White Sorority Step-Off Win Causes Controversy

Should a White sorority be allowed to win a historically Black step competition? The judges of the Sprite Step-Off Challenge think so. The girls of Zeta Tau Alpha, a predominantly White sorority from the University of Arkansas beat out five other teams to win the coveted prize of $100,000 at the national Sprite Step-Off competition last weekend. The issue has since caused so much uproar that Sprite recounted and called a tie between ZTA and Alpha Kappa Alpha’s Tau chapter, a Black sorority. Both teams will now be going home with $100K prize. While the issues surrounding the judging of the competition are debatable (we may never know why Sprite decided to call a tie after all) we shouldn’t be surprised that Black Greek traditions, much like African American culture overall continue to evolve into mainstream culture. “Others are always going to be attracted to what you’re doing and are going to want to participate,” Lawrence Ross, author of “The Divine Nine: The History of African American Fraternities and Sororities,” tells the Associated Press. “If (Black Olympian) Shani Davis was prevented from speed skating simply because traditionally, no African Americans were in the field, we would be up in arms.” Do we have double standards?