A long-standing but very dangerous tradition in many Greek fraternities is hazing, but Rickey Jones is out to stop it.

Jones, author of “Black Haze: Violence, Sacrifice and Manhood in Black Greek-letter Fraternities,” spoke to a crowd of about 50 students at Western Kentucky University on Thursday night. In a speech that often had the crowd rolling with laughter, Jones also made a serious point.

“We have an incredible opportunity here,” he said. “Serve your fraternity in a way that you’re also serving the people.”

Jones, a lifetime member of Kappa Alpha Psi’s chapter at Morehouse College in Atlanta, relayed several stories about fraternity brothers who have been seriously injured or killed as a result of hazing. It boils down to a cultural problem – Jones believes hazing in black fraternities is more violent than initiation rites in other ethnic groups because those being initiated in black fraternities want not only to belong, but to be respected.   more >>