AKA Turns 100… I Remember When I Gave A Damn.

I can’t front on the AKA’s I attempted to join their organization many moons ago. Prior to going to college I was not exposed to Greeks or the significance of their existence. In my neighborhood the only thing close to this was the Bloods, Crips, Gansta Disciples and the Vice-Lords.

My first few weeks of college I noticed how fraternities and sororities dominated our college campus. I made note that all the popular people belong to Greek organizations. I was captivated by the stepping, calls, gear and appearance of black sororities. On my campus there was always some beef between the Deltas and the AKA’s but it was all taken in stride.

Most of friends wanted to pledge Zeta, some wanted Delta, but me I wanted AKA. At that time AKA’s represented what I thought of myself. They were girly girls (such as myself), very business focused (another attribute of myself), community minded (me too!) and hated on by other black sororities.

My sophomore year came around and I was ready to pledge the pink and green. I went to their informational and was greeted with very professional women. They made me feel welcomed and suggested I would be a great candidate. However, the cost to pledge was $ 350.00. I was a little put off by the price, but hey this was apart of the process.

After filling out some paper work the next week I was officially on line to become a skee-weeing AKA. I was so excited I did not know what to expect but I met my line sisters and they seemed to be nice people who were just as excited as me. We were told from this point forward not to wear pink or green until we crossed over.

My first assignment on line was to meet my line sisters at a soror house. Once we arrived, we were told to clean her house from top to bottom. All the sudden these nice sorority chicks had become our pledge master and were screaming at the top of their lungs. WASH THEM DAMN DIRTY CLOTHS, SRUB THAT FLOOR ON YOUR HANDS AND KNEES, POLISH THE SILVER, CLEAN THE TOLIET WITH A TOOTH BRUSH, WIPE DOWN THE WALLS AND CLEAN ALL THE CEILING FANS!!!!!!!


Hell, I had never cleaned my own house that good. Finally after a 6 hour cleaning session we were told to do the soror’s homework. After a full 8 hours of being subjected to cleaning and homework we were told to meet at another soror’s home at 11:00pm. After doing my own homework and working a few hours I was dead beat tired but I was ready when my line sisters showed up at my dorm room at 10:30pm.


That night we were told to wear white shirts and jogging pants. We lined up in front of a wall in a dark basement. Immediately we were hosed down with cold water. We were yelled at and humiliated as much as possible. They kept us there until 4:30am doing silly songs, dances, eating horrible concoctions and reciting AKA history on demand.


In the coming weeks the sorors made us babysit every weekend, pay for blunts and marijuana, pick kids up from school, do their homework, make breakfast in bed and drink tequila til we could barely stand up . As the weeks went by the insults hurled at us while on line got worse. “Do ya’ll really think ya’ll AKA material cuz ya’ll look kinda ugly to me”. “ Lil sista so in so , you can stand to lose at least 20 pounds.”

Then finally the wood came. The sorors began to hit us with wooden paddles when we did not answer questions correctly. Towards the end every mistake required someone be given wood. At some point someone reported the hazing to the University and they closed down the entire induction process. The AKA’s charter was kicked off campus for two years and could not pledge anyone at the school. During my senior year I was asked if I wanted to pledge again. I answered a resounding HELL NO.

Sorry I just did not like the hazing part. I just did not find it amusing to be cursed at, talked down to, and made to feel undeserving the entire time I was on line. Plus I knew the process from hell would start all over again. Not, to mention during that time I had matured greatly and no longer needed the Greek letters to feel accepted or important. My friends told me if you join without hazing you will never get any respect from the other sorors. I believe they were right, it just was not a right fit for me anymore. I do believe there are some benefits to joining a sorority, but I don’t know if it’s worth your dignity.