Thank you Welcome to the in his voice podcast hosted by me Rob L Lowe where we talk about the trials and tribulations that deeply impact the lives of boys and mans of all ages and all Races without ever bashing women we talk about the things from the bedroom to the boardroom from
The playground to the stadium and everything in between today I have a special guest Mr Jermaine Patterson Jermaine welcome to the show all right for having me man well listen I’m gonna give you a chance to introduce yourself man I want you to tell you this this episode is really about
Um the Journey of why uh me and other men pledge uh black Greek fraternities I’ll talk about my story but uh before I get into that Jermaine let’s talk about who you are and okay and why I have you on the show man so so I am Uh current
President of the Deltas Islander chapter which is the alpha file for chapter here in Orlando Florida okay uh I actually crossed uh Alpha into Alpha in Chicago graduate chapter uh in Chicago Illinois Iota Delta Lambda chapter all right right went to Florida a m however where my journey of alpha
Started I was you know in pursuit of alpha there back in 91 and um you know we’ll talk a little bit about that but the journey continued until I got into Chicago where I crossed in uh spring 95. oh man okay so I crossed in Spring 1996 from alpha Lambda in Louisville Kentucky
Uh my interest in Alpha probably started my junior year in college okay uh and by the time I got the grades I was a senior in the School of Business and I was on my way out the door I’d already uh flunked out twice um my freshman year yeah sophomore year
So I lost my financial aid so I was on my third leg this is it but um I had to go into graduate I I did man I knew I wanted to be an alpha some friends of mine who were close to me said you have the personality of a queue
Uh and then there’s probably some truth in that somewhere but I won’t mention that on this podcast but uh but in Inside Man the folks that I knew who I was close to were Alphas uh two of my closest friends and and I kind of like what they represented right right so so
On this particular podcast we’ve been trying to get together for a while yeah right and it just so happened like this like today is really the essence symbolizes the essence of alpha because I I text you like two hours ago and I was like hey man I’m
Shooting an episode of my podcast some other folks didn’t show up can you come by and do this podcast with me and you was like really I’m at dinner with my wife and my daughters what is the podcast about and I was like well me and you’ve been wanting to talk about Alpha
And me rejoining the chapter uh and so if you don’t mind I want to come and get your perspective on um why black men join Greek fraternities your perspective on you know why why why for those that are active and stay active from your perspective what what causes that what’s
That motivation or what what keeps them engaged and for those that that leave and come back and reconnect from your perspective again what what do you think is the secret to that and so I wanna I wanna really cover not just Alpha but black men and joining any of the organizations
Of the divine nine the myths the misconceptions here’s one the perception of undergrad versus grad right and and and you know I’ve come across Brothers in the past who who from undergrad chapters like well you you play as grad chapter I said well one I played that’s that’s one but two your
Alpha ain’t no brighter than mine I promise you don’t know my story um but you know I want to get your perspective on all of it man so yeah yeah the interesting thing about that is one of the things keep in mind is that as as the under
Uh current or the foundation to the conversation is everybody has a story that’s true that’s true everybody has a story okay so let’s just remember this we’re going we’re gonna put that in the parking lot all right everybody remember that everybody because because we’re going to
Talk about it and when I share with you my journey and some of the journeys that I know of others yeah because again everybody has a story yeah you’ll see how it all kind of culmination Dove’s tale dovetails into you know where we are today yeah
All right man well listen I I uh I want to get your thoughts we’ll start easy then we’ll go hard okay you are the president of Delta xyle Lambda here in Orlando I was active for a couple years and then I went inactive what what motivates you what what what
What what motivated you in the beginning and what keeps you motivated today to be active in the house of alpha let me start by saying and this is it goes without saying but I want to be clear the comments that I share today is mine my perspective my journey right I mean I
Can’t speak for everybody um but maybe it provides insight so you know which Taps back to your question why did I pursue Alpha Phi Alpha right man I got the Florida a m and you know that that that that that that that that bond that you see
When you are on the yard whether it’s you know the the the the fraternities that they showed like the bond that I saw even with the sororities how they you know you just saw you know it was like this thing of unity and uh I was like you know I want to be
A part of that right you know and I you know start looking at the different fraternities that were there so that that attracted me to looking into you know what was that all about right because I’m you know first generation college for my family and got to Florida
In there and I’m like okay what’s this all about and I start looking into the fraternities and say okay uh the the that of Alpha Phi Alpha attracted me the brothers on the campus of uh Florida a m University debate a new chapter How They Carried themselves I was like you know I
