This hazing craze is outta control. Let me say first of all what happened to Robert Champion is tragic and should not have happened. Second of all, my statements are not reflective of and do not represent Grambling or the World Famed.
I encourage all band directors to continue to take a stand against hazing, to be lawful, to respect the rules and guidelines given, and to continue to guide your program to be a positive representation of your institution.
Now. I want to simply say this: There are no victims when it comes to hazing, EVERYONE involved is accountable. PERIOD
I say that NOW because I know that there are those who were in band years ago who didn't know any better. Today, however there is NO excuse. Hazing is illegal and in many schools there is a hazing agreement that clearly states that both parties are in the wrong. Clearly.
Hazing is an internal issue, and should be dealt with accordingly. So to the people giving all these stories to the media, or about to, ask yourself what you're really doing. Truth be told, and excuse my language, but the media doesn't give a **** about you, they don't give a **** about your band, and they REALLY don't give a **** about your school. The media ain't tryna help you, and they do all they can to discredit your school and make us look like animals...excuse me- NINJAS
For those trying to sue, how can one criminal sue another one? You're AS guilty as the person you ALLOWED to do that to you. How can you take the role of a victim? Unjustly taking money from the schools that WE make...knowing HBCUs are on the chopping block and fighting for every dollar.
At first I was on the fence about hazing, but now I'm taking a stand for the right thing, responsibility, accountability, and positivity. I hope that you will consider these words and apply them.
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The Robert Champion death has really opened up my eyes. Alumni etc need to realize things aren't the way it used to be an you can easily ruin your life by touching someone. There are many other ways you can have disciple without touching anyone. Band directors are the one's that need to handle the band members seems like it because many of the students don't see to know what to do and go overboard because they can't handle positions in power and listen to the old heads. The autopsy released today just further pissed me off about the situation. How could anyone that is supposed to be your brother, sister, bandmate beat you to death. They had to do some extreme stuff due to the outcome of the autopsy, dude wasn't a small person.
You are absolutely right. There are NO victims. I never understood how people come back and try to sue as if they weren't willing to go along with it. Theses "victims" know the risk, but still choose "fitting in" over personal safety. They shouldn't be letting anyone touch them in the first place. I won't sit here and act like I don't know what their thought process is at the time though, because I was once into the whole frat thing and I've been through a little hazing. As much as you don't wanna get beaten, you accept it anyway as "just part of the process" and think that it wouldn't be worth it to get the letters without going through it, because the nimrods that did it already won't respect you. I never got to go all the way through with the process because I switched schools, but now that I look back on it, I'm glad I couldn't do it. If you can't be my brother without beating me, I don't need you to be my brother. And the worst thing about all of this is that even with all the issues FAMU is facing, other bands are still gonna haze and people are still gonna allow themselves to be hazed. They're just gonna try to be extremely discrete with it.smh. The shit needs to stop NOW.
Schools are going to have spies next season, just watch.
RJ1919 said:
Man, they're already paying outsiders to watch from afar.. as if they're gonna see things in public. most hazing goes on in the wilderness ..
nobody deserves to be beaten to GAIN something.. even if those before them have been
It was already like that for us this past season. The campus police were outside with us watching us practice every day and were watching for band people on campus at night it was pretty crazy.
RJ1919 said: