Foreign Yeah Hello everybody and welcome back to another episode of the male perspective I am your host Alana Reed and today today on this day I am so fortunate I have another brother of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity Incorporated that took time out of his day to sit down and talk with
Me I have Brother Jay Watkins of beta mulanda from Salisbury North Carolina North Carolina for those people not from the south um here he’s taking some time to talk to me uh today and we’ll learn about his chapter and some other things that he’s got going on and I’m gonna pick his
Brain about a few other things but first and foremost as I always do I take a quick moment to pause say thank you to you sir for making time for me today time is a gift once we give it we can’t get it back so I truly appreciate you
Setting aside this time of your day to talk to me and with that sir welcome welcome to the show I appreciate it it’s honor to be here thank you so much so let’s talk about your chapter first of all I was uh roaming around your website being nosy and I see you guys
Have been around for quite some time 1939 1939 1939 August 21st 1935 specific here’s some of the history of your chapter with us as we get started yes ma’am so uh as you said we were chartered in 1939 uh with all the 155th House of Alpha Phi Fraternity
Incorporated uh yeah we’re housed out of Salisbury North Carolina um our our charter members came together and decided that our area need to be served during that time um it was a lot of recent graduates that uh went on to do higher education upon graduation they
Moved to the area there was no chapter to be affiliated with um and so boom um we’re thankful to those charter members um and I can name them you know T.E Allison Jr had your a day James Earl Halliwell Troy Johnson Howard W Miller uh and a lot of other great Brothers
Came together to make this make this possible and so we did go through a lull after the the charter uh occurred um we were very fruitful and vibrant for quite some time towards the end of the 1990s um early 2000s we did hit a gap um in the chapter kind of
Shut down that was nothing happening yeah so um yeah and so we were brought back by our brother um brother Lamont Foster who came back and breathed life back into the baby Lambda chapter and here we go today and doing some things that we I’m sure our Jewels are uh our founding
Fathers um they only thought of yes ma’am so we’re just happy to be be of service to our communities oh that’s so awesome and as I was roaming around the website um and correct me if I’m wrong and you kind of alluded to this it seems like uh
When it comes to your child chapter Alpha Phi Alpha has truly passed the torch and most of the membership is younger in age yeah we are now uh we have we have a really good blend though I will say we have a lot of of seasoned brothers that’s what I’ll call them
Seasoned Brothers Well educated well-versed uh involved on National levels uh have been you know a part of very very important movements in what we call Anchor what is our uh uh which is the North Carolina Alpha Man Association which you know that’s what we’re a part
Of and so uh Alpha South is our region and so Alpha South is the PowerHouse of alpha uh any of our brothers that you meet with after this one before this make sure you let them know that well we really are we’re fortunate to have those Brothers as a part of our chapter
They’re so knowledgeable uh and US younger brothers uh and I mean young in the sense of not even age but just in in membership we take a lot of pride in that and being able to reach out to them and get questions answered even if it’s something you know hey brother I was
Thinking about this this random question if we were in a meeting and this this happened you know it could be a civilization and they’re very very patient uh and we love to pride ourselves on the fact that we we say that nobody’s a is bigger than anybody else’s
Um we’re all one alpha and so it’s very very important uh for us to make sure that what’s being passed down is continuing to flow in the way that it should um and also that we reach up and we’re able to you know gain that information beautiful beautiful I love
It love it I have uh been around you guys for quite some time I’m one of them seasoned people that you were talking about so that’s the only way you get to work going that’s the only way we need the knowledge we need the knowledge
We can get out and do the work but sometimes I want to know what we’re doing so you need some experience you need some experience yes we do yes we do so let me um ask you because I like I said I was roaming around social media
Website and looking at uh some of the things you do I see that you uh in the past or currently have partnered with uh Rowan helping Ministries and Salvation Army so just kind of explain what your chapter does to serve the community in your area what are some of the projects
You guys are involved in oh so that’s a great question we do we do a lot we do a lot I’m very very proud of my brothers uh and I’m going to name drop here and there because I uh they’ve taken on very very important roles and made a lot of
Things as I said before come to life and before speaking on that I kind of want to touch on just moving back through like how we kind of went through that lapse I came into the chapter in 2016 and you’re a baby yeah I’m still young
I’m still young what I had so many ideas and things I wanted to do uh that quite frankly we couldn’t get done we didn’t have the numbers we didn’t have the okay Workforce we wasn’t able to be done and so now I’m very very excited to see my