Don’t wanna I wanna check them out a little more right and looked into them and and ultimately when I learned about you know what they represented I was like that’s what I want to do but there’s also some prestige you know that that whole beta neuter beta new chapter man like that comes
With a level of prestige didn’t know about all of that okay right see I was just I just saw what they represented the leaders on campus okay how they conducted themselves right and then when I learned about MLK Thurgood Marshall and brothers like that being members I’m
Like okay yeah I could I could uh you know this is this is me yeah right and uh you know uh so then I started to pursue Alpha and then ultimately um uh I didn’t cross bait a new chapter because to your point you know by the
Time I got to a state of you know uh I just had to graduate right but I did learn some things and met some great Brothers uh and great men right that’s what I say to you we I learned and met other other uh uh uh I want to say interested guys that
Were in pursuit of alpha like me at that time some of them did cross others didn’t right as a matter of fact my roommate and my best man in my wedding we didn’t cross we never we didn’t make we didn’t we did we we didn’t cross beta
New right right I ended up going grad chapter yeah and my my roommate at the time Cunningham he he his dad is an alpha but he never did yeah you know uh continue his Pursuit right but we still cool to this day best man in my wedding
I met through that process you see what I’m saying yeah so everybody has a journey and and and and the brothers that better knew we’re still cool we’re cool to this day I cross grad chapter in Chicago yeah uh and all the brothers that that ended up
Uh making me in the Chicago chapter we you know great relationships great friendships the irony to that is a lot of the brothers that were at beta new were from Chicago so I saw them you know back in the city and things of that nature so it was it was a
Uh it was a you know a good journey um why did I pursue it because of what I saw and the uh the the fraternity the brawn the Brotherhood Bond the brotherly Bond that’s what I was seeking man that’s what I was seeking personally and the and the ability to impact serving
The community by working with another group of young of men right because I you know I was already you know doing service and stuff like that but you know I could you know have a bigger impact by joining up with others uh because I got a job interestingly enough to point
Uh that’s what took me to Chicago I got a job out of Florida now uh in Chicago that’s what moved me to Chicago right so then I got there I was doing stuff in the community and connected with brothers and ended up ultimately pledging grad chapter there bro so
That’s that’s how I did it right now and and ironically though when I was at Florida and them something I learned about pursuing Alpha c i remember I told you everybody has a story yeah watch this I learned about um another organization while I was in pursuit of alpha
The first meeting place the the first initiation where it took place okay uh Odd Fellows Hall yeah okay I learned about that organization in my pursuit of Alpha and figured out that oh my dad was affiliated with that oh my boy from home is Affiliated oh really and so ultimately I ended up
Um becoming a member in jail releasing and lodging before 22. Tallahassee Florida press Hall Affiliated yeah masonry yeah in Tallahassee wow before I because I didn’t play his outfit until grand chapter right yeah so I I ended up becoming amazing man in in Tallahassee right and and again that developed the
Whole so that that that that bond that I was looking through an organization I actually got it in the Masonic order yeah and we were doing you know service things that nature but my my my my uh my my my desire to still become an alpha was there man
So I continued to pursue it it it’s amazing you talk about uh Odd Fellows harm the history and being Masons um uh we’re gonna drop a clip in the in this podcast I was just recently in Ithaca what’s up everybody how you doing this is uh Rob L Lowe and welcome to in
His voice podcast today I’m actually shooting uh remotely I’m standing here in Ithaca New York uh at a famous address 421 North Albany this house is very symbolic in the creation of Alpha Phi Alpha fraternity by the way I am a member of Orlando spring 1996. Louisville Kentucky 06 chapter founded
By Jewel one of the same jewels that actually hung out in this house uh the reason why I’m shooting this this podcast here today is we need to talk about why I pledge to fraternity what I saw in the brothers of alpha were the brothers that I saw were really
Dedicated about their books they seemed to be very insightful I like the way that They Carried themselves and so for me it really resonated with me and why I chose Alpha I had a best friend from Indianapolis we grew up in the same neighborhood his name was Dax uh we
Lived in Irvington and Dax was an alpha he was actually one of the charter members for the University of Indianapolis City Wide chapter and he went to Butler University between Dax my boy John Martin uh brothers that I saw like Bill Higgins Raphael Chester uh big Lacey at Indiana State University and so
Many others when I got to Louisville and I met Rick Tennyson and some other folks it just really cemented the organization I wanted to be a part of behind me it’s a pretty famous house This house was the very first house that they met at where they got together and talked about the ideal uh of becoming a social organization that later um you know evolved to become the first uh African-American fraternity according to the registers Alpha Phi Alpha was the first founded on December the 4th 1906
