Virginia adds, “I, for one, would love to see her be our next housemother. Thank you.” She sits back down.
“Miss Pearl is planning on going back to school next semester,” Selma says. “She made that decision after she filled in here for Mama Carla.” Selma points to a girl in the middle and Virginia passes her the mic. “Huxley?”
Huxley stands up. “What’s with the security guard?” Everyone laughs.
“So, Lilith Whitmore is not happy about what we’re doing. I felt like it was appropriate. Y’all will just have to trust me on this,” Selma says.
Mrs. Woodcock’s forehead crinkles. Then I see her slowly turn her head toward Ellie like she’s been told a snake is loose somewhere in the house.
Anne Florence, a girl in our pledge class, raises her hand.
“Hang on, Anne Flo.” Selma asks Huxley to please pass her the mic.
When it’s in her hand Anne Florence says, “Is Mrs. Whitmore’s problem that there are no other black housemothers on campus?”
Selma twists her mouth out of shape. “I suppose that’s part of her hesitancy. I don’t know that for sure, but I’d say, yes, that’s part of it.”
“That needs to change,” someone yells.
“Why would we care?” another girl stands up and says. “She treats us like her own children anyway.”
Tons ofduhs,yeses, andAmens are circulating throughout the room when Selma stands up on her tiptoes. “Hang on, everybody. We need to take a vote. Since this is impromptu I haven’t had a chance to make up a ballot or anything, so let’s do this.” She glances around the room. “I need paper. Can someone please go to the copy machine and get a ream of paper and all the pens we have.”
Lizzie Jennings stands up. “I’ll go, Selma.” Then she heads out the door.
Selma continues. “I think it’s best to take a vote—a private vote—to see where we all stand. To Anne Florence’s point, having an African AmericanHouse Director would be new for Ole Miss, so I want to make sure everyone here is okay with it. I’m not saying we need every girl to vote yes for Miss Pearl to get the job, but we do need a vast majority.”
Suddenly, another senior from the front row stands up and turns around to face us. Selma hands her the spare mic. “This is a tough subject to talk about, y’all. I’m not trying to be mean, but… I’m not convinced Miss Pearl is the right person for the job.” All eyes are on her as she glances around the room, as if looking for someone else to agree with her. “Maybe I’m the only one brave enough to stand up, but I know others here who feel the same way I do.” She keeps looking around, but it seems everyone in the room is frozen to their chairs. “Miss Pearl’s a really nice person, and I love her to death, but I just think we should be dead sure it’s the direction we want to take.” As quickly as she got up, she plops down in her seat and crosses her arms over her chest.
Now the room is dead quiet. Unshaken, our fearless leader nods directly at the girl before commenting. “Thank you for standing up, Brooke. Every Alpha Delt here is entitled to her opinion. Let me just make sure I understand exactly what you mean. Are you saying you aren’t sure Miss Pearl should get the job because she’s unqualified or because she’s black?”
Brooke keeps her seat when she answers. “I’m saying we are a ninety-nine-point-nine percent white sorority. Yes, we have Alberta as a black member and I’m so glad we do, but since the rest of us are white I think we should have a white housemother. Sorry, but that’s how I feel.” Never directly answering Selma’s question, Brooke turns to the senior sitting on her right and shrugs before passing back the mic.
Selma reaches her hand toward the rest of us. “Is there anyone else here in agreement with Brooke who’s willing to share her opinion?”
No one says a word.
Selma shifts her gaze to the floor, then pulls her chin up and looks at Brooke with a neutral face. “I’m sure you’re right,” she says in a calm voice. “There may be several others who agree with you but are afraid of confrontation. That’s the Southern way.” After a nervous giggle she looks out at all of us. “There’s never been a black housemother on this campus. What should our response to that be in 2016? As you ponder your vote, I ask you to consider: Is the issue that Miss Pearl is black? In which case that’s a terrible precedent for our sorority to take. Or do you think she’s incapable of performing the job from an abilitystandpoint? Yes, we have a college degree requirement in our bylaws, but we are meeting here today to decide whether or not to put pressure on our board to change that rule. We are only asking them to change because the majority of us believe Miss Pearldoeshave the ability to do the job. She shouldn’t be eliminated from consideration because she has yet to finish college.
“Personally, I believe she has all the necessary skills required. Our goal here is not only to end up with the best candidate, but to do the right thing. We, as a sisterhood, should be leaders and take pride in knowing that we are promoting Miss Pearl because she is the right person for the job… regardless of her skin color.”
Instead of applause, you could hear a pin drop when Selma finished. She never told us how to vote, but she certainly took a stand for justice and for Miss Pearl. My respect for her has grown through the roof.
Once Lizzie is back with the paper and pens, she and Selma hand out stacks to the girls at the end of every row. We’re asked to simply write yes or no, fold the paper in half, then send our ballots back down to them. Selma asks three more Alpha Delt officers, along with Mrs. Woodcock, to help with the counting. All six of them sit at the table in the front of the chapter room and for the next twenty minutes tally the votes. As for the rest of the girls, most everyone is whispering. There is serious tension in the room.
The whole time they’re up there I’m sure the suspense will kill me. I’m hopeful, yet I’m still worried. I look over at Ellie and I can tell she’s worried, too. It seems most everyone feels the way we do about Miss Pearl, but after Brooke stood up it’s hard to know.
Thirty long, excruciating minutes later, Selma stands up from behind the table. Mrs. Woodcock and the other officers keep their seats. She grabs one of the microphones and holds it an inch from her mouth. “Okay, y’all.” Her smile grows and she holds her head high. “There are nine Alpha Delts, besides Annie Laurie, that couldn’t make it tonight. I will personally get votes from every one of them, but I don’t think it will matter. Four hundred and seventeen of you voted yes. And twelve of you voted no.”
It seems like everyone stands up, whooping and hollering and dancing in place. With the large crowd, it’s hard to tell who’s not clapping.
Once the noise dies down, Selma leans in to the mic. “If any of the people who voted no would like to speak with me about it, please come to me afterward. We can meet privately and discuss this at great length, but otherwise I think we have a vast majority.”
Mrs. Woodcock leans over and taps Selma on the shoulder. Selma looks at her and they talk for a moment before Selma continues. “For all you pledges who don’t know her, this is Wilda Woodcock, Ellie’s mom. She’s a Rush Advisor on our Advisory Board, which is different from the House Corp Board. It’s fairly confusing, but she’s here tonight and we’re grateful.” She hands Mrs. Woodcock the mic.
“Hi, girls,” she says as she stands. “I’m proud of all of you. But this is only the first step. Even though y’all are in agreement, we still have to have the House Corp Board’s stamp of approval. Since Lilith Whitmore is the president, and since she’s opposed, we should probably come up with a backup plan. In case she holds a hard line.”
Lizzie stands straight up, whispers to Mrs. Woodcock, then takes the mic. “I agree, and I think we need to do something big. Y’all think about it. If Lilith Whitmore tells us we can’t have our Miss Pearl, even if the whole board says no, which I can’t imagine is possible, I’m thinking we need to stage a protest andwalk out.I’m serious. We need to take a stand here. I say… if they try to tell us no, let’s turn in our pins.”