Brothers and and in particular the Royal health ministries again being a native of Salisbury North Carolina in our chapter being you know housed there it’s important for us to get back to the community but it’s very very important to me personally because uh I see these
People I grew up around these people uh I still go home I mean I only live an hour away and so it’s my parents still live there my grandparents lived there so you know it’s it’s true to me and so uh brother Xavier Sloan God bless him he
Is he has been the ring leader the moving force in our partnership with royal health ministries we’ve given back with them in ways of uh working with their food kitchen uh feeding the homeless or um feeding the less fortunate uh during during the holidays and during the regular season
Uh just coming in and you know being able to provide some smiling faces a couple of jokes here and there uh we love to crack jokes um and just being present and talking to the people hearing their story uh you know and kind of uh ministering to them in some way
Shape or form we also have the opportunity to uh they do uh housing processes where they kind of set individuals up that are experiencing you know housing insecurities oh okay yeah so Bridge them into you know uh a new Independence and so they’ll house them put them on an allowance type rent
Situation so yeah I got you yes ma’am so we went out to those properties that uh are located where their main facility is and uh we stained the decks on the homes yeah so we went out there hey no staying defenses uh I could tell some of my
Brothers never touched the touch the pink version some college some college board okay we got we got some math exactly but so much you know we we we got together at the end there and so that was exciting um we’ve also you know held up some short clothes for their
Clothing drive and things like that and so he has really spearheaded those projects again brother Xavier Sloan is just so thankful for him for creating that partnership that we see will be uh you know as long as they want us we want to be there and so we’re just excited for
That to roll out and we just pray for growth in the area okay awesome I didn’t I didn’t pick that up from uh the web looking over the website y’all were making a comeback don’t call him come back we’re doing a lot of things and so that’s that’s one thing that’s very very
Exciting is that partnership and again being boots on the ground I love the work I love the work and we all do ain’t got no choice being an alpha man I mean that’s that’s you’re here to serve you’re here exactly right so you can’t wear a suit everywhere
Yeah let me uh what this distinguished men of alcohol right yes ma’am so let me talk about one of the things that I have always known um Alphas to be involved with and that’s the mentorship of the youth especially the young boys and one of the things
That comes to mind when I think of you guys is there’s this piece of artwork that’s been around for years and it’s a picture of a young boy staring in the mirror and then on his reflection he sees it’s different versions but this one I’m gonna be talking about he he
Sees himself as an alpha man um what are some of the core areas that Alphas are known when it comes to the mentorship of young boys and and what are some of the things that you guys do to kind of make sure they they do their journey and do it well
It’s a great question um and so we do have a national Pro uh program through Alpha um go to high school go to college which is pretty much a mentoring program that is uh geared towards preparing those students to make that leap to college um I will Pat myself on the back here
And I will say that 2016. I forget which year it was again coming to chapter 2016. uh when we have our regional conferences um we have we had the conference in Concord North Carolina which you know where that is right between salisbury and Charlotte and so uh I had I was recently over
Youth programming for our chapter specifically and we were co-hosting the the event right we’re helping run it so I normally some important people I thought I was I mean living room is here I want to say that we were I wanted to do some type of youth program because
Every uh you know conference there’s a youth component okay um announced to me historically we hadn’t had these components so I’m you know I’m like let’s do it let’s do it let’s do it and keep in mind this is we got our our general President coming
Here so we’re this is this is real uh and so I partnered up with um two great brothers from the Charlotte chapter beta new Lambda okay um and we made it happen we had a I mean it literally I think it was about 40 young men that came when we fed them and
We had speakers and it was just exciting um so that kind of drove my passion and say you know what can we do at home in a home chapter took that great scalement so that kind of wrote out to us partnering with a lot of different schools we partnered with schools in Concord
Um a charter school in Concord where we have brothers that were working at that school um we worked with churches and most recently we’ve had uh kind of a mentorship component where we bring students into those events where we do the wrong helping Ministry so they can see how
We give back right how we’re working um most exciting right now is that we are preparing to partner with uh the Salisbury or graduate chapter of Alpha Kappa Alpha sorority Incorporated um to work with their bows um for their upcoming uh debut time ball so their
Young men that are going to be working with uh their debutants the uh organized planning starts to come in and Mentor them and do some things with them and so I you know we have a National Partnership with big brothers of America and things like that but