At Cornell University here in Ithaca New York and I’m standing in front of the of the House filming and I walked up on this on the steps um I took a picture of a video of the address so people could see it and the house looks very similar today than it
Did like in 1906. standing on the on those steps was just uh like wow you know it took me back to a place that said I this is why I did it in the beginning like this history and what it represented and you know as I said I pledge Alpha Lambda in Louisville
And I didn’t know much about the chapter I had no idea but you know it’s the first grad chapter ever created for Alpha right it was the uh the 10th original chapter or the 11th original chapter and when they created it it was created by Jewel Jones right he was one
Of the founders he was in in Louisville and they decided Well we got to give Lambda um we got to give all grad chapters um the designation of Lambda so that’s where it came but it was originally the Lambda chapter of Alpha and then it became Alpha yeah and and I remember at
Uh at one of the uh uh times we had together as brothers when we were going through our uh selection and initiation process uh they brought um a paddle out and the paddle the guy you know he he he he topped us with it a love tap and I’m
Looking like you know it’s a Love tab like dude he was like yeah I’m not about to hit you hard with this paddle and I was thinking okay out of respect you like no we don’t hurt each other he was like no this paddle belonged to theopolis Brock who was one of the
Charter members of this this powder was given to him by Eugene Kinko Jones I was like oh I was like can I have the power he’s like no bro you can’t have the paddle so there’s some history in there and and you know we’ll put the clip in
But I I want to go back to to you and you you’ve been in the Frat now 20 28 28 years what keeps you still motivated to do this like to be the president all the stuff that you’ve seen the good and the bad man like what keeps you
Grounded to to stay excited about and active yeah man that’s a great question and trust me I’ve asked myself that question several times um at the end of the day this is gonna sound cliche but it’s true yeah Alpha Phi Alpha is in my heart bro
And it’s like because it’s in my heart I do it and I stay engaged because of you know my love for the fraternity and what it represents to me um I mean you know and and everybody has a story remember that I told you that right so so he Brothers
Are going to you know engage at different levels and and and and and it points in their life based on what’s going on with them so this is not an attempt to throw shade at brothers who might not be or at different points right this is just to speak from me um um
It’s about the commitment you know it’s something I wanted to do and because of that I try to you know stay engaged and I enjoy what we do and what it represents and I just try so so so if you ask my wife she’ll say you
Know I I give too much time to the fraternity I say but you know I was Alpha before I met you hahaha no seriously though my wife and I I took him High School prom so I met my wife before I became an alpha wow yeah so it says that was a
Joke so um but no seriously little man uh it’s because you know I just you know you just gotta find time like anything you make time for what’s important to you you know um I’ll get a little personal so you said everybody has a story yup yup my
Playship I won’t go into the whole story on camera but there there were some things that I wish that could have been done different And the pledging process was the pledging process I don’t regret it you know I I it gives you stories to tell down the road but but no one prepared me for the perception that I was going to encounter because I had Lambda after my chapter name versus not having Lambda
Right right when I knew I placed you know the way that I did and and then to have some other things happen with our paperwork um I literally became so disenfranchised Lily within the first year after Crossing I went inactive for 22 years I I left
Um I left Louisville I went back to grad school at Indiana State I pledged the line there and some good brothers and one of the things that I wanted to do that happened to me they told me I couldn’t do it and I was like what you mean I can’t do
It it happened to me it’s like bro we can’t let you do that but I was so jacked up in the hands and I was like if this happens to me everybody’s supposed to get this right but at that time I I didn’t I couldn’t fathom the idea that I
Was trying to make brothers as opposed to no I just pledge I need to prove that I’m an alpha right I was in such a the wrong mindset afterwards I left and went to grad school within six months so my relationship with Alpha was short-lived so 22 years inactive
I come to Florida and in 2014 I was trying to get active again so now it’s 18 years removed and I ran into Tony Jackson when someone told me to go meet Tony Jackson and I went to see him and and I had a heartfelt conversation with him I shared
With him all the details and I told him I said look man I’m bitter I’m not gonna lie I don’t have no love I just don’t it ain’t been a good experience for me I can’t say it’s been a bad experience I can just say it wasn’t a good experience
And what he said is something similar to what you said he said bro you’d be surprised the stories that people have your story is not unique to you he told me that because I’m thinking I got the worst one ever like what happened to me he was like bro
