What Would We Say If Roles Were Reversed?

 

*EDIT* Apparently they have the wrong video in the article (which would be why I was like “WTF!” LOL, here’s the actual video of the actual AKAs who ended up getting promoted. They are MUCH better than the ones who are in the article, I can see how it may have been a tight competition based on that video, but I STILL feel that the ZTAs were named the winners at the competition and as such should have remained the SOLE winners. If the judges felt it was a tie at the competition then they should have called it as such at the competition or had a step-off.

So last week (I think) I heard about the Sprite Step-off and how a white Sorority, Zeta Tau Alpha, won the competition. I didn’t think anything else about it. But today I see a post on a MB about how Sprite has done a total bitchass move and decided to say that there was a discrepancy in the scoring and that the only way they can think to fix it is to say the ZTAs and the AKAs were co-winners. I call bullshit. I think Black people complained about the White Sorority winning and Sprite got sick of hearing the complaints and figured they could just give $100,000 to both and call both orgs the “winners” and be done with it.

First of all, I watched BOTH performances, and ZTA stepped their asses off. Their routine was clean and entertaining. Listen to the crowd on both videos, the ZTAs got WAY more house. Their routines had more to them, and they won fair and square. I watched the AKAs video expecting them to be just totally awesome and so much more “precise” than the ZTAs, and they weren’t that. They weren’t more precise. In fact, early on in the routine the girl in the front on the right almost fell after doing her Varsity. Some of the moves were sloppy. They stepped HARDER (as in their feet were louder), but that’s about it. I thought their routine was rather boring (even outside of the fact that they weren’t a “novelty” like the ZTAs. All they did “better” than the ZTAs was fling their hair around. In fact, about a 3rd of their routine was them just standing their whipping their heads around to make their hair move.

Outside of how insulting this is to the ZTAs, imagine how we would feel if the roles were reversed. If the AKAs were one of the only Black Sororities at a White Step Show (or dance competition, or something that they wouldn’t expect a Black Sorority to do), and they won. Then imagine that White people went on the Internet or went to the Sponsors and complained about the AKAs winning to the point where the Sponsors said there was a “scoring discrepancy” and said that the AKAs were “tied” with the ZTAs. How much of an outrage would there be in the Black community? We’d have Al and Jesse ready to march. We’d be calling for Pres. Obama to make a speech. We’d be raising hell all because of a perceived racial slight. The ZTAs clearly worked very hard on their routine, and they were very good in their routine. They brought it when people had NO expectations or LOW expectations. They pleased the crowd, they were precise, and they got people to talk about their organization.

I think it is very small-minded on the part of everyone who complained about the ZTAs winning. Instead of being haters, how about you just give the ZTAs their due, and if they beat YOUR organization, then work harder the next time. The D9 are not the only organizations who step. Black people are not the only race that steps.

And Sprite should be ashamed, because in their quest to keep people from questioning the validity of their voting, they just made it a LOT worse. Like Dr. Watkins said in the article:

If you watch the Super Bowl and lose the game on a bad call, you don't expect the NFL commissioner to come out the next day and revise the call. If you see a player get fouled on the final shot of a college basketball game, you know that when the last whistle is blown, the game is over. I can't help but wonder if Sprite should have left their "scoring discrepancy" on the field, since I would certainly hope that the computer and judges adding up the numbers would know how to double-check their math.

To some extent, to receive a victory in a step competition the day after the competition is over is like getting an honorary bachelors degree or receiving a postmortem Grammy Award. It just doesn't have the same effect as winning the event on the stage, in your competitor's faces, in front of the audience. This competition should have been settled on the stage. In fact, while Sprite representatives are arguing that the decision was made to protect the integrity of the competition, it may have had the opposite effect.

(emphasis mine)

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