Similarly, a quote from a Founder about the
early history of the organization can be considered a primary source of information
while someone else chronicling the history of the organization can be considered
a secondary source , since they would be recieving their information from (you
guessed it) primary sources.
Problems with argument#4
Argument #4 was presented in this fashion on the NPHC list:
--> > I AM SORRY THAT YOU TAKE OFFENSE THAT MY SOROR CALLED THE MEN
OF PHI
--> > BETA SIGMA: "PHI BETA" BUT THINK ABOUT IT, IF THEY REALIZED THAT
SIGMA
--> > WAS SO INPORTANT AND PREDOMINENT WHY MAKE IT THE LAST PART OF YOUR
--> > ORGANIZATION. BACK IN 1914 THE MEN OF PHI BETA SIGMA SHOULD HAVE
--> > REALIZED WHAT WE KNEW SINCE OUR ORGANIZATION WAS FOUNDED THAT A
TWO
--> > SYLLABLE WORD HAS MORE INPACT. SO HOW CAN YOU DECIDE DOWN THE ROAD
--> > THAT
--> > YOU WANT TO BE NAMED SIGMA. SO WITH THAT MUCH LOVE TO NPHC
(all the typos in here are from the
actual e-mail of the individual ).
This is fun-E. Here's my reply.
We were referring to ourselves as Sigma long before your organization
was
founded in 1922. Using your fractured logic, I could see where
you'd come to
that conclusion about the names. Who the hell are you to determine
what MY
organization deems important as far as the symbolism of our letters
go?? We
have them the way we have them for a reason-and that reason is
none of your
business. We've been Sigma since 1914 and will continue to be
Sigma-PERIOD.
You want us to not refer to you as RHOS, then do not be just as
ignorant and
refer to us as PHI BETAS. You want respect, give it equally. Frankly,
I have
no problem calling women of Sigma Gamma Rho Sorority 'Sigma Women'
to
differentiate between my brothers and your sorors. However it's
people like
you who come up on the list spouting off nonsensical GIBBERISH
BOVINE
SCATULATION that continue to cause drama on here.
You would be wise to follow the advice of some of your other sorors
on here
who've already squashed the issue and grow up.
One of my frat brothers on the list had an EXCELLENT reply which I wish I'd
have saved, but alas, I'll have to reconstruct one based on what he said: When
our beloved Founders picked out the letters to represent our organization, they
were picked out for meaning and the order they were placed in was done so for
a particular meaning. This information, however, is esoteric and is not to be
discussed in public, but only amongst members of Sigma. Why we place emphasis
on a particular letter or letters is our business. Why we refer to ourselves
as members of Sigma is personal.
After I sent this message, a member of another NPHC Fraternity e-mailed me privately
afterward:
What's up Brother Sigma, I am Alpha
and I agree with you all
the way. Hey I don't know what goes through peoples' minds when
they say
certain things, but I hate the fact that people don't have enough
respect
for others to give as they want. Meaning
if you want respect in a certain
matter you need to do the same.
A lot of people do the talk and never walk
the walk.
You know Brother, I wonder the same thing sometimes.
All four of the arguments presented seem to be quite flawed. I submit, in response
(counter-argument), historical documentation of the use of the name SIGMA
in reference to the MEN OF PHI BETA SIGMA prior to the 1980's and retroactive
to the year 1914.
According to the argument above, members of
Phi Beta Sigma did not refer to themselves as SIGMAS until the mid-1980's. To
this, we have two solid pieces of evidence to refute this claim.
First among them are historical references. Simply digging into previous editions
of the Crescent and the Archon
, I managed to find several references which referred to members of Phi
Beta Sigma Fraternity as SIGMAS. These documents serve as primary source information-
they were in print and accepted as authentic at the time of their publication
and are valid as a means for assessing what Sigmas and those outside of Sigma
referred to members of my organization as during various time periods throughout
history.I submit for your review:
Secondly, the most compelling of these is found in our beloved Fraternity Hymn. While I am not at liberty to post our entire hymn on the web (and would not anyways, because everyone doesn't need to know it), I will post the portion of the verse which is quite significant to our argument here:
"And When we hear from time to time, 'Oh
SIGMA, what of the day?"
Our hymn was written in the year 1915.
Last time I did the math, 1915 did come before 1922.
A third and less popular argument is simply that members of Sigma Gamma Rho
Sorority do not UNIVERSALLY refer to themselves as 'Sigmas'
everywhere. I give as a prime example, the stepteam that performed on STOMP
95 - the name of the team? the WEST COAST RHOS . The tape is
available if you need it.
While there exists many flaws with this last argument, it does go a long way
in proving my point.
Evidence examined, we've been calling ourselves Sigmas since at LEAST 1915 (according to the documents listed above). And even if we were calling ourselves PHI BETAS back in 1914 (which I'm not denying, since even one of latest issues of the Crescent refers to one Bro. from one chapter as 'A Phenomenal Phi Beta') and NOT Sigmas, 1915 still comes before 1915 and 1917 show that members primarily involved in the earliest history of our organization made claim to the name prior to 1922.
So
what does this prove? That we're capable of causing drama over the
use of a name? GROW
UP!!!!! It's a damn shame
that I had to almost CUSS one person out over the list who took time
to present the fourth argument on the list just to try to make
herself feel good about her silly little point.
Per my understanding and at the
request of many of it's members on the NPHC list, members of Sigma
Gamma Rho Sorority do not mind being referred to as SGRhos, Sigma
Women and ladies of Sigma Gamma Rho. Bruhs, even though it's funny,
don't call them Rhos unless that's what they refer to themselves as
(e.g. the stepteam mentioned earlier for example). And don't call
them GAMMA RHOS, since their organization is a three letter
organization, not two, and you'd like them to refer to all three
letters of our organization, not just two. But by the same token, for
all you ladies of SGRho reading this, stop disrespecting my
brothers . You want respect, give it
equally .
As one person on the NPHC list took the time
to explain (since her husband is frat), Phi Beta is an internal designation
used by members of PBS to refer to each other - INTERNALLY. It's akin to walking
up to a Kappa and calling him a NUPE-
that's something personal and for members of the organization only and not designed
for general public use. It's disrespectful.
Phi Beta is also the designation of the family of BLUE AND WHITE----
whether it's Sigma or Zeta it's all PHI BETA. Last time
I checked, your colors were Blue and Gold.
Again, Phi Beta is a designation (in this case) for members of the Blue and
White family to be used internally and in reference to each other. Respect.
Do not take this article as an attempt to stir up controversy. Take it
as a final word on the subject from one who has taken time to research the truth
instead of going on hearsay and also as one who has had it up to his NECK with
the stupid things we cause drama over. There are more important things to be
discussing than the use of one letter to refer to yourselves.
I suggest one
of your existing members consult your early written and printed historical documents
and see if you've always called yourselves 'Sigmas' - as
stated earlier, your claim may be a new trend within your organization which
your beloved founder only decided to follow along with because of its popularity
among the majority membership. It may have been a regional tradition which developed
into a national tradition due to its popularity. By the same token, and by coincidence,
you may just have been calling yourselves SIGMAs since 1922. No problem with
me in either direction. I've proved my point. But do your research properly
before speaking on things which you know nothing of.
Like I've told many in various greek letter organizations including my own Phi
Beta family- if you'd invest
half the time and energy you use to argue over something stupid into some community
service projects, Black Greekdom would be in a helluvalotta betta state than
it is today.