Like you know you know Common those things are right like but don’t throw out the baby with the bathroom yeah there you go he said so I want you to get active well it took me another two and a half years before I got out there right and then I got
Active I came in the chapter Delta’s Island I think in 2017. I’m setting in the meeting it’s not such a small world my first day in the meeting I’ve been active inactive for so long before the meeting I’m sitting in the car on YouTube trying to learn the prayer the hymn The
Motto I don’t know any of that stuff I don’t forgot it all I have no idea I called my line Brothers earlier that week I had them sing it to me over the phone so I can catch the Cadence dude I was lost yeah I get in the meeting and
This dude named Doug Henley comes and sits next to me right right if you know Doug Doug Doug’s a charismatic guy so Doug says next to me and he’s talking he says hey brother how you doing I’m Doug Henley I’m the vice president I said oh yeah I’m the vice president you’re vice
President too I said I am he said you all right with me so where are you from he’s like Connecticut I was like oh I know a brother named from Connecticut named Charles sentio and Vic he was like they pledged me I was like for real so I caught him uh
Ah man put Dudley do right on the phone all right and and so right then and there I was like there is there is truth to this day but up to that point I had never experienced it right so now I’m 22 years into the Friday whatever that number was
I’m sitting next to a brother that I just met and I pick up a phone and call somebody else a thousand miles away he’ll be like yo that’s my guy right there and after that Doug became my guy right just because someone else said that’s a good brother he a good brother
Y’all should connect right um and then circumstances happened I got inactive but even when I was there still felt out of place dude I still felt like you got you got one school chapter you got another chapter you got those who pledged that chapter and you got
Brothers like me who come from all over the the the country because Orlando’s such a transplant City so what would you say to Brothers I mean you you were transplant man how how do you find that connection yeah man it’s just about you know again it goes back to
When you just fall on why you chose to become an alpha and you know you let that guide you right yeah because I mean that’s really what in theory unifies us right because we all decided to pursue the same fraternity for what it means and perhaps what it
Represents uh at the end of the day because that’s what’s going to sustain you right um that’s what keeps me you know keeps me coming back because you you’re going to have situations the fraternity is no different than any other organization you know you’re going to have those
Situations in in the organization that’s gonna you know maybe you know piss you off and let’s just call it what it is right but you have to learn how to navigate you know just like you have to learn how to navigate those situations whether it’s on your job whether it’s in
The church whether it’s you know wherever right um because we we’re human you know what I’m saying so at and and at the end of the day it’s about the relationship now we have a bond because of what we went through to become a member of this organization right but the relationship
And us you know fulfilling the mission together is what uh in my opinion man that’s what this is maybe this Utopia right this is my opinion um of what you know keeps you coming back keeps you you know has you to reconnect and engage because at the end of the day
You know once you’re in Alpha you’re always an alpha yeah right yeah it’s not light some of those other organizations you don’t do it supposedly you can get kicked out yeah yeah right yeah yeah I ain’t gonna name them but I got you you know they can kick you out yeah you know
You want you once you you know once you cross into Alpha and and and I’m only going to speak for Alpha I can’t speak to the fraternities you’re always an alpha right so I can’t take them letters from you right right so now the caveat is Alpha doesn’t have honorary outfits
Either right no yeah we don’t have honorary no there’s no honorary right right not like you know um once you get those three letters you’re an alpha for life so now it’s really about you know why did you decide to pursue Alpha because ultimately that’s what should
You know you gotta connect with that and see to try to uh you know move that forward with others like-minded individuals to help you know accomplish white you why you chose to be an alpha it’s amazing because because I’m I’m 53 now and I I can see now what I didn’t see there
I told you before we start I’m working on my autobiography that is coming out well my stepfather got killed when I was six in front of us for trying to kill my mother six months later my mom died when I was seven in the same year and that was the
Tip that was the beginning of my life I was the only boy I had two older sisters we went to live with my grandparents who were in their late 60s when they took us in so my grandparents had one of my older cousins come live with me a male so I
Could have a brother right right and then a younger cousin who was for it but I never had a biological brother and so there was this part of me I think I always wanted because my cousin as much as he loved me he had his friends all right my younger
