Wednesday, August 31, 2011

Pi Nappa Kappa-The Natural Hair "Sorority"

About a month ago I was invited by a fellow naturalista to join the "Natural Hair Sorority" on Facebook. At the time I didn't think much of it as I assumed it would just be another forum where we would discuss natural hair care, products, and such. I went ahead and joined the page but recently chose to remove myself from it. While the members of Pi Nappa Kappa did discuss natural hair products I was a bit bothered by the administrators requesting the members to refer to themselves as sorors and that they had a formal name for the group; Pi Nappa Kappa. Now I'm not a member of a Greek organization however, I have several friends who are and I understand the tradition, value, and sacredness (if you will) behind it. As a non Greek I found this natural hair "sorority" to be slightly offensive so I'm sure there are many Greek members who feel the same way. I'm not sure what happened this week to put this group at the forefront of the natural hair community but things seemed to get heated on several different media outlets. I ran across this article today: Pi Nappa Kappa-The Natural Hair "Sorority" in the Huffington Post where the founder, Leola Anifowoshe, attempts to explain her reason behind forming the organization and her vision. Check it out and please share your thoughts? Is this "sorority" offensive to real Greek organizations or simply a sisterhood where natural hair enthusiast can support each other? 

2 comments:

  1. As a greek I have to say I am not feeling the Natural Sorority. Black Greek Letter organizations are all very different, and most people can find a sorority they "fit" into w/out one being created for natural hair. I have to say that I know at least one Natural Person that is a Delta, A.K.A, Zeta and S.G. Rho. If a person wants to have a club, fine,a blog spot, fine, a web page for others to gain insight about natural hair, fine...but if you want to join a sorority.....four already exist...Of course this is just my "humble" opinion!

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  2. I am not a member of any of the African American sororities but I was once a member of the National Business Sorority and in high school the National Honor Society carried greek letters as its name. I am also a member of four non greek fraternal organizations. I do not find the idea of the members wanting to come together under a common interest and using greek letters offensive per se. There are band fraternities, nursing fraternities, med school fraternities etc. What I do find offensive is the use of "nappa". Nappa is not a greek alphabet and to me is a mockery. If you are going to be a greek lettered org and want to be taken seriously and seem like a joke, then use actual greek letters.

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