The fear was constant in your mind. You’re in a dark room with a blindfold on with about three other people who are taking turns hitting you.
- Regina Moore, Alabama A&M
The death of Florida A&M marching band member Robert Champion exposed a secret culture within the Historically Black College University marching bands.
Champion, 26, died Nov. 19, 2011 from “hemorrhagic shock” and “blunt force trauma” after sustaining multiple blows to his body, according to an autopsy report obtained by The Orlando Sentinel.
HBCU bands have long been scrutinized for hazing, but deaths within this community are rare.
LaGarian Bridgewater, a 26-year-old former band member for Southern University, revealed the culture of hazing he endured under the system and helped continue.
In the last 15 years, 20 members of southern university’s band were arrested for violent hazing. All band members at the university must now sign anti-hazing contracts.
Lagarian Bridgwater, former Southern University Band Member
Bridgewater and six other suspects plead no contest to second- degree felony battery three years ago for hazing then-freshman Marcus Heath.
Joining Southern University’s marching program was a childhood dream come true for Bridgewater who was a part of the program’s French horn section.
Bridgewater reveals band members are hazed as soon as they step onto campus. The pledges, he said, are referred to as “crabs” and organized by section according to the instrument they play.
Each section, he said, have their own ritual.
About a month into the process, he said, he was hit with a two by four about “30 times a night.” Bridgewater was “terrified” during his pledge process and recalled it as being “painful.”
Marcus Heath had an unfortunate experience during his pledge process. The beatings Heath endured landed him in a hospital fighting for his life.
Bridgewater hazed Heath along with six other members of his section.
Marcus Heath, he said, was hit with a two by four about 100 times. Heath could barely walk following the beating.
When I used the bathroom I saw blood was coming out, Heath said.
Heath was immediately rushed to the hospital where he was placed on a ventilator to help him breathe. His kidneys stopped functioning.
Marcus Heath, former Southern University band member
Bridgewater said hazing builds “camaraderie, a brotherhood.”
“We played the same instruments, we ate together, we studied together and got hazed together,” he said.
Regina Moore, a former student at Alabama A&M, pledged the flute section in the university’s marching band.
“The fear was constant in your mind,” she said. “You’re in a dark room with a blindfold on with about three other people who are taking turns hitting you.“
Regina Moore, former Alabama A&M band member
Regina and her ‘crab’ sisters initially wanted to stop hazing for future pledges. But the pain, she said, changed her. By the end of her process, her mind changed to where she couldn’t wait to finish, so she can do it to the next girl.
But her crab sister went to the hospital for her injuries. The university found out
and expelled the flute section from the school.
The death of Robert Champion sparked a huge outcry on the issue of hazing and prompted many to push for reform in the band groups.
As FAMU continues its search for a band director to lead the once proud Marching 100, Champion’s parents are continuing their fight for justice.
This unfortunate incident greatly affected everyone involved. Change is needed to prevent another Robert Champion case from ever occurring again.
Head over to Collegiate NetVision (CNV) to watch Robert Champion Tribute video by clicking here
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The Robert Champion situation has been a negative experience for my school. I honestly am straddling the fence on who should get the blame. I do feel band members should be disciplined but on the other hand Robert Champion chose to be hazed. He could’ve said he didn’t want to do it. He’s just as much to blame for his death as the band. I hate to say but that’s how I feel. The whole school should not be treated the way it is. I attend a great institution. Some of my friends also said he was for being hazed. I just think it’s wrong that a lot of pplz lives r gonna ruined now bcuz of this smh
Are you serious? I attend FAMU as well and how can you justify this and not just that blame a young man for his own death. Yes, he made a decision, but that is college an he probably did not expect to be killed. I cant believe you are sad about the institution who has let 50+ ppl in the band who are not in school and the lives of the students who took his life…wake up
hazing will never end sadly
ooh her booty looking too thru. u got me f’d up if ima let somebody beat me. foh!!
i bet she wouldn’t let her dude smack the booty when he hit from the back lmao
i wish sum1 would lay a hand on me. it wold be consequences and repercussion
these kids do have a choice. no one is forcing them to be hazed. just say no. simple as that
eww smh…
You have a choice to be hazed. Like a drug dealer has a choice to sell drugs. No one is responsible for Champion’s death but himself. He put himself in that situation #ijs
@FAMU Chica you are one sad individual. I will pray for you
man up. aint nobody put a gun to their head to get they ass beat. robert champion is just in fault as everyone else if not more.
You all are missing a few key points here. YES, he did submit himself to any and all dangers that he encountered. He did NOT however submit himself to be killed as it was stated by a reader above. The question is to those responsible for the swinging of the 2×4; at what point did you realize that you beatened him to a point of no return. If this is an “age old” tradition then there should be some know and a system of “checks and balances” in place that would prevent such results. This is the result of mindless behavior, reckless endangerment, childess jealousy, and utter arrogance in the most ignorant form of apathy. In other words people!; what I’m saying is, there is no justification, regardless of your affiliation/experience/knowledge(alleged), for this. A 2×4 is a building material, and they were/are HITTING people with them. Who, in full sanity of mind with no type of inebriation/mind altering present will beat an individual to that degree. This is from the stand point of a GREEK whose org invented what they are trying recreate. We haven’t done much better ourselves but our selection process is much selective also besides the fact that membership isn’t a necessity whereas a plethora of students rely on a FULL paid BAND scholarship just to afford college only to meet a 2×4 with blood stains of another. BLACK community please wake up! And YES I did pledge so I am fully aware of this subject; physically/mentally/spiritually and most of all culturally. Let’s get it together.