Cousin he loved me like my brother but he had his friends right but but we weren’t the same age we didn’t get to do the same things at the same time because of the age difference right and I think that’s what I was looking for in France like even in male
Friends I wanted people that would be like dude I’ma ride with you no matter what I had a chip on my shoulder when I was younger because the trauma that hurt right I didn’t get therapy yeah and so I think I wanted something and I didn’t know how to express what it
Is I wanted and so when I pledged in Louisville with these four brothers I still wanted it and what I discovered is I I come from a very different background than the other three economically socially uh one’s from Louisville middle class family the other some Silver Springs Maryland upper
Middle class family they all those from hate I mean Miami um single parent household and I come from my background and so when I looked at them I was like y’all not like me y’all got this same chip on your shoulder like me I can’t relate to y’all
But I couldn’t see there was more to it than they they didn’t act like me like I hadn’t grown yet to see hold on man I can learn from these brothers yeah yeah yeah yeah interesting bro because I can say the same about my ships lbs yeah yeah we all have
Different backgrounds man yeah yeah yeah and and believe he said remember I told you everybody got a store you did right and I can give you analogies of those on my ship we call them ships yeah that that you know just like what you just said and based
On where I came from yeah my background different from theirs yes I’m saying um but when we all came together and by the way it was more than seven of us that started oh really right but but because you know the process tends to take care I understand I understand I understand hey
Some with chips on their shoulders I’m just saying they dropping lines on grad chapters as they drop now I’m just saying I didn’t say anything about the line right you mentioned that word right I just said there were those of us who started right and then there were some
Who finished yeah I got you and it it you know so what happens to that you meet different men from different backgrounds and some just don’t you know we don’t jail yeah yeah yeah depends on what you know and my point really is to tell you that you know
That difference that that that uniqueness that we all have yeah is what makes us strong the seven of us on my life oh you you crossed a jewel line yeah seven of y’all they yeah wow y’all must be some good Brothers if they let seven of y’all
Cross y’all must have been some where’s the president so if you if you are I was I was the Ace of the captain too by the way where are you yeah you Ace on your mind captain do okay yeah all right I got you but uh but my point really is man differences
Man the difference is what makes us strong in my my my ships you know we still you know close to this day um interestingly enough because we all had different personalities yeah it’s really interesting but we we were able to come together and complete the objective right yeah of everybody across
Right yeah um so you know it’s it’s uh it’s um how you just make that Journey but the beauty of that journey is that that’s a microcosm of a bigger situation because you know you have to learn how to deal with those on your in your in
Your in your in in your line and your ship because of the Personality yeah but then guess what then you take you your four of you and you drop you into a chapter yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah well I haven’t I don’t know any of y’all you got your
Own story right so everybody got a story now you gotta now you gotta kinda you know that’s a good perspective fit in and and figure out how to continue to grow right yeah and and I use the word um navigate right interest enough remember Alpha falf is a school for the better
Making than men right wow so when you get added into a chapter yeah you still have to navigate the culture of the chapter yeah right just like you have to navigate the culture of any organization once you join yeah you know different um we’re fraternity but those same group
Dynamics exist right and you just that’s why the beauty of Alpha Phi Alpha is that it’s the you know it’s the school for the you can go in in the house of alpha you can make mistakes you can learn and it’s going to be contained to
The house right the whole goal is you have to be humble enough to understand that you are among everybody who’s an alpha male that’s the beauty of alpha right we all alpha males we all think our stuff don’t stink yeah yeah yeah yeah so so you come in the room thinking
You the you the alpha male yeah you got everybody think they’re the alpha man yeah yeah right literally literally right so literally so figuratively right so now you have to figure out how to navigate that culture of that chapter right and alpha alpha 5 as you know is consistence
Of several chapters right yeah college and and alumni right and then you just have to learn how to you know navigate within the organization man the beauty of it is once you learn it and figure it out that’s why it’s a school for the better making demand because then you
Can go out into the world and apply what you learned in a house to be more effective at leading movements at creating change and helping to you know be advocate for the communities because the average person in the community don’t get what we got because they’re not members of our organization you know
Um Tony Jackson yeah really just a couple people I got to give shout out to man like yeah Tony Jackson is one yeah good dude uh Chris Pope good brother brothers and then um before I came here uh a brother named Hassan Rasheed from Indiana State University Zeta row okay a brother named
