SGRho doesn’t own Blue and Gold
Some folks in the 5th District have been buzzing about Quincy Bareebe’s campaign colors, and I think it’s worth stepping back for a moment. Blue and gold are beautiful colors, but they’re not proprietary. Sigma Gamma Rho has every right to be proud of its branding, but the sorority doesn’t own those colors, and it would be unreasonable to expect anyone — candidate or otherwise — to avoid them entirely. There is no way a bunch of sorority women should declare that they own two colors and no one is allowed to use them!
That said, I understand why some voters are raising their eyebrows. In Prince George’s County, Divine Nine colors carry cultural weight, and people are sensitive to how those signals are used. When a candidate who isn’t a member of a particular organization uses a palette that resembles it, some residents are going to read into it, whether that’s fair or not.
But the truth is simple: color choices don’t prove anything. They don’t confer membership, and they don’t create an affiliation where none exists. If Quincy likes blue and gold, she’s allowed to like blue and gold. If voters feel the choice is sending mixed signals, that’s a conversation worth having — but it’s not evidence of wrongdoing.
The larger point is this: campaigns should be judged on their ideas, their experience, and their ability to serve the district. Color palettes are just color palettes. They can spark discussion, sure, but they shouldn’t overshadow the real issues that matter to people’s lives.
However, whichever way you come down on this, there’s no way that anybody on either side should be making nasty cracks about uppity sorority girls. The women of the D9 are ladies worthy of respect.