Again that local local aspect is very very important and so we we strive to and I can say you know transparently we haven’t struggled getting it done the struggle has been a lot due to consistency and so um you know you are very very uh attached driven and
So our gaps when we you know say a brother works at a school we partner with that school the brother relocates to another school yeah it makes it harder on us to be able to get into the spaces and do the things we want to do and so now we’re really really
Challenging ourselves to figure out how we’re going to lock in um and excited I know uh Battle of the Bands is coming up in Georgia yeah um our chapter just made a very very generous donation to um communities and schools of Rowan County which is where Salisbury is uh in
Order for them to make that trip and so we’ll be partnering with them three of our brothers will be traveling to Georgia to work with their students as they go on the college day and do the whole College thing the agency you College thing
So the kids get to go down there and see them everything I get to go see her get to go see the Drone major go see it all uh you know learn about some college uh College opportunities in the process and so uh our president you know brother Al Parker
Came to us and he had met with Communities In Schools uh uh they said a dollar amount they needed you only get to do this if you stay in school that’s right you guys stay in school well let me ask you this is a lot
Of a lot of how many brothers are there currently in your chapters a lot early it’s so we have 37 Bros on our roster oh it’s not that many doing all this works no we’re very we’re a medium-sized chapter congratulations to you guys yeah it’s it’s very very it’s enlightening uh you know
He’s being nice it’s enlightening but it is stressful in some aspects to know you know you got 37 but as you said it before you know we we have a lot of young Brothers inexperienced brothers who want to do the work you don’t quite know what you’re doing and so that
Creates some obstacles and then we have you know Elder brothers that we uh My Brother’s Keeper another National program that we try to lock in on which is assure ensuring that our Elder Brothers um and their households are taken care of right their spouses um you know they all need groceries you
Need somebody to come cut the grass you know so we’re you know again office taking into account uh Brothers you know Alpha from from day one to to the end um and so yeah we we’re we’re small chapter but we’re small we’re small you think about like the Charlotte chapter I
Think currently they have around they’re above 150. okay so for y’all to get the work done and saying something then to get the work done to raise the dollars that we’ve been raising to be involved in the things that we’re involved in it’s impressive I’m not going I’m not going
To cut no blows because nobody pop your collars we’re working we’re working so we’ve earned we’ve learned a lot of things that we’re doing I’m just excited for the growth yeah yeah and and one of the things I saw one of your uh programs that you guys are really knocking it out
The park with your voter registration or your voter well yeah so we partnered with black voters matter uh and that was one of the first uh I was vice president of the chapter at the time our president Tom our immediate past president brother Cordero Jones He spearheaded ensuring that Grant
Partnership with them where we uh secured a 5 000 Grant to do some uh voter education and so voteless people is a hopeless people another National program it’s like it’s like so they kind of disband you know going door to door doing things like that and so we had to get creative
So you know one of the things we did was a drive through voter registration yeah just pull up and go register the vote uh and then that was one small thing and then we got we got kind of ridiculous with ideas said hey let’s do a party at
The polls and what does that look like and so we partnered with uh again with black voters matter when we use those funds to um cook out we gotta we got a grill match to come out we got a DJ to come out and we literally went um and I’ll
Tell you how things work on the property where we were doing the party at the polls security told us we couldn’t be there so you’re thinking about we’ve coordinated all of this um and it was free so we were giving all this food away we were just rewarding we
Didn’t care who you voted for that wasn’t what the conversation was yes ma’am exercise your right exercise your right to vote um and learn who’s on your local ballot right and that’s to everybody watching this podcast see who’s serving your communities thank you locally because that’s getting way
More important if we want to be honest but I told us we couldn’t be there so you know like the alpha man we are we relocated about 50 yards away and we gave we gave away all that food and played corn hole with the people and talking land and so that was exciting
For us and we’re just looking forward to to continue doing party at the polls again voter registration uh most recently we did another party at the polls Partners partnership with 102 jams which is a local radio station here I mean we did the same thing okay some free food away some
Voter education materials are provided people with their uh with their ballots um lineup for you know Democrats and Republicans because you know you you again exercise your right to vote and so just even rattling these things off I’m impressed I’m impressed I’m impressed you know well you guys
Have always impressed me over the years that I’ve been but just I mean when I learned when you said it was so well yeah that changes it yeah it was like whoa just 34 Brothers okay whoa but let me ask you let me take a sidebar here
