Pledging, then and now, included mental, physical, and emotionally depriving activities. After the national committees got together, the organizations were encouraged to come up with new ways to bring in new members, known as the “membership intake process.” Some members of these BGLOs did not agree with the 1990 decision to ban the process, so despite the new policy, hazing, previously known as pledging, still occurred, regardless of its legal and moral consequences. Today, not much has changed since then. While some chapters have been suspended, fined, and even expelled altogether due to hazing, some members feel the process is necessary because of the values and lessons learned from the ritualized induction; therefore, they are still enacting the initiation process. Despite knowing the risk of injury and possibly death, pledges are still willing to put themselves through a series of strenuous physical, mental, and emotional activities.

From testimonies to analysis, I hope to answer the question of why: Why pledges participate? Why they feel they have to? And why later, they continue to do it to others? I hope to then link my analysis to the black identity: the history of black people such as slavery and the Jim Crow era, their journey and fight for freedom, and current placement within society. Ultimately, I hope to argue that hazing still persist because the structure of the organizations and pledging process perpetuate historical feelings of oppression and resilience. Oppression is a major part of being black and BGLOs not only hold on to such feelings as a means of feeling important in a world that deems us not, but they also admire the overcoming of such a process as hazing, in the same way we have celebrated black ancestors and their fight to endure and end slavery, Jim crow, and other major black events. That struggle, resilience, and celebration is what makes Greeks big in an even bigger world around them. History truly repeats itself.

As anthropology continues to study the black identity, it is important to recognize BGLOs as an intricate part of black communities, especially those formed on college campuses. From origin to current, there are connections that can help explain more than just the issues within BGLOs. Aside from anthropology, the issue of hazing is important in the world, as people, sons and daughters, sisters and brothers, potential leaders of the world, not just Black, are losing their lives to a process meant to build up and service its respective communities. Efforts to bring awareness and completely disband hazing have been made, but in order to remotely tackle that task, especially today, we have to dig deeper into the history, journey, and current state of the Black identity.