Luke tell us hope um because they knew my story they met me after I crossed okay right and they were undergrad Brothers but they didn’t know my my frustration until later in life when I told them right and and you know I think they were their first bras
Outside of my Dean and my Dean Rick Tennyson Louisville Kentucky plays uh Alpha Pi 1978 University of Louisville his name is wicked for for years he was Alpha to me like I didn’t see past him because I only had an affinity for him because he brought me into Alpha
Other people but I was like Rick made me an offer and that’s how I really felt so I only got love for him but then I met these other brothers Hassan who tell us his brother named Kevin Woodson Zeta roll Bill Higgins like brothers who really sat down with me
And said dude you don’t have to have that chip anymore you’re an alpha what Alpha bruh like and we love you like whatever happened it happened but you can’t carry that around no more right and bro like I kid you not it opened my eyes cause if it weren’t for them brothers I
Wouldn’t even be here talking to you it’s only because those brothers and and the seed that Tony Jackson sold in my ear that I got reconnected and then it’s only because when I left Corporate America a couple months ago I did a uh an assessment of
My life and I realized I didn’t have any friends here in Orlando I’ll be here 14 years I don’t have friends I got people that I know like you I got a brother named Rory I got Henley but I don’t have real friends right well part of that is on me
Part of the reason I didn’t stay active in the chapters because I didn’t put in the effort that it needs to establish friendships past just been in a chapter meeting right that doesn’t happen when you go to a chapter meeting and you’re there for three hours you’d be like all
Right bro let’s say a prayer and then we gone and I think I wanted that I thought I thought it would happen because I’m an alpha and so this time around yeah this is what this journey is for me my daughters are grown now they’re 24 and
23 in grad school my wife has a successful career I’m starting out on podcasts doing a book but man I don’t I don’t want to be um I don’t want to go I don’t want to live in Florida and not have friends only just acquaintances professional coins
But I also don’t want to be part of organization where I’m not part of the Brotherhood right I’m gonna be an alpha forever but it’s different being an alpha being a problem yeah yeah right exactly because being a brother is getting a text two hours from now man
Dude you’re on something right that’s your brother yeah yeah so and being able to be dependent upon you get what I’m saying yeah because it’s uh you know I mean I got the text from Rob Lowe I’m like okay that’s you know let me let me respond to this because it could have
Been somebody who is an alpha and I’m like okay I get better than later tonight yeah yeah right but it just all depends right hey so so so the thing about you know getting the letters Alpha for Alpha or whatever Greek letters you wanna connect together that don’t you
Know it’s beyond that that gets you now have rights as any this is the beautiful thing about right you have rights and privileges as any other number but if you remember a spirit day fraternity right and I and and and and Alpha Phile for man’s attitude should not be how much can he
Derive from the fraternity but how much he can do for the fraternity absolutely get that yeah right now see if you you know if when you and when that’s ingrained then you when you coming through and you live by that then you you know you continue to there’s more to
That the spirit that fraternity and there’s obligations that we have as members right yeah right once you start to demonstrate that that’s when you are are due the respect of the Brotherhood from Duty well served yeah get that yeah and the point of these relationships that’s when they kind of evolve now
That’s that’s what creates the Brotherhood though now we got to get to know each other yeah right and that that comes through you know uh us working together why is this where I said bro Watch How I connected that us working together to develop leaders us working together to promote
Brotherhood yeah us working together to end academic Excellence right because that’s what we’re about right yeah while we promote service and advocacy for the communities that we live in right yeah that’s why we are alphas because we should be working together to do what I just described you feel me
That makes this thing bigger than any because at the end of the day when we go on to Omega chapter yeah I forgot to continue to live on man you know when I when I when I connected with you a couple weeks ago and I said I wanted
To talk I really wanted to talk because I wanted to say this time around I want to be a brother right I don’t I don’t want to just be Financial I want to be a brother and I want to I want to figure out how I can take my god-given talents and abilities
And and use it to build up the community Through Alpha I don’t want to build up Alpha and not build up the community I want to build up the community throughout all right right and and but I also want to establish like really meaningful Brotherhood relationships I ain’t gonna
Be friends with everybody that’s okay but there are some good Brothers in that chapter man and and and I need to work on that that’s that’s my thing but it took some soul searching as to what did I own that that caused me to keep having these disconnects right and like I said
