_Editor’s note: Payton Head served as Missouri Students Association president from January 2015 to March 2016. He graduated in 2016, and he is now a policy fellow at the National Campus Leadership Council._
We have a toxic culture when it comes to Greek Life that we have to change for the better. In my experiences, while they are a beacon of tradition and pride on campus, they have also been the center of supremacy and racism. People are “shocked” and “outraged” with what happened at Mizzou DU, but in reality this could’ve been any other chapter. My freshman year, my friends talked about having the door slammed in their faces because the men at Farmhouse weren’t accepting Black girls for the night. My sophomore year, I walked from my house on Fifth and Turner (now the Todd) on my way to attend my good friend’s gender transitioning party. I decided to cut through Phi Kappa Theta’s backyard where young men who were sitting on the back of a white pickup truck, wearing their letters, booed at me and another Summer Welcome leader, and then proceeded to call me a nigger. This was the incident that inspired me to run for MSA president once I decided that I wasn’t going to transfer from the university to an HBCU down south. I ran on a platform of inclusion so that no one else would have to feel that kind of shame and humiliation, the kind that I felt that night.
One of the biggest issues on this campus is the fact that many of you don’t hold members of your chapter accountable. You hide behind your letters and hashtags like “Not All Greeks.”
The issue isn’t that all Greeks are racist. It’s easier for some of you to blame me for all these issues to distract people from the real issue at hand. It’s true, not all Greeks are racist. Let me repeat, not all Greeks are racist. However, when you all continue to protect and make excuses for those in your community who say and commit acts of racism, you actually uphold the system of racism and supremacy in this country. Believe or not, your silence is compliance. Your silence sends a message that this kind of behavior is okay.
Last year, I distinctly remember sitting in the Geological Sciences auditorium at the IFC Greek Forum on Race Relations at Mizzou. The facilitator asked a question that brought chills to my body. He asked for those of you all who had seen racism perpetuated towards a member of the community in your house and didn’t say anything, to raise your hands. In a packed room, every last person raised their hand.
The issue isn’t black student fragility or freedom of speech. It’s not even your radical black gay president and homecoming king from last year. The issue is that you all continue to allow this culture to exist within your chapter. So stop pointing fingers. We don’t have time for that anymore. Mizzou can’t afford to move backwards.
If you can’t hold members of your organization accountable to the values of the chapter and the university, they don’t need to be there. If you constantly find yourself annoyed with racist and sexist things said in your chapter house, call your brothers and sisters out! I am fed up. I have called my chapter out on issues because I love them, and when I call them out they are empowered to be the best that they can be which is a reflection of our chapter, national organization, and me.
My heart truly aches watching members of the Mizzou community still being subjected to this kind of hatred. When you join a Greek letter organization you pledge to be part of something greater than yourself — so make it great. If you’re feeling defensive, ask yourself why that might be? It sucks to have your community painted with one brush doesn’t it? Welcome to our lives as black students and black people in America.
There is a culture change that has to happen. It can’t just be on the administration and students of color. ALL members of the community have to be invested in making Mizzou a good home for everyone. You have the power to do that today and every day that you walk in and out of your chapter houses and into our campus community. And if you think that we don’t have a problem, just stay tuned for all of the hate that I’m going to get just for posting this. We have a culture to change, Mizzou. You can watch it happen or you can be a part of it. I hope you choose the latter.
