<p>VoiceofReason, As for the totatfratmove and the national sorority office claiming that the photo was legit, I don’t know why we are trusting their ability to verify photoshop or not. Furthermore, it is not hard for me to imagine that variation of the n word being on her phone, as young people use that word all the time to refer to their pack of friends, as rappers do. I think the auto correct possibility makes much more sense, for surely she would have known that two of her fellow pledges were Black! You guys who have prematurely judged this young lady should be ashamed of yourselves. If it is shown that it was intentional, I would support expulsion, but till then, we need to give her a chance to clear her name. </p>
<p>@Atlanta68, with all due respect, what auto-correct feature have you ever used that corrects “ninja” to “■■■■■”? Seriously!</p>
<p>From AL.com (August 19, 2014 at 12:41 PM):</p>
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<p><a href=“Despite rumors, original University of Alabama sorority Snapchat not altered - al.com”>Despite rumors, original University of Alabama sorority Snapchat not altered - al.com;
<p>It’s likely members of Chi Omega saw the original, offending photo with their own eyes. Who else would be the recipients of their own member’s Snapchats after all? Attempts to obfuscate and cover up don’t change that. I find it hard to believe that Judy Bonner would have sent out that email to the ENTIRE UA community without verifying with the sorority itself that they investigated the incident thoroughly. </p>
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<p>“You guys”? Take it up with Judy Bonner if you have an issue. Everybody here is responding to an OFFICIAL UA judgment.</p>
<p>Lots of people see racism in many places it does not exist. While I understand why the Confederate gear is offensive to many, I also understand why its not to others. Tolerance is a two way street. Its a part of Southern culture. You don’t have to like it, but its a cheap shot to say its “racist” when you have no idea about the intentions of people wearing it. And again, would someone please explain why its more plausible to think that a student would celebrate no Blacks in her sorority, when she would have known that her pledge class had two Blacks sisters? And no one that I know would think the snap chat was not racist, if we had proof that it was written with intent, rather than auto correct or photoshop. </p>
<p>In the unlikely chance that her writing on snapchat was intentional, I still won’t apologize for demanding that folks stop assuming the worst about a UA student. Put yourself in her shoes. What if you had used that variation of the n word on your phone, not in hate, but as a rapper would, or young people do to describe their friends. You were excited at bid day, and you quickly posted a pic with a message about “no ninjas” and yet u failed to see that the auto correct wrote it as the variation on the n word. You would be devastated. Give this girl a chance. I have had autocorrect mess up for me too, and it was highly embarrassing. What if she really is telling the truth that this was not intentional? Doesn’t anyone care about that? </p>
<p>@Atlanta68 Not sure why you are challenging the national Chi Omega office. I certainly would not remove the sorority sister if a claim of photoshopping was made. Apparently there was no dispute that she sent the offensive Snapchat photo with the caption otherwise like you I would held off judgment until full investigation. As to all of your other statements, I do not know why she would take the actions she did given what could happen. Foolish it was.</p>
<p>I am simply saying we don’t know if they are qualified to determine photoshop or not. And you have yet to explain why she would have been celebrating no Blacks, when she had two Black sisters. Please explain that. Why is that more plausible than auto correct? If someone has never used ninja before, but had used that variation of the n word, then yes, it could happen. </p>
<p>Dr.Bonner said that the investigation would take place. And no, I am not surprised that Dr. Bonner would jump the gun. She has had to deal with accusations recently, and she does not want to show any sign of wavering on punishment of racism. That doesn’t make her right to assume either. Is Judy God? I like Judy. In fact, during the Sorority scandal, I called to express my outrage, and she returned my call. We had a lovely conversation, but would not be surprised to learn that she made her statement without learning all the facts. She is under enormous pressure from people ready to find racism in all that UA does. No other school in this nation, not even ones less diverse, face as much scrutiny.</p>
<p>OK, you say the confederate garb isn’t racist. Maybe. As a Southernor myself, I will simply say that in my opinion it is obnoxious and backward. Can we all agree that George Wallace was a racist? Again, this history is why racial issues at Alabama will always be news. Hopefully more of it will be good news.</p>
<p>@Atlanta68 Trying to delve into the mind of a person on “why she would be celebrating no Blacks, when she had two Black sisters” is a waste of time. What seems incredulous to us, may not seem that outrageous to the creator of the photo/caption. People of all kinds do things that others would not, but that doesn’t mean that people who do these types of things didn’t do it.</p>
<p>I understand the lunacy of doing such a foolish act, but that is no reason to believe that she did not do it. As I stated earlier, Chi Omega would not have expelled her from the sorority without solid proof that she sent the Snapchat with the caption. My guess is that the further investigation into this matter is to determine if there were any others participated in helping write the caption and whether others have made other disparaging type of comments in the past. This is speculation, but my best guess why there is still an ongoing investigation given that the young lady involved has been expelled from Chi Omega.</p>