There’s a microcosm but those individuals who tell us Hassan Leon uh Bill Brothers like you Pope um man it’s so many um Aquarius man yeah man just so many good Brothers uh Craig ravino people who just like yeah Rob where you been exactly you know and and Lily I thought well out of
Sight out of mind so so when I showed up they was like yo Rob where you been I said dude I’ve been gone like four years I would have thought like yeah like there was this dude there um here’s my last question for you for the interview man and and I really
Appreciate you doing this on the last minute notice what would you tell your younger self and you’re ready to pledge Alpha grad chapter in Chicago what would you tell yourself to say do do this differently or do this better or watch out for that man that’s a good question bro
That’s what I do it’s what I do oh man so oh interesting so check it out here you go what I would tell my younger self is it’s not about who knows you no I’m sorry it’s not about who you know right it’s about who knows you
That’s the message it’s not about who you know it’s about who knows you and the reputation that you establish uh what they’re going to know about you before they even see you that’s what I would tell my younger self so be mindful of that and just because you know an individual
That don’t mean they’re gonna let you in their house if they don’t know you mm-hmm keep that in mind that would be see because the reason I say that is because and just to be honest um that’s why I didn’t make I didn’t I I really that’s why I didn’t uh make line
At beta new um it’s like I I knew the brothers I knew you know I was learning you know the brothers and stuff like that but when I look back you know in retrospective after I cross comparing the two situations I realized that I didn’t get an opportunity to ensure
That they knew me that’s a nugget you follow me that’s a nugget dude because when I cross a grad chapter I could look around the room and could say for every brother that was in that room that they knew me I knew that I knew that yeah
And I I knew that I couldn’t do that at being new because I just didn’t have the opportunity because I was away on internship yeah so I didn’t get a chance to meet a lot of the brothers but it’s all good right uh no no love law because
I learned a lot one of the things I respect and I admired for the brothers of beta knew is they taught me something tenacity above all tenacity you know if I could go back and tell my younger me that was it I would tell myself know why you want to join
Know what you’re looking for and know what you’re willing to offer if I would have had the answers to those three things yeah I would have been much more effective as a brother of Alpha Phi Alpha then as a member of Alpha Phi Alpha so man I appreciate it such a powerful
Conversation unscripted two-hour notice you are the essence of what it means to be a brother of alpha not a member a brother Alpha I mean you really embody it dude and um appreciate it I’m I’m coming to get active again man amen so you know I gotta I gotta it’s this
Opportunity to plug you know as a president I got a platform right let’s talk about you know my platform is what is it which I established 12 months ago because I’m going into a second time reconnect and engage we need you to reconnect to the brand of
Alpha and engage in the work of alpha okay I want you to say that to the camera for other Alphas you told me look at you I do but but because that message is so powerful right okay yeah Hey listen listen the platform it don’t matter where you at
Reconnect especially coming out of covert right reconnect to the brand of alpha right and engage in the work of alpha okay Point that’s the bottom line because then you’re going to help whatever chapter you reconnect and engage with you’re going to help them to serve and Advocate right
We got to serve the community by which we live and advocate for the voiceless who cannot speak for themselves right bro you are an alpha lead and develop we gotta lead because we are alphas Alpha’s the leaders you know that but at the same time when we’re leading we have to develop
That next generation of leaders okay okay that’s my platform listen to me last point is we’ve been in this community for 70 years Delta’s Island chartered December 22nd 1953 70 years coming up in December so we’re looking to plant our flag and you have to do that when in the community that you
Serve otherwise you’re just you know there you know you’re you’re you’re like a ship without a Rudder yeah right yeah Gotta Have you gotta be to put the anchor down yeah right so we trying to do that here in this community by planting our flag I.E a building right
And then last but not least man we’re using technology to uh operate more efficiently to be more effective in this technology age of chat gbt and Ai and and all that stuff though so we got to be more effective at how we do the work
Of alpha hey man I’m having I’m going to have Jalen that’s it I’m going to have you when this thing is is finished in polished I want you to show this to the Frat make sure the the chopper gets this because this brother right here is is truly a remarkable leader
He he embodies the essence of Alpha and for those that don’t get a chance to sit down and speak with him uh even though you may know him and see him in passing I’m blessed today I’m fortunate enough like he has truly poured into me as a
Brother uh as a man of alpha uh and just as a good man in the community the man of God so bro I appreciate you thank you for joining the in his voice podcast you know what that’s a wrap there you go there you go the good stuff all right it’s a wrap
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