Reaction to By Invitation Only

Do our social circles reflect our structure of inequality?


Watching the movie in class brought the readings that we have had into another light. Growing up in the south, I had been exposed to debutant balls and things of that nature. These of course were African American clubs; I don't remember ever seeing anyone of a different race. I was never involved in the debutant balls but my mom had friends whose daughters were. I remember going to an event in the Cascades, a very wealthy area of Atlanta, at a country club. This was the first time that I experienced anything like it and I was surprised t learn that kids who looked like me lived so extravagantly. When I asked my mom why the other kids were so stand-offish towards me she explained that they have been raised around each other and I was an outsider. Even at the young age of 11, I realized that discrimination did not just come from white people; it came from my own people as well.

The documentary forced me to look at my own social practices and how they might encourage inequality. I think that it is easy for us as a society to place the blame for discrimination and inequality on others; rarely do we turn the magnifying glass inward. Just as her dad justified his continued membership in one of the krewes that refused to open its membership to minorities, we attempt to justify our support of organizations that are discriminatory. It becomes difficult to separate what others should not do from what we should not do.

I am a member of a historically black sorority. We were founded because there was a great need for an organization that encouraged sisterhood among women of color in an academic setting. Although I have met members of my sorority from all different ethnicities, does our history encourage discrimination? Am I encouraging it by being a member?