On this episode of Our American Stories, despite being generally liked by the fraternity he was rushing, some boys' parents expressed their dismay at Eric Motley wanting to join the group. His would-be fraternity brothers put their enjoyment and reputations on the line to fight the unjustified hate. Here he is to tell his story.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:10):
This is Lee Habib and this is our American Stories,
and we tell stories about everything here on this show,
including your story. Send them to our American Stories dot com.
That's our American Stories dot com. And today we're talking
to Eric Motley. We've heard from Eric before about his life. Eric,
you talk about how one of the most pivotal stories
(00:31):
happened while you were at Samford University, involving your pledging
at a fraternity. It was a moment that displayed both
the best and the worst in people.
Speaker 2 (00:41):
Tell us about that I was too naive to really
know what a fraternity was. I arrived Sanford was predominantly
a white university, and as much as the majority of
the students there were people not of color, maybe there
was four or five percent of a colored population people
of color, and that's minorities Hispanic and African Americans. But
(01:07):
I was in a wonderful Christian community and people embraced me,
and they seemed to be interested in me, and as
much as I was interested in them. And for sure,
maybe I was a bit eccentric, and I was so
intense on getting an education that everyone in the university
knew that I was the first in the library in
the morning and the last to leave the library, and
(01:29):
that became a bit of a joke, but a wonderful
joke and the daring joke. And then there were a
group of upper classmen who became friends, and they encouraged
me to go through RUSH because they thought it was
a wonderful opportunity for me to meet more people and
to be a part of a club that they were
a part of, to experience something they felt fulfilling. And
(01:51):
so I went through this experience with this fraternity, and
I felt really good about the people that I met
and their encouragement. But unbeknownst to me, underneath all of this,
there were parents who were greatly disturbed by the concept
of this fraternity being integrated, let alone at Sandford, but
(02:13):
in the state of Alabama, because it had yet to
be integrated in Alabama. And so those parents and parents
have wonderful influence as well as oftentimes not so great
influence on us, greatly expressed their concerns to their kids
and encourage them to oppose me. And to make a
(02:36):
very long story short but interesting, on the very night
that a vote was to be taken, I was going
to be blackballed and there were a group of students
who had organized themselves and their arguments around all the
reasons that I should not be a member of this fraternity,
(02:58):
and they were not really sound reasons. And one student
found a group of them singing a song using not
so great lyrics or words that are not greater, words
that we're told not to use now about people of color,
and that student and a group of other students did
(03:19):
what they believed was right. There were a group of
about six or seven students who had gone to the
Final four up in Atlanta, Georgia, and someone wrote them
call them and said, it doesn't look like it's going
to be promising for Eric. And I know that you
wanted to be here for the vote and that you
were going to get here at the end of the meeting,
(03:40):
but it might require you're getting here as soon as possible.
And they left the Final four. Could you believe that
these college seniors leaving the final four basketball competitions and
driving some five to six hours back to Birmingham in
order to be at a fraternity meeting at the start
of it so they could address their fellow fraternity members.
(04:04):
And they challenged them, and they said, you know the
reasons that you're given are not the reasons why. And
we are aware that a good number of your appearents
have reached out to others to encourage them to vote
against Eric. But there is no way that we can
(04:25):
graduate after four years of being here and after the
experience of getting to know this guy and not believing
and doing what is right and really stepping up. And
to me, it's a wonderful reminder that from time to
time we're all called to challenge the moral complacency of
(04:45):
a leisure in secular society, that we're all called to
do what's right. In that same letter that we reference
about Martin Luther King, there's a line that disturbs me.
He said, it's not the people who are overtly doing wrong.
It is the deafening silence of the good people that
(05:08):
disturbed me most. And in that one moment, the seven
eight young men decided that they would take off their
fraternity pins and lay them on a table and to
say that we feel so strongly about doing what is
right that we're willing to give up our membership in
this group. And in that one quiet, unheralded act, they
(05:34):
influenced all of the members of that fraternity save one
to vote for my membership. Now, what is beautiful and
profound about that story is not just that unheralded act
of heroism, but the fact that I did not learn
(05:54):
until I had moved here to Washington, d C. So
that's from nineteen ninety six to two thousand and one.
I did not learn the narrative that took place. And
it took place because one friend of mine, who had
had too much to drink one night, phoned me and
ended up telling me more than he ever planned on
(06:17):
telling me about what actually transpired. And what I learned
was that those same group of students organize themselves and
paid my fraternity dues for those two years. They never
wanted me to know the story. They never wanted me
to know the names of the students who opposed me.
(06:38):
They only wanted me to experience the community that they
believed could be realized when good people do what is
right and encourage other people who are good to overcome
their prejudices.
Speaker 1 (06:53):
And that is Eric Motley and one heck of a
story about so much. Madison Park is the name of
the book. It's filled with stories like this. A remarkable place,
a remarkable upbringing, a remarkable community. Madison Park, a place
of hope. Go to Amazon dot com and get it.
Eric Motley's story, his fraternity story, not like the rest
(07:17):
of the pledges, but my goodness, what lessons learned about
life and about courage here on our American Stories. Folks.
If you love the great American stories we tell and
love America like we do, we're asking you to become
a part of the Our American Stories family. If you
(07:37):
agree that America is a good and great country, please
make a donation. A monthly gift of seventeen dollars and
seventy six cents is fast becoming a favorite option for supporters.
