Right now, Black parents, educators, and community organizers are working overtime to issue urgent guidance on how to keep our young people safe. As anxieties rise, families are actively turning to our most trusted legacy institutions for shelter, security, and guidance.
In a world where finding a true sanctuary feels harder by the day, it’s only natural that we look to the most famous pillars of Black culture for protection. But as we lean into these spaces, it begs a polarizing question currently dividing the internet: Is it Black elitism, or is it essential community building?
When it comes to institutions like The Links, Incorporated, Jack and Jill of America, and Black Greek-letter organizations, the line between an indispensable safe haven and an exclusive club has never felt thinner. Whether you view them as vital lifelines or expensive status symbols, here is a neutral, unfiltered look at both sides of the coin.
The Birth of the Divine Nine
In the early 1900s, being a Black student on a predominantly white college campus meant navigating total isolation. Banned from student housing, barred from campus cafeterias, and locked out of existing white student groups, Black college students were completely on their own. That changed in 1906.
It was out of this hostile exclusion that the first Black Greek-letter organization was born—starting with Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc. at Cornell University and Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc. at Howard University in 1908—and were forged as literal safe havens designed to help Black students thrive in a system built to reject them.
Toxicity and Hazing
While the Divine Nine prides itself on lifelong brotherhood and sisterhood, modern critics argue that the culture is plagued by toxic gatekeeping and trauma-bonding.
Despite decades of strict anti-hazing policies, dangerous underground initiation rituals continue to make headlines, sometimes resulting in severe psychological harm, physical pain and even death.
Southern University’s Caleb Wilson Hazing Death
The Root told you about Caleb Wilson, the 20-year-old mechanical engineering student at Southern University who died in February 2025 after a fatal hazing ritual while pledging Omega Psi Phi. The Beta Sigma chapter was expelled by the university, and five men were indicted by a grand jury for manslaughter, felony hazing, and obstruction of justice.
Caleb Wilson’s parents also sued the fraternity and the chapter, amongst others, for wrongful death and survival damages, 7 News reported. His story is a devastating reminder of what happens when a legacy meant to protect Black lives becomes the very thing that takes them.
The High Price of Admission
Furthermore, critics point out a deep hypocrisy in their missions. While these organizations pledge to uplift the underserved, the staggering financial cost of membership intake—frequently running into the thousands of dollars and dues paid out annually, quarterly or monthly—means they are locking out working-class Black students, turning what started as campus activism into an expensive status symbol.
Boots on the Ground
Whatever critics say about the social exclusivity of these spaces, their modern philanthropic output is impossible to ignore. The Divine Nine thrives on civic action in real time with voter registrations, hosting massive health clinics, and funding millions in academic scholarships for HBCU students.
Gang Mentality
Still, social media timelines are regularly flooded with videos of grown adults in matching windbreakers crashing out, gatekeeping public sidewalks and restaurant aisles because they think a color combination and a stroll line gives them deed to the property.
Videos of violence often go viral, roasting members for having a bizarre amount of ride-or-die loyalty to an organization—and “friends they quite literally had to pay for”—despite not having a single drop of actual Greek blood in their DNA.
“Atp they just as close as gangs,” one TikTok user wrote after video of a girl getting jumped by 15 AKAs went viral. Another added: “Yea someone mama would’ve been wearing a black dress and singing going up the yonder.”
Related: Why Bougie Jack and Jill Might Just Be the Thing Black Folks Need These Days
The Vision Behind Jack And Jill of America
While Black college students were organizing on campuses, Black mothers were fighting a different battle at home. Founded in 1938 by Marion Stubbs Thomas in Philadelphia, Jack and Jill of America was born out of a simple, yet powerful desire to give Black children a safe space to just be kids.
Today, Jack and Jill boasts 271 chapters nationwide, representing more than 50,000 family members to provide social, cultural and educational opportunities for youth between the ages of 2 and 19, according to its website.
Allegations of Generational Snobbery
Unfortunately throughout the years, Jack and Jill of America has earned itself the “bougie” label, and has been frequently called out for fostering a culture of intense generational snobbery.
Because the organization places an overwhelming priority on legacy status—giving automatic preference to the children of existing members—it naturally keeps out everyday Black families who don’t have historical ties to Black high society.
Grueling Interview Process
Critics argue that the interview process, legacy requirements to even be considered for membership, and specific dress codes don’t actually protect Black childhood at all; instead, they isolate a select group of wealthy children from the broader Black community, teaching them from an early age to measure their worth by exclusive social standing and class privilege.
The Real-World Work
November is #PrematurityAwarenessMonth!
Jack and Jill of America, Inc. is a diligent, longstanding partner of @MarchofDimes. As an organization founded by mothers, our National Executive Board wears purple
for healthy moms & strong babies. #jackandjillinc #marchofdimes pic.twitter.com/eqZ1p8aOCM
— Jack and Jill of America, Inc. (@JackandJillInc) November 7, 2024
But behind that polished exterior lies an undeniable philanthropic network. Jack and Jill of America actively channels its resources into community and charitable events, pioneering nationwide public awareness around child development, mental growth, and the legal protection of children’s rights.
Why The Links Formed
The Links, Incorporated, founded in Philadelphia in 1946, was engineered to pool the intellect, professional leverage and financial resources of Black women who were otherwise locked out of mainstream civic leadership.
According to their website, The Links is “one of the nation’s oldest and largest volunteer service organizations committed to enriching, sustaining, and ensuring the culture and economic survival of African Americans and other people of African ancestry.”
Old-Money Gatekeeping
The Links, Incorporated faces heavy scrutiny for being the epitome of elitist old- money. Unlike many organizations where any qualified person can apply, membership in The Links is strictly invite-only, requiring sponsorship from existing members who are accused of favoring a specific social class or professional pedigree.
Academic Donald Earl Collins has criticized members of the Black middle- and upper-classes for having attitudes and values similar to their white counterparts.
He wrote: “Emphasizing harmony while knowing that millions of Americans of colour are living off the crumbs of alleged racial progress is the mentality of an affluent African American who’s struck a Faustian bargain.”
The Links’ Legacy
The Links, Incorporated consists of more than 17,000 professional women of African descent in 299 chapters located in 41 states. The organization funds historic HBCU scholarships, contributed more than one million documented hours of community service annually and has gifted more than $27 million to charitable causes since its founding.
