Rickey Smiley Critiques Own Fraternity For Caleb Wilson Death
The hazing death of Southern University student Caleb Wilson earlier this year has stoked so many emotions, among them disappointment in the culture that surrounds fraternities. Comedian Rickey Smiley took aim at that during a recent appearance on the Spolitics podcast with Jemele Hill, speaking from his experience as a member of Omega Psi Phi, the same fraternity Wilson was pledging.
“I don’t think Bishop Edgar A. Love would have punched anybody in the chest,” Smiley said. “Just, Love, Cooper and Coleman founded Omega Psi Phi at Howard University in 1911. A lot of these guys that started this culture, I don’t care if it started in the ’80s, I don’t care when it started. It is wrong. In 25 years in the frat, I have never put my hands on anybody.”
Smiley has been a member of Omega Psi Phi since 2000, and has continually offered support to the Wilson family since 20-year-old Caleb’s death through his platform, relating to their grief due to the death of his own son in January 2023. But he found that the fraternity reportedly wasn’t as encouraging. “I called Caleb Wilson’s dad and offered my condolences because I’m a dad that also lost his son,” Smiley said to Hill. “You know what he said? You are the first member of your fraternity to call and offer your condolences.”
Wilson’s death, which led to the arrest of three men afterward, has sparked more conversation about Black Greek culture and the numerous hazing incidents it has dealt with in the past. Talledega College president and author of Black Greek 101 Walter Kimbrough wrote about the incident for MSNBC, focusing on the older individuals involved: “I call these individuals ‘extended adolescents,’ and they pose a particularly alarming risk to college campus safety.”
He blasted the “gang-like mentality” that’s taken over in the fraternity in recent years. “I [joined] Omega Psi Phi Fraternity Inc, because of what it was founded on, not the culture that was created,” he explained. “Culture starts with cult. It’s gang activity…the last physical altercations that I’ve gotten into as a man was with Ques. Why?” Smiley did acknowledge that there are members who are working to break “the generational curse of hazing” and stated that he’d never give up on Omega Psi Phi.