Go to our American Stories dot com now and go
to the donate button and help us keep the great
American stories coming. That's Our American Stories dot com.
This is Lee Habib and this is our American Stories,
and we tell stories about everything here on this show,
including your story. Send them to our American Stories dot com.
That's our American Stories dot com. And today we're talking
to Eric Motley. We've heard from Eric before about his life. Eric,
you talk about how one of the most pivotal stories
(00:31):
happened while you were at Samford University, involving your pledging
at a fraternity. It was a moment that displayed both
the best and the worst in people.
Speaker 2 (00:41):
Tell us about that I was too naive to really
know what a fraternity was. I arrived Sanford was predominantly
a white university, and as much as the majority of
the students there were people not of color, maybe there
was four or five percent of a colored population people
of color, and that's minorities Hispanic and African Americans. But
(01:07):
I was in a wonderful Christian community and people embraced me,
and they seemed to be interested in me, and as
much as I was interested in them. And for sure,
maybe I was a bit eccentric, and I was so
intense on getting an education that everyone in the university
knew that I was the first in the library in
the morning and the last to leave the library, and
(01:29):
that became a bit of a joke, but a wonderful
joke and the daring joke. And then there were a
group of upper classmen who became friends, and they encouraged
me to go through RUSH because they thought it was
a wonderful opportunity for me to meet more people and
to be a part of a club that they were
a part of, to experience something they felt fulfilling. And
(01:51):
so I went through this experience with this fraternity, and
I felt really good about the people that I met
and their encouragement. But unbeknownst to me, underneath all of this,
there were parents who were greatly disturbed by the concept
of this fraternity being integrated, let alone at Sandford, but
(02:13):
in the state of Alabama, because it had yet to
be integrated in Alabama. And so those parents and parents
have wonderful influence as well as oftentimes not so great
influence on us, greatly expressed their concerns to their kids
and encourage them to oppose me. And to make a
(02:36):
very long story short but interesting, on the very night
that a vote was to be taken, I was going
to be blackballed and there were a group of students
who had organized themselves and their arguments around all the
reasons that I should not be a member of this fraternity,
(02:58):
and they were not really sound reasons. And one student
found a group of them singing a song using not
so great lyrics or words that are not greater, words
that we're told not to use now about people of color,
and that student and a group of other students did
(03:19):
what they believed was right. There were a group of
about six or seven students who had gone to the
Final four up in Atlanta, Georgia, and someone wrote them
call them and said, it doesn't look like it's going
to be promising for Eric. And I know that you
wanted to be here for the vote and that you
were going to get here at the end of the meeting,
(03:40):
but it might require you're getting here as soon as possible.
And they left the Final four. Could you believe that
these college seniors leaving the final four basketball competitions and
driving some five to six hours back to Birmingham in
order to be at a fraternity meeting at the start
of it so they could address their fellow fraternity members.
(04:04):
And they challenged them, and they said, you know the
reasons that you're given are not the reasons why. And
we are aware that a good number of your appearents
have reached out to others to encourage them to vote
against Eric. But there is no way that we can
(04:25):
graduate after four years of being here and after the
experience of getting to know this guy and not believing
and doing what is right and really stepping up. And
to me, it's a wonderful reminder that from time to
time we're all called to challenge the moral complacency of
(04:45):
a leisure in secular society, that we're all called to
do what's right. In that same letter that we reference
about Martin Luther King, there's a line that disturbs me.
He said, it's not the people who are overtly doing wrong.
It is the deafening silence of the good people that
(05:08):
disturbed me most. And in that one moment, the seven
eight young men decided that they would take off their
fraternity pins and lay them on a table and to
say that we feel so strongly about doing what is
right that we're willing to give up our membership in
this group. And in that one quiet, unheralded act, they
(05:34):
influenced all of the members of that fraternity save one
to vote for my membership. Now, what is beautiful and
profound about that story is not just that unheralded act
of heroism, but the fact that I did not learn
(05:54):
until I had moved here to Washington, d C. So
that's from nineteen ninety six to two thousand and one.
I did not learn the narrative that took place. And
it took place because one friend of mine, who had
had too much to drink one night, phoned me and
ended up telling me more than he ever planned on
(06:17):
telling me about what actually transpired. And what I learned
was that those same group of students organize themselves and
paid my fraternity dues for those two years. They never
wanted me to know the story. They never wanted me
to know the names of the students who opposed me.
(06:38):
They only wanted me to experience the community that they
believed could be realized when good people do what is
right and encourage other people who are good to overcome
their prejudices.
Speaker 1 (06:53):
And that is Eric Motley and one heck of a
story about so much. Madison Park is the name of
the book. It's filled with stories like this. A remarkable place,
a remarkable upbringing, a remarkable community. Madison Park, a place
of hope. Go to Amazon dot com and get it.
Eric Motley's story, his fraternity story, not like the rest
(07:17):
of the pledges, but my goodness, what lessons learned about
life and about courage here on our American Stories. Folks.
If you love the great American stories we tell and
love America like we do, we're asking you to become
a part of the Our American Stories family. If you
(07:37):
agree that America is a good and great country, please
make a donation. A monthly gift of seventeen dollars and
seventy six cents is fast becoming a favorite option for supporters.
Go to our American Stories dot com now and go
to the donate button and help us keep the great
American stories coming. That's Our American Stories dot com.
Host
Lee Habeeb
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