Sprite Step Off UPDATE: Scoring Discrepency Leads To 2 Winners
As first reported, Zeta Tau Alpha, a predominantly white sorority, won first place in the nationsl Sprite Step Off competition. It was later discovered that there had been a scoring discrepency which led to an unresolved issue. In order to correct the issue, Sprite released a statement which awarded Alpha Kappa Alpha sorority, who finished second place, with a first place ruling which leads to them being co-winners with Zeta Tau Alpha.
Here is the official statement from Sprite:
"
After the competition, we conducted a post-competition review and discovered a scoring discrepancy. There is no conclusive interpretation, nor definitive resolution for the discrepancy.
Sprite is committed to upholding the honesty and integrity of the competition. Because the scoring discrepancy cannot be resolved and due to the extremely narrow margin between the first and second place winning sororities, we believe that the appropriate course of action is to name both Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc., Tau Chapter and Zeta Tau Alpha, Epsilon Chapter, co-first place winners of the Sprite Step Off. Accordingly, we will increase Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc., Tau Chapter's scholarship prize to $100,000, consistent with first prize winnings.
Sprite Step Off was created for the primary purpose of awarding scholarships and supporting talented college students in their quest for higher education."
Here is the official statement from Sprite:
"
After the competition, we conducted a post-competition review and discovered a scoring discrepancy. There is no conclusive interpretation, nor definitive resolution for the discrepancy.
Sprite is committed to upholding the honesty and integrity of the competition. Because the scoring discrepancy cannot be resolved and due to the extremely narrow margin between the first and second place winning sororities, we believe that the appropriate course of action is to name both Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc., Tau Chapter and Zeta Tau Alpha, Epsilon Chapter, co-first place winners of the Sprite Step Off. Accordingly, we will increase Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc., Tau Chapter's scholarship prize to $100,000, consistent with first prize winnings.
Sprite Step Off was created for the primary purpose of awarding scholarships and supporting talented college students in their quest for higher education."
In general, White America is doing what anti-Black Eur-Asian invaders of African lands and communities have been doing since time immemorial. A segment of Black culture that was previously benefitial to the ones who created and needed to benefit the most from it...Black folk..was coopted in a way that benefited young White women! Sprite then "sponsorsed" this Black cultural event, ensuring that a group of White girls..a group collectively in least NEED of the money...won $100K dollars.
This is the problem when segments of Afro-diasporan culture (known as "Black culture in the U.S.) is "commercialized (aka co-opted and placed under the economic and political control of non-Whites). This corporate sponsorshp is a big two-edged sword for Black folk. But Black leadership is so integrationist/assimilationist in its though process, that these so-called Black leaders do not see the danger. As long as Black folk are economically dependant upon White owned-and-controlled corporations for scholarships, political elections of Black politicals, our schools, etc., we will not be the self-reliant people we are supposed to be.
Our $750Billion + spending power rises up to call those liars who say we are unable to fund self-reliance ourselves. What is lacking is the collective will and collective organized structure...that we have the ability to build.
The We Are One Power Conference, in Leage with the Movement to Bring Back Black (bbBlack) was a conferenced designed to rectify this situation. It went down in late November in Beaumont, Texas. However, the pubilicity it got, in comparison to entertainment and "info-taminment" we Black folks love, was very poor. I will be beating the drum about this years We Are One Power Conference again. Hopefully this incident with the Sprite step off, and placeing it into the proper perspective of cultural theivery that it truly is...for economic gain of non-Black folk...will motivate more folk to pay attention next time.
peace