Note to MiAKA: Don't mess with sisterhood.
Social media is jumping as reports surface once again about males who wear pink and green and say skee wee as if they're members of Alpha Kappa Alpha sorority.
GIRL, GRAB your pearls.
Social media is once again buzzing about a group of men who supposedly want to join Alpha Kappa Alpha sorority.
You read it right.
The men reportedly refer to themselves as MiAKA, an acronym for Men Interested in Alpha Kappa Alpha. Not a lot is readily available about them. But judging by photos available online, they dress in the AKA's pink and green color scheme; throw up the sorority's hand signals; and make the group's traditional "skee wee" call. A YouTube video shows a group of males daintily stepping AKA-style at a function while wearing pink and green. When I saw that, I was like, "Oooh, child."
The AKAs aren't having that.
The AKAs were the first Greek-lettered sorority established in the United States by female African-American college students. It's a prestigious organization with a proud history, having been established in 1908 on the campus of Howard University. AKA doesn't admit men. Never has. And probably never will.
"There is no right for a person to become a member of an organization," pointed out Lawrence Ross, author of Divine Nine: The History of African American Fraternities and Sororities.
"The AKAs and all of the Divine Nine have a right to determine the parameters of membership, and they're not a coed sorority."
I don't quite know what to make of these so-called MiAKAs. I mean, seriously. AKAs don't take a whole lot of women for a variety of reasons. What would make these dudes think that they would accept a bunch of big, old, burly guys onto their pledge lines?
The idea of men infiltrating sororities gets people worked up, as do many topics dealing with gender identity. That's why people are so fixated on reality-TV star Bruce Jenner, the former Olympian who's transitioning sexually.
I first heard about so-called MiAKA a couple of years back. In 2012, black-oriented websites such as MadameNoire.com and TheGrio.com reported on various MiAKA sightings that popped up online and weighed in on whether there really were such cliques on the historically black campuses of Texas' Prairie View University or Tennessee State University. Jacque Reid once interviewed a guy on "The Tom Joyner Morning Show" who supposedly was an AKA wannabe. Over the years, there has been talk of lawsuits on the part of MiAKA against AKA, but they don't appear to have materialized.
"During my research of it, the story actually goes back to 2005," said Charing Ball, an East Mount Airy-based freelancer who writes for MadameNoir. "I think they did exist, but they probably have since moved on.
"The lawsuit, itself, is probably the urban legend in all of this," she added.
That's good, 'cause MiAKA would have been in for a fight.
As soon as I posted a link to a recent blog post about it onto my Facebook, the comments started to roll in from both AKA members and nonmembers alike. When I asked what people thought about the possibility of males joining AKA, the answer was no, no and no.
"They cannot start their own 'chapter,' " Lynn LaxMama Collins wrote yesterday. "They need to start their own organization. A chapter is just a subgroup of the entire organization. . . . Alpha Kappa Alpha is a WOMAN's organization.
"No matter what your sexual preference or identity, you have to be FEMALE to join," she said, adding that she wasn't an official AKA spokeswoman and was just expressing her own personal opinion.
Political consultant Mannwell Glenn wrote: "I don't have a problem with the gay issue, but I agree with the Greeks on the thread who believe fraternities are for men and sororities are for women. Regardless of sexual orientation."
A statement from AKA's national office read: "Those men who wrongfully call themselves MiAKA, which is a trademark owned by the Sorority, has its option of joining these brotherhoods with similar values and principles."
I also heard from perhaps the city's most well-known AKA, Lorina Marshall-Blake, who wrote in an email: "I'm proud to serve as the president of the local chapter of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority and flattered that others are inspired by the work we are doing to serve our community."
Yesterday, I poked around online but couldn't find a website or anything official that appeared to be associated MiAKA.
That's probably a good thing because the AKAs don't play.
I know I pointed that out earlier, but I think sometimes people forget how powerful a force these black Greek organizations can be when folks get riled up. Remember that VH1 show "Sorority Sisters"? If not, that's because after AKA saw members acting all "Real Housewives of Atlanta" on national TV, they took to social media with a vengeance, as did Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, which also had cast members featured on the show. VH1 wound up snatching the program off the air. The Deltas, another historically black sorority, expelled the sorors who appeared on the program and AKA suspended theirs.
See what I mean? Sisterhood is powerful.
Don't mess with it.