Because I’m talking about voting and um one thing I do know is Alpha Phi Alpha Services the communities that look like us and when it comes to talk about boating uh what do you say I’m pretty sure you’ve experienced this when you you get the people that look like us oh
Man I ain’t gonna vote my vote don’t count I take two different positions on that me and my letters me letter you know again let’s let’s talk about it let’s talk about the things that are bothering you in the community or what what what is because we don’t know a lot of
Things and I don’t I and that’s a handicapping uh situation for our communities because we don’t we we only know we know and so people ask all the time like the sentences people don’t know why they do this interest they don’t know but when you learn that okay
The sense is going to make sure that you get more bus stops in your community more benches for your elderly that are waiting on the bus when you hear things like that it reminds you to do more so in those conversations where people are saying uh
Or I can’t vote because I’m a felon right that’s that’s something we we encounter a lot I personally didn’t know it was Raising around me I I never knew that until talking to somebody about it right they were like it’s a system or a program that you can go from right now I
Didn’t know but that’s the way they keep our communities from not being involved though exactly and it’s everything is is this design design but that’s a whole nother copy it is it is and if you do another series and you want me to come back we can spend 30
You know what is the problem that you’re facing you see going on and then listens to the people saying they want to address those problems okay provide them with your vote right the bottom with your vote because if they win you they’re now serving you right
You have the right to speak up and say hey what happened to you doing this this is what we talked about you we do on a local level you know you can’t can’t go I mean you can go to DC and yell at the White House and you try to scale that
Finish you’ll find out you’re lucky but you can’t go to your City Council meetings you can go um to hear your mayor speak right you can do those things in quite possibly uh go to functions luncheons dinners because these people again they live amongst you uh I’ll make
Your voice be heard so that’s kind of my position drivers say hey locally you can only do it together yeah I can just imagine you guys out there doing your thing and trying to do voter registration and a whole bunch of us be like man I’m just here for the hot dog
I’m not gonna eat can I get some food of course you can [ __ ] yeah I’m still trying to and then while you’re eating let’s talk yeah because you know it’s some people that um you know came they came in actions can they get some food because they they I guess they
Had a preconceived notion of our opinion of how they were presenting themselves right oh oh okay okay are we allowed to eat this food yes ma’am okay I don’t care if you voted for it like you I’m glad you voted I got you got it yeah as
Long as you exercise you’re right yeah no sure we’re gonna all get in well let me let me let me let me Circle back here because you mentioned two concepts that I kind of want to tie together um you talked about uh Brother’s Keeper and then uh we were talking about uh
Voting and how it impacts the computer uh Community one of the things that when you look at a bigger larger scale of what Alpha Phi Alpha is it is really a intergenerational village kind of thing so you have older brothers you can go to and say man my wife is getting on
My nerves can you give me some advice you know well I’m about to be a father or and in turn you know he can he can you know the older brother can say man I don’t know how to work all these apps on my phone you know can you help me out or
Whatever or can you take me to the doctor or whatever like you were saying earlier you have this intergenerational Village right this design how how does that now that you’ve learned all that seen all of that um especially coming from Salisbury and I understand some of the Dynamics of
Salisbury how is that beneficial this design to our own communities especially our communities of color it’s Priceless it’s Priceless I even get emotional thinking about it just to be honest with you man you know my father’s in my life uh has always been in my life my parents
Are married uh but my my background and my working um has been in non-profit uh historically and with youth and disgruntled families and you know uh just a lot a lot of stressors and seeing those things and so when you come into something like this you you become a part of this
Brotherhood it’s so it’s just it’s so refreshing and it’s really like a family sometimes you get tired of you know you ain’t gonna lie I get tired of it we get into it we go back and forth we get we get ready uh but at the bare roots of
All of it uh it’s Priceless because what it shows the community is that we’re not all killing each other we’re not all fighting each other we’re not all expressing hate um and and negativity and it when people come and see us doing something you can see it like you can I can
Recognize the respect and the love in that moment and it literally is life-changing every every holiday season for the last couple years we’ve been doing uh holiday turkey drop uh and the reason it’s so special to me is because I birthed that idea when I first came to
Chat to say how I want to do this right I said I want to do this I want to do this Brothers can we do it but you know how many turkeys we gave away just guess that first time I wanted to do it you know I mean just just don’t
