One dead in California Fraternity Brawl. This particularly hits home because I was the president of a service organization that include active members of both ΛΦΕ and ΠΑΦ, both Asian-American fraternities. The two fraternities have chapters on many of the same campuses, including my alma mater. And yeah, there’s always been a not-so-friendly rivalry between the two houses. But no one would have thought it would have been this bad.
I’ve spent 45 minutes thinking of something appropriate to write. I thought about writing about mob mentality. About how American culture embraces individualism but how Asian culture — not just in Asian fraternities or sororities — emphasizes social groups, and yes, conformity, and how it’s not a bad thing, it just is. Writing about the similarities between the Asian greek system and gangs, then backtracking, then realizing, yeah, there are some serious similarities. About how both organizations suddenly removed all chapter and national websites from the Internet, and thinking “Why? Why aren’t you speaking out against this violence? What good can come in hiding?” About how a part of me understands how and why it happened, but I wouldn’t be able to explain it to you at two in the morning on a weeknight.
At the end of the day, all I can do is shake my head and sigh.