Tradition. Ritual. Habit. Institution. All of these words are synonymous, for the most part. Yet, each has its own connotation dependent on the words that complement it: “The Institution of Slavery” and “Bad Habit” are examples. There are also good traditions. These could include giving someone a toast, volunteering at a food bank on Thanksgiving or giving gifts to someone on his or her birthday. Religious and spiritual holidays built on honorable values are good rituals.
But there are also bad traditions. Many traditions are bad traditions. Terrible ones. Upsetting ones. Bad habits.
Earlier this month, a short video caused an uproar in the media. The footage showed Sigma Alpha Epsilon Fraternity members at Oklahoma University singing a racist chant. The words they cheered flowed all too easily off of their lips. One of the ringleaders raised his fist, grinning eerily, and chanted the lyrics to the song with pride: “There will never be a n****r in SAE/You can hang him from a tree/but he can never sign with me…”
One student tried to push the video camera away—he knew that the whole situation was unsettling and inappropriate—but the student with the camera continued to film.
By now, this event is common knowledge. The young men in this video were not born racist. No one is born with bigotry flowing through their veins. Hatred, chauvinism, sexism and homophobia are all taught and passed down from generations. People adopt prejudices against people who are different from them. Simply put, narrow-mindedness is tradition—a bad tradition. A bad habit.
I have drawn the conclusion that the young men of Sigma Alpha Epsilon at Oklahoma were comfortable singing the racist chant because they considered it “traditional.” And this mindset doesn’t hit so far from home.
This concerns me. This should concern all of us. I find it increasingly difficult to believe that, as a generation, we are fine with simply accepting things as they are because “that’s how it’s always been.”
Of course, this is not always the case. Over the past eight months or so, young people have stood up and protested against police brutality, spawning the “#BlackLivesMatter” movement to break down racial barriers. This is progress, but it is not progressive enough.
We need to take preventive measures. At Oklahoma, university officials condemned the actions of the local Sigma Alpha Epsilon chapter. The school expelled the two most prominent figures in the video and shut down the SAE chapter almost instantly. Of course, officials believe that such obtrusive racism is unacceptable, but these actions will not cause the racist students to get rid of their xenophobic thoughts—it is already too late for them.
The only way to eradicate something is to stop it before it starts. There is no vaccine for bigotry. All we can do is change the culture and educate younger generations.
Here is my advice. If you are in a situation where you are told to do something because “everyone else has to do it,” and it makes you uncomfortable, then say something about it. Just because events are considered “ritualistic” or “traditional” doesn’t mean that they’re right.
Use good judgement. Speak up. Enough with the bad habits.
Peters is a member of the class of 2018.