Even be dramatic be just remember we’re like we’re like 34 right 34 y’all it was like 15 of us dead and five of us that just came in 50. I wish we didn’t weigh one I know and I was and I was proud I was
Proud I was so proud I was like this is amazing I was happy it’s a start we gonna build wood on this it’s okay and it was lovely and then last year I think we had like 30 or 40 and then this year we gave away
I think we gave away turkeys chicken and hams and bags of fresh vegetables and canned goods and this and that and this but my point being we all out there together we had some years come out they were volunteering uh had a partnership with another organization they came out
Two organizations actually came out to support and it’s just it hits you in a moment of doing the work you like you just kind of look around this is what this is about this is what it’s about yes ma’am how far we’ve come you know you got people coming up of
Course you know they’re they’re not the proudest coming up you know they it’s a it’s a it’s an insecurity company that comes yeah and we’re we’re understanding of that it’s quite frankly everybody’s about two paychecks away from from losing everything they have don’t take much don’t take much if we want to be
Realistic yeah we’re happy to be there to say hey you’re human right it’s okay we’re here to help our community and serve our community and so when we come together and that Community is like you said whether this hey can you do this for me or can you help me I’m trying to
Buy a house educating me on this brother how did you get that uh we got Brothers to sell cars under my uh you know all this stuff so again like I said I have my dad but I didn’t have any older brothers and so so you got that now you’ve got that dude
I do I had a lot of uncles and a lot of and a lot of nephews right thank you yes ma’am it’s just it’s fun because what it is and you’re talking that through that with you what I realized now is that we all have a responsibility to each other in our own
Unique way whether it’s um a Respect by looking up or you know Respect by reaching down that’s right oh man so it’s a beautiful thing it’s beautiful and I just have uh digress one thing you guys gave away turkeys and all that stuff with the price of eggs and
Easter coming up y’all need to give away some eggs y’all need to get away some eggs but not seriously look it’s that’s crazy inflation inflation egg whites for me for me I think I can’t keep up with y’all you know yeah I ain’t mad at you this year
You find them you keep them well let me ask you this you said you uh grew up in Salisbury and I passed her there a couple times but I’m not really concrete on the Dynamics um but I’m pretty sure you’ve grown up uh with brothers who went a different
Direction in life than you right uh so now that you’re here at this place in your life and and you’ve experienced Alpha and you’ve experienced some other things in your opinion what are some key factors when it comes to young boys especially young black boys that determine whether or not they’re going
This way or whether or not they’re going that way it’s a great question representation is everything what I embodied even through Alpha now and I tell my brothers all the time it’s a stigma that comes with Alpha right arrogance and all these other things me coming into it I initially was so
I’ve always worked hard you know and I think a lot of people have a perception of me or anybody else uh that you know things were given to me which I hate that idea um are you only child I am not I am not I have two older sisters and the
Youngest and I’m the only boy right that’s what people lean towards but the point being I was a God I am a great son right so I feel like you’re being spoiled is when you receive something you don’t deserve right uh and so my thinking always was
Because I I you know I want to get good grades I want to but I want to be cool too right and so it’s like how do you how do you balance these things and it took a long time for me to realize you can absolutely be both and in any
Interaction with the youth that has always been my platform which is being smart is cool yes that’s cool it’s really like whatever you whatever you aspire to be in life you’re going to need this right of course a lot of things happen by by well I’ll call it luck you know I’ll
Call it luck but look I understand yeah yeah when preparation experience is really what lucky is in my mind but it just happens right but if you really want to come out on top you got to have some wit about yourself and so again representation being young and being in these spaces
Our older brothers are not going to be able to have an impact on a high school student it’s not going to work we say we say that kindly we say that kind of yeah I said with love but I know they need to see somebody because even when I was
Working with I was 20 what was I 24 25 I was managing sites with a non-profit working with at-risk teams they thought I was old I can only imagine you know if I’m your brother he know what he’s talking about he cool too dressed nice got a good job
They ain’t trying to hear that no no yeah not relatable to me yeah not relatable and so you know listening to the same music we both know which Jordan coming out next right you know it’s I’m watching the game tonight it’s things like that that are very very important
And also yeah I know all of that but I also have this credit score yes also you know I also take care of what I need to take care of you so that that’s really the thing representation and being up in their face they have to have to see you
And know you’re there um being present is is another major you know major key to that um and just being involved so that’s really what it’s been for me and it’s going to remain that way I believe we got to be losing the ground that’s true that’s true does your
