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The Real Stomp the Yard:
By Rashida Hiba
Okay. I despise movies that exploit African American culture. In fact, any attempts by corporate America to commercialize and commodify our culture have usually led to our cultural demise. Take hip hop for instance. Once an incredible youth culture and the voice of a forgotten people and generation, hip hop is now the voice of advertising agencies and a front for corporate shenanigans. Well, I hold the Black fraternity/sorority experience near and dear to my heart and was more than apprehensive about the release of the new film Stomp the Yard.
Stomp the Yard, an
average yet entertaining film produced for Sony Pictures, is a popular
film depicting Black Greek Life at a historically Black university. This
generation’s version of School Daze (another film depicting Black
Greek life at a historically Black college), Stomp the Yard is a
cross between You Got Served and Drumline (insert stepping
here). Okay. I’ll give it to them. The picture, while grossly obvious
and predictable, has a few high points. The routines are high energy and
creative, the subplot (love story) is kind of touching, and Darren
Henson plays a believable asshole. I was also very glad to see the Krump
Kings (and Queen) getting a little more work (peep the opening scene).
But all in all, the movie misses the mark on telling our stepping story…
Stepping, a prominent tradition within the Black Greek community, is of tremendous historical significance. Stepping is an art form that derives from South African boot dancing (or gum-boot dancing), a percussive form of African dance that was originally performed by diamond mine workers in South Africa. Stepping also has some paramilitary roots and is also rooted in the “Greek sing” tradition (serenades performed by fraternity men). The dance form found its way into Black fraternity and sorority life post World War II and the Vietnam War. The stepping of today is much [more] different than its original style as it has evolved from a very military, marching/drill and chanting style to a tricked-out, high energy, sophisticated and (in some cases) acrobatic dance form. It was only a matter of time before Hollywood got its hands on this incredible art form.
This dance form is clearly African at its core, but probably found its way to the states through our bloodline. In other words, stepping is in our blood, hearts and souls. It is just as natural for some of us to stomp out these rhythms as it is for us to yawn, walk, or scratch. For that reason, stepping is sacred to me. It’s one of many aspects of Black culture that bonds us to our roots in Africa.
So, you may be asking, “What’s so bad about Stomp the Yard?” Well, nothing actually. The movie does a good job of showing the benefits of going to college. It also paints Black male friendships in a positive light (although the rivalry between fraternities was a bit much). My issue with the film is its superficiality. It did a disservice to our organizations in that it pushed stepping to the forefront, our history to the back, and placed the fraternal bond on the periphery. For instance, in Black fraternities and sororities it is highly unusual for members of the same line to be unaware of details about their linebrother or linesister’s families.
Furthermore, our relationships as members of fraternities and sororities emphasize collectivism, unity and solidarity. You would never see two members of rival fraternities challenging each other in a step at a stepshow. Step competitions are about the entire unit. Everything around the organization emphasizes the “line,” the chapter,” or “the fraternity/sorority.” Even our individual achievement is celebrated as community achievement (e.g., I belong to a sisterhood of extraordinary women like Maya Angelou, Mae Jemison and Sheila Jackson Lee), thus (in my case) when an Alpha Kappa Alpha woman excels, Alpha Kappa Alpha excels. The same goes for the reverse.
In Stomp the Yard
tradition was also challenged to a fault. It is our traditions that bond
us in part to those who came before us. Each year at my homecoming it is
a tradition that my sorors host a suite in which our sorors and their
families and friends can come to connect. There we catch up with each
other, reminisce about old times, and find out what’s new in the
chapter. After visiting
the suite we all gather in a familiar meeting
place to perform “circle steps” (i.e., songs and steps performed in a
circle representing the unbreakable, everlasting bond between sorority/
fraternity women and men). In this circle you will find members of my
sorority initiated in the 1940s all the way to lines initiated in 2000
and beyond. There are also members of the sorority in the circle who
visit from other chapters. Although there are songs that we sing that
are chapter traditions or line-specific songs, we always sing songs that
are known within the sorority across the country. These songs are about
our sisterhood, our values, and our common bond. Can you imagine if
these songs didn’t exist? More than our songs, there is common history,
poems, and service-experiences shared that bond us. If these and other
traditions weren’t honored, the intergenerational bond between us would
dissipate.
Our bond is what sets us apart from other clubs and organizations. We are more than social clubs or even service organizations. We are sisters and brothers bonded by a common set of values, emboldened by our history, and members of a fraternity and sorority family who represent the best and brightest the world has to offer. I am grateful to Stomp the Yard for the positive exposure for Black Greek Letter Organizations (BGLO) but I encourage you (the reader) to investigate the BGLO experience on your own. I promise you will be pleasantly surprised to see who we are and what we do to better our communities.