The Bruh’s huh?
Yep.
What fraternity is that?
What do you mean?
You know..what frat..did ya’ll have Alphas, Kappas or Omegas at Stanford?
The Bruhs aren’t affiliated with any Greek fraternity or anything, although some of the Bruhs were in those fraternities at Stanford.
Really? They had black fraternities at STANFORD???
Yeah. When I was there, over 10% of the student body was black.
How many students went there??
I was there between the fall of 1988 and the spring of 1992, and they had about 6,000 Graduate and 6,000 undergraduate students then.
So that’s over 1,000 black students.
Yeah, but don’t forget, that includes everyone who considers themselves African or of African descent. So all of the international Negroes were included in that number too. As well as the inter-racial students who pimped that ‘minority’ card on paper, but in real life they only hang around non-black people.
D’mn! It’s people living like THAT??!
Of course! ‘Passing’ is nothing new, it’s been going on for centuries. Even Moses ‘passed’, it’s all about survival in this world.
Yeah, but it just seems sad and archaic that someone would have to ‘pass’ themselves off as something they’re not. It seems like everyone should just be allowed to be who they are, without any fronting.
Well, that’s what the Bruhs are all about.
So..what do you have to do to be IN the Bruhs? Is there some kind of initiation or something?
No..you just have to be real.
What about white boys? Can they be a Bruh?
Of course, our boy Keipp in L.A. is a Bruh, but he grew up around almost all black folks, so, he’s not a REAL white boy, he’s just passing (laughing).
What about women? Can they be Bruhs?
Naww..only dudes can be Bruhs…but we DO have a lot of Bruh-ettes.
What’s a Bruh-ette?
A female Bruh.
Well?? What does it take to BE a Bruh then?
If you have to ask, then you don’t need to know.
This is ridiculous! Can you at least tell me if that picture at the top is ALL the Bruhs?
No, that’s just some of the Bruhs. That picture is from one of the Bruhs weddings. Bruhs can pop up on any continent at any time. Sometimes traveling solo, sometimes with a crew, sometimes with a lady friend, you never know.
How do you get IN to the Bruhs?
Everybody comes in on their own path. Some lived in Uj, some married Bruhs, some are related to Bruhs or Bruhettes, it’s a big family.
I just can’t understand why ya’ll have to be so exclusionary and secretive. Why do you need to form cliques and groups that separate yourselves from the entire community?
Because it’s a Bruh thang, you wouldn’t understand.
___________________________
Since I am from a large family of kinfolk, it was quite a new experience for me once I was 17 and arrived at Stanford University for the fall quarter in 1988. I had left behind all of my blood relatives and homies and ventured to a beautiful part of the world, nestled in the redwoods of Palo Alto, California. Once I arrived there I knew that I was not the ‘typical’ Stanford student. My parents were not high powered corporate executives or billionaire entrepreneurs. I didn’t attend a high ranking college prepatory school on the East coast. I was from a working class, urban all-black environment and the way I looked at the world was a bit different than your ‘standard’ Stanford student.
Once I stopped tripping over the social and economic differences in backgrounds of all the students, I started noticing a lot of similarities. There’s a lot of brothers who grew up in an upper class environment, but they still liked to hoop like I did. There’s a lot of brothers who grew up with all of the strappings of wealth, but they were hustling to holla at the finest honey just like I was. Stanford had the NY-Chicago ‘house’ crew, the ‘go-go’ D.C. crew, the fly Atlanta crew, the showtime ‘L.A.’ crew, as well as that Southern Texas-Louisiana Flava. With all of the differences in backgrounds, social and financial status that we brought to the table, we all brought much love also.
As a freshman leaning toward majoring in Electrical Engineering, there were 2 brothers in particular who looked out for me and the rest of the EE bruhs.
Chris was from LaMarque and his infectious smile and LOUD voice quickly put me at ease. ‘Thank God I’m not the only loud and crazy n’ga from Texas here!’ His podna in crime was our brother Okon. Okon really exemplified the heart and soul of the Bruhs, because more so than anything else, the Bruhs are about helping each other along in life. Sometimes this is with a shared laugh, being study buddies and most recently, someone to embrace in love when the pain of a loved one moving on seems just too great to handle by yourself.
The Bruhs scooped me up and let me into the family of love and support. From having someone to go half on a sandwich with, or a study podna for an upcoming exam, the Bruhs were always there to help out in any way they could. I can honestly say that if it wasn’t for the close knit positive support group that the Bruhs afforded me, my chances of graduating from Stanford would have been greatly reduced. Some people have to go through life completely alone and without any family or friends to look out for them. I went to Stanford without any relatives and I left with one of the warmest, largest and most heartfelt assemblies of brothers and sisters on the face of this earth.
The Bruh’s are a family of folks that went through that change of life at Stanford University together. Most of us arrived as kids, but we left as adults. Having to take care of our own bills and make all of our own decisions in life. The funny part is, no matter how old we get, and how many great things we accomplish, we all know each other’s heart. It’s a lot of bruhs that go about their business in mainstream society handling up like no other..taking care of the business! But once the work hours are over, and its time to relax and unwind amongst the family, Bruhs are ready to start sipping on the margaritas and playing some good music while we sit back and enjoy life. Bruhs take road trips together, Bruhs get married (to women) and have kids, Bruhs go out in the world and shine a positive love of life wherever they go. Hopefully we all can remember a Swahili term that sheds so much light on what it takes to be a Bruh. That word is ‘Harambee’, translated ‘The power of the collective soul.’ Our brother Okon was a staunch believer and advocate of Harambee. In so many ways he led a lot of us along the path of spiritual enlightenment. Being able to channel into the power and energy of the soul collective is an enlightening experience. By taking this path, I was able to shed a lot of my inbred Southern prejudices and phobias. We are all individual souls in the eyes of God. No man is greater, no woman is lesser, we’re all the same. Fortunately, God had in His plan for me to experience the Bruhs and all the love they have to offer. The Bruhs reinforced in my mind just how intelligent, aggressive, loving, thoughtful black folks can be. Some people feel that there shouldn’t be such exclusionary ‘black’ overtones, but it really didn’t matter the color. If you liked classic hip-hop, fried chicken, dancing , playing basketball, chasing the flyest honeys and/or busting out exams, then you would fit right in with the Bruhs.
Now that the Bruhs are older, and we’re going through REAL life experiences like losing our loved ones, having children, getting married, pursuing our various careers, it’s always good to get together and remininsce on our more carefree days. Being around the Bruhs, laughing, talking, eating, drinking or whatever it is we’re doing, is like a breath of fresh air. It’s our opportunity to come up for oxygen from the underwater society we all navigate through. Being with the Bruhs gives us chance to catch our breath and enjoy the comradarie of other brothers who are out there swimming in the same deep ocean, just in different places. And above all else, Bruhs keep it real:
If your breath stinks?
Say Bruh, you need to get a mint or something.
If your stomach is looking a bit ‘paunchy’?
Say Bruh, can I set my drink on your gut?
You’ve got to have thick skin and a good sense of humor to hang around the Bruhs. I’m just glad I met them. I had tested my writing skills out on the Bruhs several years ago with email stories. Okon was one of the Bruhs that urged me to pursue my writing skills.