Chapter currently uh run the what is that Alpha program youth leadership yes ma’am yeah yeah our Leadership Institute yes ma’am yeah um brother Brandon Burgess is over that program and he is uh we’re revamping we’re really we’re really trying to like I kind of touched on earlier hone in on
What group will be ideal if any which he’d run between a lot of different ways to approach it and so it’s become that point again representation we want to be wherever we are we want to be locked in there right if we don’t want to who insert ourselves in their lives and
Then remove ourselves right that’s not healthy for anyone yes ma’am so you know they experience enough of that uh and I won’t get on that but but wherever we all want to be you know rooted in that in that space and so that’s something that’s very very uh you know important
For us right now in the Forefront of our minds and planning and so we’re pushing through these homes uh currently working on getting our scholarships rolling we’re giving out not giving out we’re awarding three scholarships this year uh through our uh um fundraising efforts and so again
That’ll give us another platform to have youth apply and be able to again be in positions to discuss with with our high school potential students um hey this money’s here we’re looking to looking to award it so okay so since you guys are a younger chapter
And a smaller chapter do you have the opportunity to kind of Bounce stuff up you said you have the Charlotte chapter that’s close by do you have oh so you have some advisory we do we do but our brothers in the chapter um so we have a brother in our chapter so
Of course we have seven Jewels um okay I’m file for writing so this brother is referred to as affectionately as a potential eighth Jewel it’s funny but it’s this is because he we’re gonna show him this after this okay yeah he’s knowledgeable he knows everything he’s worked on every
Level I’ll text him before I got on here with you I said is there anything that you should be anything present in your mind that needs to be seen oh he just said one just said the scholarship you know we we you know he’s currently our
Treasurer okay yes ma’am if we didn’t if we didn’t have him managing the finances because again it’s a lot of things that we all have to sit down and learn right you know it’s certain taxes that elsewhere that our chapter has to pay specifically and things like that yeah
Yeah another very seasoned brother brother Orlando Mitchell again has he was a part of The Rebirth of our Chapel in the early 2000s um he was a uh he actually attended Livingstone College located in Salisbury and he crossed there um at the Gamma New Chapter okay so
Being now on part of our chapter he he’s been just his influence has been just it’s amazing and that’s what I say about our chapter we we can you know we do um adamu Lambda is a chapter that’s more uh related to our size that is very very successful and so
Um you know partnering with them and discussing with them and they’re uh one of their past presidents got got uh pretty close brother Holland he gave a lot of influence to our immediate past president and kind of there pushing towards doing things to a greater scale with small enough
Um and just line us up with great ideas volunteer opportunities and so yeah we we share the sugar you know we yeah we we communicate but we’ve got some again some powerhouses in debating Landing chapter I’m a pastor there in a couple years I’ll be like hey that’s your brothers
The city might be gold it’s anybody we’ll see yes ma’am but we’re definitely fortunate to have those Brothers in our chapter in there again their influences just priceless oh okay awesome so uh let’s honor uh your older brothers uh wishes here these scholarships breakdown like who’s eligible for them and when
Can they apply and all of that stuff so we can make sure he’s not upset with us exactly so I was sad so we’re actually so next we’ll be meeting is it tonight we’ll be meeting the finalized I believe is it tonight or probably you know calendar is ridiculous but we’ll be
Needing to finalize those uh those points but I can tell you that um are eligible our ideal student will be a black male uh GPA over a 2-5 is where we’re aiming okay um of course must be uh must be accepted into your next school um you know or actively
Applying to schools rights receive that because we’ll be awarding that uh closer to his graduation okay I believe we’ll set a deadline as uh March 31st has been our deadline for that application okay and you just you’ll have to write an essay and express you know one question so that question will be
Posed on the essay um we’ll actually be dropping that uh that link really really soon and so it’s time to lock it in we want to be you know we want to be reading through those those entries and we want to encourage you know churches
To get on board uh any of our D9 organizations that have you know sons nephews okay we want them to apply we want them to apply and get up you know get a piece of the pot uh they’re well deserving again and we want to you know
We plan on housing a bank to award those those dollars to those students and we want to be in a position where every year you know this can be a rolling scholarship so we want to be able to you know reward our students that received our scholarship going into college each
Year throughout college so that’s that’s when I did we’re bouncing around but yes ma’am I mean this is really it’s an opportunity given scholarship uh if you’re if you’ve been working hard them books ain’t cheap you know they’re not they’re not so any any dollars help
