Another tragic death by hazing...

Get the Point!

I haven't commented about the hazing death of Caleb Wilson, 20, an aspiring engineer and talented musician at Southern University who died as a result of an ΩΨΦ Fraternity hazing incident this past weekend, because I needed time to process my feelings having witnessed the after effects of similar deaths at Morehouse College, my undergraduate alma mater, and Florida A&M University, my graduate school alma mater, over the past 35 years.

Caleb Wilson, 20 😢

Suffice it to say that my heart breaks for Wilson's family, friends, and line brothers who will have a significant void for the rest of their lives, a void that those of us who lost close kin and friends at an early age know all too well. My heart also aches for Southern U and its "Human Jukebox" band, HBCU's, and Black Greek Letter Organizations that, once again, are under the media microscope due to this latest senseless tragedy.

Yesterday, I had a close friend who also is a proud Florida A&M graduate and staunch HBCU supporter ask: "Why do people do this, bro? So many lives ruined over bullshit. But I know you have been there. In the heart of it."

Indeed, I have been in the heart of it as a prospective member of ΚΑΨ, fully financial member, college professor/mentor, and in media heavy cases that I tried in what seems like a lifetime ago. So I told my friend that "it's a matter of supply and demand;" so many prospective members of D9 organizations demand to be "made" via what they believe to be a "real" process so that they are not considered "paper," with "paper" essentially meaning a member who did not get physically hazed to cross the "burning sands" into the organization. I understand this desire because I once had the same desire to "earn" my letters and respect via being hazed when I was young and impressionable. From the supply side, while not every D9 member hazes or even attends sets where hazing occurs, there are more than enough members who are eagerly willing to supply the wood, be it a kane, paddle, fists, or slaps, to "make" or indoctrinate would be members.

As has been well documented via studies, books, and court depositions, the level of brutality that has been a recurring norm over the past fifty or so years was not always the case; as I have often said, the Founders and early members weren't "hazed" to death by each other because they were preoccupied with being hazed by real life Jim Crow laws and white supremacy! Thus, they bonded together to transcend past systemic racism and achieve great professional and personal goals—all the while uplifting the race within their respective communities!

The late Caleb Wilson in formation with the Southern University Human Jukebox band last Fall

Yes, D9 members are still achieving, leading, and uplifting the same as in ages past but every so often, we wake up to headlines about another senseless death. And when we read or see the despair of fathers and mothers having to plan their child's funeral, or set up Go Fund Me accounts to retain criminal defense counsel, those with empathetic hearts can only mourn the lost lives and continue their individual push to weed out the suppliers of brutality—even when fervently desired by young prospects who are too inexperienced to know that nothing—and no Greek Letters—are worth losing your life or freedom.

Lest we forget...