Gosh, your prophytes gonna be proud of you brotha. My name is Christopher Thomas. I’m a member of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc., the Alpha Phi chapter of Clark Atlanta University. I became a member because I wanted to be a part of the best. It seemed like it fit well the
Alpha Phi chapter was doing great things on campus at the time, and it drew me to it. Hi, everyone. My name is Eli, and I’m a member of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc. By way of the elegant and noble Epsilon Nu chapter of the nation’s first degree-granting HBCU, Lincoln University. And I joined
AKA because I was interested in being a part of something a bit greater than what I had already made in terms of my mark on campus. I love the way that they carried themselves on campus, the events that they threw and what they stood for, their morals and values.
I felt like it was in very close alignment with what it is that I wanted for myself and how it is that I saw myself as a woman. So that is my reason for joining the organization. Okay, My name is Andre Virgo, member of the Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity, Inc., Virginia
State Alpha Phi Chapter. The reason why I joined, honestly, I just did my research and that was the one that just gravitated more to my lifestyle I felt like. At the time we weren’t on the campus, so I didn’t really have like a lot of people to look up
To. So I’m just going off of basic like book knowledge, and I just gravitated to that. Hi, my name is Bianca. I’m a member of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc., and I pledged at Howard University. And one of the reasons why I wanted to be a Delta was really because of the sisterhood.
It’s really nothing like a team, a gang, a mob, a community behind you, and also just the energy that the Deltas had on campus. Like they ran the yard. When you saw Delta, you knew what it was. And I kind of saw that ienergy in myself. My name is Calvin Pierre.
I pledged Omega Psi Phi Fraternity, Inc. shout to the bros. So, the reason why I joined Omega Psi Phi Fraternity Inc. is because of the legacy, really, man. When I seen the list of men that came from Omega, it just grabbed my attention and also seeing the bros on the yard, hopping,
They have so much confidence and I just wanted to be a part of that. So that’s why I pledge Omega Psi Phi. So for me, a positive impact while joining like a fraternity in my undergrad, I think it was just just going into a leadership role. Like I mentioned,
We are off the yard for a little bit, so we needed people like on the board. So I automatically became like the secretary and then the year later I became vice president. So I was just able to just see the structure, the business structure of fraternities and sororities and how, you know,
They plan like international things all over. So I thought that was like just a positive thing for me and just the brotherhood. I was actually amongst the older like I was actually one of the oldest people on my line. So I also went back to Lincoln University in order to complete my undergraduate
Degree. And I think for that that created a shift and change in perspective because I had to do a lot of humbling of myself and I also had to look at the bigger picture in a sense. So me crossing at the time in my life where I crossed, I think that it
Allowed me to really pay attention to womanhood specifically and look at the way that I view myself as a woman, as an Alpha woman on top of that, and then find which ways I fit into this organization without disrupting the natural flow of what they already had going on, like
Kind of just going with the current. So I think that it helped me to actually find myself and find my lane on campus in terms of the things that I was interested in doing, the type of crowd I was interested in being around. For myself I would have to
Say the positive impact in crossing in undergrad was gaining that brotherhood and gaining that accountability. I’m one of the rare people I know it’s like kind of a common thing when you’re pledging and everything and you kind of struggle with some of your studies but like our chapter, we’re like really big about
Holding each other accountable to like, no, you still going to maintain, if not get better grades while while you’re pledging and everything. So I think that level of accountability and kind of that level of like professionalism it really taught me- I know it sounds cliche- it
Taught me how to be a man, but it taught me many aspects of manhood that I hadn’t learned in other places yet. So I think it was very beneficial to me at that time in life, being 18 years old and trying to figure out, you know, what I want to do,
Where I’m going type thing, and then to have somebody to kind of apply that structure to it. So I think it taught me about the positive impact of tradition and the need to honor the past as well as the present. Like I feel like we look towards the future so much that
Sometimes we forget the past. And I think, obviously there’s foundation in from where we came, you know what I mean? There’s foundation in honoring those that came before us and honoring the foundation that they created for us. And I think tradition is what connects like the old and the new.
You know, it connects the past and the future, and yeah, it really kind of made me understand the need to kind of like continue at least those positive, you know the positive. The positive traditions, you know? You know, I hold those, dear. So for me, it showed me that I could do
Anything, my potential. You know, like college wasn’t easy for me, and going through the process didn’t make it easier. Yea thats a fact. But it showed me that if I don’t quit, there’s something on the other side. You know what I mean? And that was the biggest thing for me.
And since then, I’ve always pushed myself because I know what I’m capable of. And I feel like joining this organization brought it out of me. You know. The benefits after college of it is of course, gaining an immense and impressive network. Uh, you know, it’s a lot of
Phone calls you can make to get a lot of opportunities that, you know, wouldn’t have been available to you otherwise. To add on to that, what I also found to be really, really beneficial is you don’t necessarily have to be a part of the organization like the of the networks
And people around you in order to kind of benefit from it. Because I’ve noticed that the D9 looks out for the D9. Yeah. You know, and I think that that’s really, really impactful. I think the key word honestly is just community like. Yeah, y’all say it a lot.
And that’s all that I get. So mentorship, networking, all this is just a huge community. And like you said, it’s not even just one specific fraternity or sorority. As long as you in the D9 even sometimes if you went to a HBCU, it’s just “Aye Virginia state- Howard-” You
Know? Oh, so that’s like a different type of love. And I’m from Connecticut, and like you said, just being up north, I didn’t see like, the Divine Nine. It was there like after the fact when I joined. You know, you realize it, but I didn’t see it growing up.
Actually, there was one teacher that was like an Iota. I just remember that. But other than that, I didn’t see it. And I think just being a part of it, you you get to understand the benefits of it, like representation matters. So when you see like these Black figures in your community and
Then you find out, oh, they’re part of this organization or they went to this college or this, you know, situation, it’s just it sparked something because I remember when I was that young and then I went to Virginia State, I was like, what? What y’all hopping? And like, I don’t even get this.
And then you start to learn and it just it just is an amazing thing. Like, I don’t regret it at all.
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Denouncing Greek Letters: A Journey of Faith and Freedom