I’m in grad school right now new books are not cheap I hate Faith you gotta do a little something strange for some changes in a minute I’ve been I think I got a good shot I know somebody you know somebody encourage you to apply again uh we’re
We’re getting back to our community so many dollars is out there for you know other entities and other groups and so so beautiful I love you guys you look I love you guys don’t tell don’t tell the real stuff they already know I can see it now when this comes up I got one more question for you then I’m gonna ask you my random question okay uh because uh oh let’s see here it works let’s say in the process of you know doing one of your youth mentorship programs and you’re working with the young boys so
You just come across a young a young man and he’s kind of been watching you watching the way you move and he finally comes over to you and says you know Mr Watkins um since you’ve been an alpha how has that made you a better man made you a better
Person what would your reply be man a really good question uh we always talk about and I it’s funny I’m laughing because I tease my brothers all the time especially my line Brothers uh I felt so different coming into this space um you know we always say we were Alphas
We’ve always been influence we just don’t wear the letters uh well for me I think the difference has been I’m I’m connected to something for the rest of my life right and it’s you really it’s it’s just mind-blowing to go places and meet brothers and just introduce yourself and just have a
Quick conversation uh I went to the African-American history museum in Washington DC and I uh I saw a brother but the interaction was funny because you could tell that we both have been looking for each other all day not specifically but like you’ve been looking for now so much purple in this place
Where are we and we won’t ask each other we might as well have a slow motion runs it really was like his girlfriend was looking like finally you know like okay we can go home now but it’s made me just much more aware that’s one thing I I’ve
Always been you know conscious of my surroundings but really really knowing that I am a representation of this great fraternity at all times and all things I do you know we have fun uh we have great times together but we do the work we do the work we represent ourselves
Um you know I would tell them I would say hey when you get onto the other side and that’s help people all the time you know a lot of people aspire to be a part of something your idea of what Alpha Phile Fraternity Incorporated is it might very well be
That whatever you think it is when you get on this side this is the only thing you would pay to be a part of at work you don’t want to have to work so you know it’s giving me these intangible things but really a family when I’m not near my family
Um you know just you know any I can call on somebody and know from the smallest thing like hey I need help like I need help and they’re there yes ma’am and that can be done if they call me and they need something you know I tell I tell people
All the time if I if I can’t do it I’m gonna say you know if I can do it I will and if I don’t know I’ll try to find out that’s true and that’s all and that’s every brother in in you know the baby Lambda chapter
Um and and quite frankly my interactions with Alpha as a whole haven’t been quite you know different from that and so you know I encourage you know all young men to you know if you aspire to be a part of something and I and I’m gonna say this and I know
You want to get to your next question but I I always have to share this story because it’s very it’s right on the head of what you’re saying um it was our I was going through you know my uh what we call our imdp process which is our onboarding to join the
Fraternity uh where we do our classes and things like that um and it was uh the final day in the final days uh it’s comprised of a My Brother’s Keeper community service component uh what we did was we went out to an older brother’s home and we we
Raked his yard cleaned his yard up got it together he had a beautiful home and at the end he said y’all you know everybody come on the back back porch he had a cool little gay right and Water Dog gave him some drinking so sit down
And he goes into this whole speech and it it blindsided me because I hadn’t thought about the position he was taking and now I’m much more aware of myself in this fraternity the Crux of his point was you all are great men you could have been anything me and my yeah
You know just joking to myself but you could have been anything but you chose to pursue Alpha right I said wow and then he said thank you for considering my fraternity and it blew my mind it literally and I I don’t know if anybody else said on that
Porch remember this story I don’t care it blew my mind because in that moment I realized what he saw in me I ain’t even seeing myself right he saw the fraternity he saw the hard work I was beyond him he saw me as a person and so that’s what’s important with us when
We’re interacting with these young men we see them as people first of course we want them to be alphabets right um if they’re hard working and they and they’re representative of what we what we you know see as our great fraternity uh because there’s some people that I would
Never want to wear my letters ever you know it’s a it’s a lot actually uh but right but if you see it in them and you know you you had that conversation I’m I’m always willing to you know I’ve never shot with the information that can be shared with
Individuals I feel like it should be you know that would be impactful but also be impacted by what we’re doing um with this black and Logo I just want to share that that’s awesome and and uh before I do my random question uh my one request of you would be to when your
