White Girls Can't Step

White girls can't step. It's that simple.

Or can they?

Hmmmm...

As a matter of fact, who knew that white girls knew was stepping is? And who knew that a white step team could beat a black sorority at their own stepping competition?

And who knew that the black community would be PISSED about a bunch of white girls coming in and winning a competition founded by black fraternities and sororities, and pretty much kept within that realm?

Lost yet? Here's the short version of what happened. Zeta Tau Alpha (or Zeta), a white sorority, entered itself into a step competition against two black sororities. Zeta won with the routine seen in the link below (I don't know how to insert the video in a blog yet, so be patient with me). Because they won, a lot of people are trying to figure out how in the hell it could've happened and what it all means. Did they win, because of special treatment as the novelty white team? Did the judges cheat? Or were they just better? Or is a white step team winning a black competition a step toward equality, in the same sense that a black person winning a white game is a step in the same direction? Hmmmm... (as a sidenote, there was so much noise about the white girls winning, that a black team was named as a co-winner after the fact.)

White Girls Stepping

Theories abound, but this has become a pretty big deal in some parts. There is a long history of black culture being stripped by white people, then exploited for some kind of gain. It's happened quite regularly in music, language, clothing, and demeanor. Stepping seemed like it was something that could not be taken by white people for any reason... and what do you know... there it is. Zetas in the house.

The interesting thing about this is that black people are now at the other end of the table. There was a day in time when black people were denied first-class citizenship. And when we finally were allowed to sit at the table with whites, our abilities were analyzed under a microscope and questioned beyond reason. Do they really deserve to be there? That's not fair that they can do that, now is it? Now the Zeta team is under that same microscope with the black community doing the observing. Should they really be doing this? How the hell is it right for them to even compete, let alone win? It's just not fair!

I have mixed feelings on this, mostly having to do with the historical context and what it means now. But I'm curious... what do you think about this the concept of the exploitation of black culture in general, and the white girls beating the black sorority at their own game in particular?