on your organization's website. Afrocentricity has already been dealt such a hard blow, I'd rather not have only its aesthetic equated with the metatheory. Being Greek and citing Stolen Legacy as one of your inspirational texts is rather contradictory... it shows that you never read the damn book.
...Oh yeah... Fsck Ya Frat... and Fsck a Pan-Hellenic! Come join the Pan-Kemetic.
HOTEP.