<p>I do understand your concern of rushing to judgement, but in this case, digital data is easy to track and lying about it would have been worse for the young lady than truthfully speaking up about what happened. I do feel bad for the young lady and her family, but it is the consequence of sending a racially charged photo in this day and age of technology. I do hope that everyone can learn from this and put this behind them. </p>
<p>UA and Chi Omega has stepped up and taken leadership role in combating racism is wonderful and I believe shows to those in and outside Alabama that racism will not be tolerated and that today that the University of Alabama is not anything like its racial past. </p>
<p>@Hunt George Wallace was once racist, but I believe he turned a corner and put his racist self behind him in his latter years. I believe he was a reformed racist who saw the light that racism was wrong. If George Wallace can change, perhaps others out there who are racially discriminatory can also change their ways, and those who see Alabama as a racist state can also be enlightened to see that today Alabama is not anything like the Alabama of George Wallace’s racist days. At least that is what I hope is learned from this experience.</p>
<p>Once again, the university should not be blamed for Wallace. And I’m sorry, but you have no proof that the caption was intentional. Neither one of us is privy to the criteria by which Chi Omega decided there was no Photoshop. And you have completely ignored the very real possibility that the caption was the result of autocorrect. Once again, if she had stupidly done what many her age have done, that is, use the soft variation of the n word, other times on her phone in the past, it’s very possible that autocorrect pulled up that word. Which makes more sense? That she said there were no Blacks in her sorority, despite the fact that two in her pledge class are Black, or that she callously and publically exposed her self as a racist? Please answer this question. And you really underestimate the pressure that both Chi Omega and UA are under right now. Of course they aren’t waiting for a thorough investigation. They know that the media sharks are ready to attack, so they threw this girl under the bus. And no Chi Omega would never care more about pr than they would truth. Right. Yeah, I don’t buy that at all. I just hope UA cares enough about truth to give her a fair hearing</p>
<p>By the way, visit this link and look at the case for Photoshop yourself. The two g 's in the offending caption are different sizes. I’m no expert on this, but I doubt chi omega is either. <a href=“http://www.opposingviews.com/i/society/university-alabama-sorority-member-allegedly-sends-racist-photo”>http://www.opposingviews.com/i/society/university-alabama-sorority-member-allegedly-sends-racist-photo</a></p>
<p>Does it really matter? There probably ARE girls in the Greek system at UA and elsewhere who are resistant to change (meaning, letting minorities into their chapters). Yes, the events last year showed that a lot of girls were upset and outraged over what happened to some of the black girls who were cut, but I think it’s unrealistic to think that every single person is as tolerant as them.</p>
<p>Having said that, if the Snapchat girl was cut unfairly, I hope she gets a second chance.</p>
<p>@Atlanta68 Not sure why you are still believing the misinformation but here is a quote from your original source of your misinformation from Total Frat Move.</p>
<p>"Soon after we published the story, our inboxes got cluster bombed with new information, most of which was attempting to debunk our story. Unable to verify what was true and what was false, we posted several updates throughout the afternoon and early evening in an attempt to stay on top of the story and remain transparent. As it turns out, all the dissenting information we received was an elaborate damage control ploy. Our original story was accurate.</p>
<p>A fake, distorted version of the Snapchat was even sent to us in an attempt to discredit the entire story. Very, very clever. That version is below. Notice the “gg” in “niggas.</p>
<p>Given all the differing information on our desks, we thought it was best to remove the story entirely.</p>
<p>We can now report the original Snapchat’s authenticity, as confirmed by Chi Omega’s national office on their official Facebook page. The member who posted the Snapchat has been removed from Chi Omega’s Nu Beta chapter at Alabama."</p>
<p><a href=“http://totalfratmove.com/recapping-the-story-of-racist-snapchat-sent-from-a-member-of-alabamas-chi-omega/”>http://totalfratmove.com/recapping-the-story-of-racist-snapchat-sent-from-a-member-of-alabamas-chi-omega/</a></p>
<p>@Atlanta68</p>
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<p>I think a lot of people now suspect that it was some of this girl’s defenders who actually photo-shopped the original image to make it appear it had been doctored. If that proves to be true, it just keeps the story in the news and brings shame on a lot more people.</p>
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<p><a href=“http://totalfratmove.com/recapping-the-story-of-racist-snapchat-sent-from-a-member-of-alabamas-chi-omega/”>http://totalfratmove.com/recapping-the-story-of-racist-snapchat-sent-from-a-member-of-alabamas-chi-omega/</a></p>
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<p>Did it ever occur to you that this girl just didn’t realize two African-Americans were invited to join her sorority? Maybe she hadn’t personally met them. Maybe the sorority itself hadn’t mentioned the fact in their internal announcement of new pledges. Maybe she met them and didn’t realize they weren’t Caucasian. Maybe she knew they were African-American but they “passed.” </p>
<p>I have no idea and neither do you. You’re concerned that people are too quick to accept that this girl did what she was accused of, but you’re awfully quick to indict the leadership of Chi Omega and UA to caving to outside pressure and “media sharks.” </p>