Time comes uh that you deliver that same speech that that gentleman absolutely and I will I’m I’m looking forward when I get in my porch and then I will have you share how we uh visit your chapter when we’re up your way or maybe donating all of that stuff
I saw I saw it might have been some years back I saw y’all had a little party I said yo these some young folks these young Brothers have a good time though but we’re putting the work here okay uh what is the worst purchase you’ve ever made
The worst purchase I’ve ever made oh man worst Bridges I ever made hmm okay what is the worst thing I’ve ever the worst versions I’ve ever made all right this is actually recent about a a laptop I bought a new laptop for school excited about it get the laptop in I’m
You know I’m sitting there uploading stuff Uh my my Master’s uh is in business intelligence data analytics and so I have to use software this computer was not compatible with any software that I would ever ever use ever that was the worst and I was in like crunch time to get that computer out
Research and find a new computer that was probably the worst version I’ve ever made honestly I’m pretty I won’t say well I’ll say Frugal I’m pretty for going that’s all right I ain’t mad at you so we didn’t do no no any kind of research before we bought the
This is in my price range this is in my price range that’s what it was that’s literally what it was all my cars have been have been very very good good cars uh all my TVs have been good TVs Furniture’s Bingo Furniture if the food
Is nasty I’m gonna just send it back so I don’t know if that’s a bad purchase yeah I had to go with that computer that was the worst yes ma’am so how do we get our work done then new laptop I had to run that one back and do some
Research I guess putting that working on the front end with a Satan but I did oh alrighty alrighty here brother Watkins please tell us please tell us how we uh learn more about betam Yolanda and uh check out one of your Events maybe support the chapter just if we’re
Passing through get some sweet tea and a donut or whatever you know just just tell us the whole thing so let me let me pull up our website here so I’ll hear y’all the exact handle I’m wondering to make sure I had it correct because you
Know it’s in my favorites so it really is if you want to go to our website and check out what we’re doing uh get connected with us you can just go to www.betamulamda.org right and you’ll that’ll lock you in with us um you can find our calendar events I
Encourage everybody you have a Facebook page add us on Facebook follow us on Facebook we show all a lot um we’ve done lives where we have you know panel discussion things like that so that’s a good opportunity just to lock in and see what we’re doing uh if you want to
Donate or give same method you want to go to our website or you can reach out to us through uh through Facebook um we do have an Instagram page as well I believe it’s better me limited 1939. you can follow us on there and see some of our beautiful faces
Such of handsome faces you guys thank you yeah come lock in with us and see what we’re doing but we again we’re so excited we want to connect with as many people as possible um even if you have no interest in greet them um if you care about your community
Connect with us we care about community and we care about your community as well uh we’re always willing to to speak uh we’re always willing to represent because all in all we’re only as good as as our weakest link so we all want to strong and connect together so please
Connect with us reach out to us send us an email again add us on Facebook Instagram and just look forward to what we’re doing we’re excited awesome I have truly truly enjoyed myself and and picking your brain about a few things and and learning from you and like I said you
Know you guys are down the road from my my birthplace my birthplace so uh maybe next time I get in town I’ll have to peek in on y’all and see what y’all see if y’all passing out them eggs options wait a minute you don’t see me say Jay told me
That y’all gonna have a desert with me we’ll make sure we get it for you got my word oh well to your your small but powerful and impactful chapter I just wish you continued sir uh you know success and and serving the community it’s much needed and uh I’m pretty sure
Uh you’ve heard it many many times but everybody appreciates the work that you do and I mean just I mean I I just love to see you guys coming and I’ve always and enjoyed you guys over the years just watching the work that you guys do letting everybody know you guys do more
Than just stroll exactly y’all actually do the work so you know I I like you guys you know being that example to the community you know so we need to see that so I just I just thank you and appreciate all the gentlemen for the work that you do you know the
Service and we appreciate you thank you so much for your kind words um that means a lot to us because again we we don’t do it looking for anything in return but it feels a lot better when you know that your work is having an
Impact and so thank you um yeah I am clapping for y’all we hey we need it we appreciate it we appreciate it I know because some of us you know you know you’re trying to serve the community and some of us make it difficult but oh yeah but we’re gonna keep pushing
We’re gonna push back that’s all y’all do that’s all y’all do we’ll get it done Lord willing yes you will you will awesome well that is all for this week’s episode of the male perspective I’m your host Lana Reed and I will see everybody next time
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