Melanie
Appearances
The Commercial Break
Introducing: Campus Files
I'm a senior at this point. We're very low involvement in the rush process. So I'm very not involved, but I live in the house at this time, so I'm hanging out at the house. And there's girls crying and just really upset. And this one girl I'm close with that's younger was like... Did you hear like, you know, there's like this girl that everyone wants, this black girl.
The Commercial Break
Introducing: Campus Files
And like, they're not taking because she's black. Like they're automatically nixing her. And everyone's like, isn't that crazy? And it's not going to be talked about. So I'm like getting fired up.
The Commercial Break
Introducing: Campus Files
They don't want this to be discussed. They just are kind of like moving things along and they're like, okay, we're going to do this and this and, you know, this wraps up a great day. And I was like, are we not going to talk about the black girl that everyone has been talking about in the house all day?
The Commercial Break
Introducing: Campus Files
Meaning that somebody wrote a letter saying, you know, this girl is not good for your sorority. She did something bad. She's in bad news. Something like that. Which is just like a lie or she wrote it or someone wrote it because they didn't want a black woman in the sorority.
The Commercial Break
Introducing: Campus Files
So then like all these girls start speaking up and like saying all these things like, you know, we would love to be the first sorority to have a Black woman. We would like stand up for her. You know, if fraternities didn't want to have parties with us, because that was always a big concern, you know, we wouldn't want to have parties with that fraternity anyways.
The Commercial Break
Introducing: Campus Files
But it just, it kept going and going and it was going nowhere. And at the end of the day, like the alumni, older women were the ones that handle the paperwork and like send it in. So there's really nothing we could do.
The Commercial Break
Introducing: Campus Files
There's just a general feel of like the old South. You would drive by some of the fraternity houses. They have a giant Confederate flag hanging in a window. You hear people actually say the N-word in a way that isn't like in a rap song or something. Like it could be a very scary place for a Black person. And I remember... bringing a friend from high school that was black to visit.
The Commercial Break
Introducing: Campus Files
And I was like, honestly nervous for her to like come into the sorority because it was entirely white women and black women were the women that served food to us. And it's just like, I was just worried for how she would feel.
The Commercial Break
Introducing: Campus Files
Up until that moment, I think that most people wanted to believe that It wasn't because they were black that they weren't getting in. It was just because like they didn't have a mother, a great grandmother that went there. They didn't have close friends that were in the sorority. Like there were other reasons that they weren't getting in.
The Commercial Break
Introducing: Campus Files
But this particular situation, it was so black and white that it was because it was the color of her skin, because she had every other criteria to get in than that, that it was like hard to shy away from at this point.
The Planet Reigate Podcast
52: The LoveWorks food charity, the world-famous local artist who etched a view that you know so well… and more
I'm Melanie.
The Planet Reigate Podcast
52: The LoveWorks food charity, the world-famous local artist who etched a view that you know so well… and more
I'm the packing team leader today.
The Planet Reigate Podcast
52: The LoveWorks food charity, the world-famous local artist who etched a view that you know so well… and more
Well, I wouldn't say that. It's very much teamwork here, but we do all have different roles. I get the list of who we're going to be packing for today, and then I have to find all their individual sheets that they're now packing from. I get the bread from Gail's last night, so I pack that up, and obviously the allergy stuff needs to be marked up.
The Planet Reigate Podcast
52: The LoveWorks food charity, the world-famous local artist who etched a view that you know so well… and more
I pack the fresh veg, and then every week we have a special. So this week our special is washing powder and washing up liquid.
The Planet Reigate Podcast
52: The LoveWorks food charity, the world-famous local artist who etched a view that you know so well… and more
One time we had a tin of jackfruit and suddenly said, I'm a chef, I know what to do with that. And so we have weird and wonderful things. That's why they get the choice.
The Planet Reigate Podcast
52: The LoveWorks food charity, the world-famous local artist who etched a view that you know so well… and more
No, absolutely. I mean, there's lobster bisque soup and all sorts of things because give them the choice. It's not just basic food. We want to give them the chance to enjoy something and have a treat as well.
The Planet Reigate Podcast
52: The LoveWorks food charity, the world-famous local artist who etched a view that you know so well… and more
Five.
The Planet Reigate Podcast
52: The LoveWorks food charity, the world-famous local artist who etched a view that you know so well… and more
Sure. Here's the Planet Rygate podcast, 46, the second annual cyclocross Rygate, the history of our local Heathland, and more, playing on Spotify.