<p>Um, she would have seen them running with her on Bid Day, so no, its not possible that she was unaware that these two Black women were in her pledge class. This is the thing that no one can explain away. And no sane person would post such a nasty comment and think they could get away with it. I think the evidence supports my belief that it was a throwing under the bus, than the possibility that a sorority girl would knowingly celebrate something that was not true, that she knew to be false, and that she thought she could get away with it. </p>
<p>If her caption was altered by friends, that still doesn’t mean she intended for that caption to be written the way it was. None of you are even willing to consider the possibility that autocorrect was responsible for this. I have explained it several times here, but you guys almost seem to WANT this girl to be guilty. If she is, she should be expelled, but the claim that she knowingly wrote that message the way it appeared makes no logical sense, and demands a fair investigation before any of us judge her. You would want the same for yourself. </p>
<p>"Does it really matter? There probably ARE girls in the Greek system at UA and elsewhere who are resistant to change (meaning, letting minorities into their chapters). Yes, the events last year showed that a lot of girls were upset and outraged over what happened to some of the black girls who were cut, but I think it’s unrealistic to think that every single person is as tolerant as them.</p>
<p>Having said that, if the Snapchat girl was cut unfairly, I hope she gets a second chance."</p>
<p>It stretches credulity to think that a student would knowingly post a pic protesting the historic integration of her sorority. Really, you think any young person on Bama’s campus would want to be labeled “racist”? Today’s educated youth abhore racism! They are terrified of having that label thrown on them. Think about the ramifications of that label. If she didn’t like the integration, she would have found other, less overt ways to discuss it with her friends, rather than posting something that would definitely ruin her. Try again.</p>
<p>Maybe she’s really stupid? Are there stupid people at Bama? They exist at every other campus I know about.</p>
<p>“UA’s Greek system is currently no less integrated than most others around the nation.”</p>
<p>Try again. I attended a northern university with a significant Greek presence and was an active member in a “top” sorority 30 years ago. During my time there, we had a black president the year after I graduated, a Hispanic president another year, girls of all ethnicities and no one thought twice. During rush, the race of a potential new member was NOT mentioned in the least, and we would have looked sideways at someone who suggested that a black girl shouldn’t be treated identically to every other girl going through. At the same time, my husband’s fraternity, which had a historical religious affiliation, had a black president and several members of ethnicities other than white. It was no big deal and no one thought twice about it. It was of no more interest than knowing that we had members from NJ and members from California.</p>
<p>That’s how normal people go about things.</p>
<p>I will grant that many black girls choose not to go through rush, or only choose to look at the historically black houses (which is understandable), but really, even 30 years ago it was not notable if a black girl joined a house.</p>
<p>So, please. You’re talking about a culture that is so behind the times where girls are saying “but my parents will make me quit if a black girl joins the house” or “OMG, the ‘good’ frats won’t want to rush if we have a black girl.” Don’t EVEN pretend that there is any comparison between normal Greek life and this nonsense.</p>
<p>BTW, I applaud the girls who are standing up for what’s right and making a difference and saying that they won’t put up with this, that they want to choose their friends and that this is 2014 not 1954.</p>
<p>Atlanta68, suppose for just a second that you sent an email to superiors at your place of employment with the same caption, intentional or not. What would the reaction be?</p>
<p>Personally, I honestly, believe that this young woman’s intent was not to be hurtful and malicious, but that she was trying to be funny to people she trusted on social media, but like, ALL other young adults used some incredibly bad judgement.</p>
<p>I am confident that UA (and it’s legal team) did their due diligence prior to sending an email to all enrolled students, I am confident that Chi O did their due diligence before removing this young woman, I don’t tend to get my trusted news from a site called ‘Total Frat Move’ and even if I did…they have since said that even they admit the original image was the one that was sent. </p>
<p>Unfortunately sometimes young adults learn hard lessons by making small errors in judgement, but I’m certain that this young woman has now learned a lesson that will stay with her later in life and will most likely serve her well once she gets into a diverse professional enviornment.</p>
<p>"Lots of people see racism in many places it does not exist. While I understand why the Confederate gear is offensive to many, I also understand why its not to others. Tolerance is a two way street. Its a part of Southern culture. "</p>
<p>Yes, just like the swastika is a part of German culture. Give me a break.</p>
<p>If you don’t want to be thought of as backwards, maybe don’t do backwards things, like wearing Confederate gear or flying Confederate flags (other than in their proper place as part of a history museum). Do you really not get that the rest of the country snickers at this, and they don’t see what you have to be “proud” of? Or do you just not care? Because I’d care passionately if other people thought I was backwards and behind the times.</p>
<p>The swastika is also a part of Native American culture. Should Native Americans cease using it?</p>