Back in 2009, the FAMU band high-stepped at the inauguration
of the country’s first African-American president. U.S. President Barack Obama
and First Lady Michelle Obama smiled big and waved as the 100 treated them to
the sounds of Kool & The Gang, James Brown, and Stevie Wonder.
The FAMU band had the distinction of being selected out of
more than 400 applicants for the Inaugural Parade. But there was never any
doubt that the Marching 100 had what it took to make the short list. When the
100 played at an April 15, 2007 campaign rally for Obama in Ybor City, Fla., he
told the students: “This is the best introduction I have ever had.”
Today, Robert Champion, Jr. would be the head drum major leading the Marching 100 in its inaugural performance. But according to a criminal investigation report by the Orange County Sheriff’s Office, Champion “willingly participated” in an illegal hazing ritual aboard a parked charter bus after the 2011 Florida Classic. The beating he took on that bus left him dead.
The Marching 100 students who decided to break the
anti-hazing pledges they signed with FAMU all thought that a stupid and
dangerous hazing ritual was more important than the band itself. If any of them
had been truly loved the Marching 100, then they wouldn’t have participated in
a mindless activity that threatened to destroy the band and seriously injure band
members.
FAMU should not permit the band to return until it is sure
that it has students who really love the Marching 100. Students who haze or willingly
participate in hazing are more concerned about preserving a culture of secrecy
and violence than they are about preserving the 100. That type of selfishness has no place in any FAMU student organization.