Why I am No Longer a Member of a Black Greek Lettered Organization

Firstly, I was never supposed to be a part of a greek lettered organization in the first place, but I allowed myself to be deceived and rationalized my way into thinking it was okay. Secondly, it doesn’t do what it claims to do. Therefore, it is of no true value/benefit to black people, society at large, or me. 

Since the largest two religions in the world are Christianity and Islam I will attempt to use both religious texts to prove why being a member of a Greek Org is not for Believing men and women. The first commandment states “Thou shalt have no other gods before me.” Yet, in many of the Greek letter org rituals, one vows to give their “mind, body, soul, and time” to their Greek letter org. This is stated in all of their oaths in one way or another, but I will speak specifically about Alpha Kappa Alpha since that’s the org I joined and know about. How can you vow your life to a Greek org as a Believer when your entire life is supposed to be dedicated to serving the One True God? Luke 10:27 says “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind.” The Alpha Kappa Alpha pledge states “O Alpha Kappa Alpha, we pledge our hearts, our minds, our strength, to foster their teachings, obey thy laws, and make thee Supreme in Service to all mankind. O Alpha Kappa Alpha we greet thee.” They took a bible verse and flipped it from dedicating those things to God to instead dedicating those things to the greek letter org. That’s very deceptive.

In Islam we are taught that everything we do should be done for the sake of Allah and must be in accordance with God’s divine laws written in the Torah, Gospels, Quran, and lived out by our prophets such as Jesus and Muhammad (peace be upon them). Putting an organization on an equal footing as God is an absolute no no and is considered a major sin. 

The rituals go on to mention “It is not possible to know if Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority will provide sweetness to the bitterness in your life - but you must believe that it will.” This statement is essentially asking you to place blind faith in this organization. What “sweetness of your life” is it promising to bring? Wealth? Popularity? Love? Friends? Whatever it is, you are placing your faith in an organization and not your God. God is the provider of sustenance on earth, not a Greek organization. All of your faith should be in your Lord.  You’re treading muddy waters here and definitely crossing the burning sands right into hell if you accept and believe this without denouncing and repenting. Excuse my frankness. 

I joined Alpha Kappa Alpha sorority in 2019. This was one year prior to me re-dedicating my life to God. I reverted back to Islam in 2020 during Covid. It was during this time that I began to question everything that I was doing in life. The question I would ask myself was “Is this in line with the guidance prescribed to me by my Lord?” I began to look at the organization with a side eye. I’m not heavy into politics, but I do believe it is important and affects the people. One thing that always perturbed me about these Greek orgs was the drive to get Black people to the polls to vote, but since they are non-partisan, they are not allowed to say which way one should vote and why. This practice is destructive for the Black people they claim to want to help. 

Black people need an agenda and a strategy that works for them, not against them. No, Black people are not a monolith but there are issues that we collectively deal with as a whole and can come to some agreement that we need assistance from our government to make those areas of our lives better. If these GLO’s are such powerful organizations, they should have the ability to really influence Black people to vote on behalf of themselves, but they don’t and won’t. They don’t want to because they need to maintain their elite status and can care less about the peasants below them as long as the money flows from their perceived master. 

What really irked me was their drive to get one of their “own” to the top - Ms. Kamala Harris. It’s so funny to me that AKA’s and other GLO members vow to help other members of their org at any cost. For example we were expected to go out to the polls in droves to vote for Kamala Harris simply based off the fact that she is an AKA, not because of any substantial change she would make on behalf of the people we as an org claim to be in service to - Black Americans (particularly Black women). However, Kamala, in an interview (Watch here https://youtu.be/hsB6EWNUcyY  1:49 minutes in) stated “I’m not going to sit up here and say I’m going to do something that’s only going to benefit Black people.” Well, why not? Congressmen pass legislation everyday on behalf of one group of people. For example, there is specific legislation for Native Americans that allow them to receive certain benefits based on their racial status. They get that because someone lobbied on their behalf and a VP, President or whoever agreed to help that specific group. So it should not be absurd for a VP to say they would pass legislation specifically for Black people. It’s unfortunate that AKA would support someone simply because they wear pink, green, and pearls and makes their god (AKA) look good. That’s totally wrong. But since someone becomes the first Black female Vice President, visual representation becomes all that matters to AKA. 

Also, the organization is about fake appearances and I detest that. There’s the cocky, conceited pretty girl image that one must uphold. They also have this thing about not taking pictures with alcohol when you are associating with AKA, wearing paraphernalia or mentioning their branded name. However, at nearly ALL of their social events there is alcohol and/or partying. I was out with a group of AKA’s. Mind you - I don’t drink. I ordered a Shirley Temple which is basically lemon-lime soda mixed with cherry syrup. The girls wanted to take a picture and my glass was on the table. One of the girls frantically grabbed my drink and said “Uh uh, move the drink because we can’t have alcohol in our pictures.” With my nose turned up I was like “Chill, that’s not even alcohol.” Mind you she just downed her glass of Hennessy or whatever she was drinking. So for picture purposes, you want to act like you don’t drink, when EVERYONE who was there was drinking alcohol. 

It’s not the fact that they want to hide drinking because it promotes something bad and deflects negatively on the organization. I don’t take issue with that. Islam has a strong stance on alcohol, yet some Muslims still drink. However, you know that’s a choice an individual is making and that the religion/God does not accept that.  However, if that’s the case, AKA should ban alcohol, not serve it, and actively announce that members should refrain from drinking alcohol. But to only have a policy of not taking pictures with alcohol means it’s only for optics. 

All of the reasons above and more led me to denounce my letters. I only serve one God and He is more than enough. I rely on Him for the good things of life, not anyone else. I have nothing personal against any woman that is a part of this org. I still love you as divine creations of God. We are all sisters and brothers who descended from our mother and father Adam and Eve, created by God. We will always be family. However, the only people who recognize this divine family are called Believers, not AKAs, Alphas, Ques, Deltas etc. Jews are 15 million strong. Christians are 2.2 billion strong. Muslims are nearly 2 billion strong. That’s 5 billion Believers. Those are the largest organizations worldwide and form the best brother and sisterhoods known to mankind. There’s no need to further separate yourselves. As Black people the phrase “United we stand. Divided we fall” speaks to how we should move on this earth.