He Hello everybody welcome back to another episode of the male perspective I am your host Lana Reed and today today is another one of those wonderful amazing days I get to spend some quality time with the fantabulous men of Omega SciFi Fraternity Incorporated today I have with me the
Brothers out of f i OTA chapter finally known known as the Phoenix cues I have with me brother Jeff Birthright brother Lorenzo Lopes and brother Kai Williams uh with me today and shortly we will hear about some of the phenomenal amazing work that their chapter is doing
In the Phoenix area but as I always do gentlemen in the beginning I take a quick moment to pause and say thank you to you for making time for me today time is a gift once we give it we cannot get it back so I truly appreciate all of you
Taking time uh to sit and chat with me to today and also for you putting on some gear to make it all flow together with that gentlemen welcome welcome to the show thanks for having us so as we get started I like to kind of go around the virtual room and be
Nosy and ask you gentlemen um how long you have been Brothers of Omega sci-fi and where did you uh pledge at individually K you want to start off now we sure no no no please please not difference okay uh my name is Kai Williams uh I pledged here at the
Phoenix Brad chapter with by Iota in a fall of 2012 so I’m actually coming up on 11 years in the Frat in November I brother Larry Lopes uh deil Iota Kai summer 13 Boston BR just hit my uh uh decade um Friday the 13th September 13
2013 11 uh 1207 am so just hit my 10 all righty congratulations and and Mr bosers who uh is holding on tight to his position Jeff Birthright um I am uh Trey dog spring 15 and I was also I o pledged here in a fire the chapter okay all
Right so everybody’s got more than 10 years in except me except for you cover up our leader our feess leader oh okay okay we we’re gonna be kind he he’s the baby of the bunch well let me ask you know just anyone can take this question
Um at at that particular time in your life when you uh join the Brotherhood what was it about Omega sci-fi that made you say you know this is this is where I belong I’mma take this one if you don’t mind Brothers I’m GNA take this one I can
Take that go ahead je we can go around the room with this if you want okay okay well um in uh I had I was going through a rough time um and I remember talking to a brother who I didn’t realize was a member of Omega Sai he was just a good
Guy I thought um he is a good guy and I was one day I came into work and I was just having a rough time like I just moved to Phoenix and I don’t know anybody and I was telling him I need some kind of Brotherhood because I don’t
Have anybody my roots are in New York I don’t have anybody and I’m having a rough time and he gave me a few phone numbers and when um then I came back to work the next day and um you’re like are you look at look up look up this
Organizational Mega Sai and I did and their values is a lot like the things that I grew up doing anyway so it wasn’t even a stretch so I’m like you know what um I want to go meet some more of these brothers and he definitely encouraged me
To to seek other organizations to see which one fit my personality and every one of them wasn’t it but Omega SciFi was a smooth transition in and uh it definitely gave me the Brotherhood that I’m looking for and I’m I am glad to share the Brotherhood with the brothers that’s on here today
Okay yeah so my uh uh my introduction to the Frat really began in my undergrad um I attended U OFA for a short period of time and so they would have step shows on occasion so it was something about the BR that just caught my attention I
Didn’t pledge at that time I actually ended up going to school at na um fast forward a few years I was working for Maricopa County and brother loton Conley who’s you know pretty well-known brother here in the valley he was one of the attorneys that I would frequently
Interact with uh there at the county I didn’t know he was a br at the time like Jeff said he was just a good BR we would talk to each other because there weren’t that many black people that you would come across working for the county um
And as it turns out there was a step show here in the valley shortly after and that’s when I found out that he was a br and so I ended up kind of being in the circle of a bunch of BRS at First Institutional uh Dr Bill Smith like I
Said Len connley they just started to come into my circle um so as I started to express interest my tail doog may he rest in peace was also interested at the time and so we kind of began talking to one another and that’s really how our
Journey of Interest began and so yeah I mean one thing led to another I inquired about a few things and before you know it you know I was online with with my line so that’s that’s how it happened for me great great yeah when you see the
Uh BR on the yard that that will catch your attention but don’t tell anybody I said that don’t tell anybody else and and for you sir Mr Lopes well you know to pigy piggyback off of what you just said um no disrespect to anybody you know we
Have people to say they’re the first we have people that say they’re the prettiest they’re the best but when you think black fraternal organization there’s only one that comes to mind and it’s the you know royal purple and old gold it doesn’t matter what race background Creed you come from everybody
Knows the cues um and that’s what stuck out to me I’m uh much like uh brother Williams and his dad I am a uh Afrocentric historian in my part-time and um the values of the organization um when you do a deep dive into it align with an Afrocentric
Mindset and you can find these same values you can go back 5,000 6,000 years to Africa and find the same ideals so that always attracted me um but I think you know everybody that comes in finds their right time to come in I came in a
Little later but I came in at the perfect time I met the perfect line brother there was only two of us he was an undergraduate you know I was working uh um but my pathway was unique and I think you’ll appreciate this I just happened to be raised in a lodge that
Was dominated by Q’s so those Q’s picked me up they saw something in me and they picked me up and they pointed me on my way and I met my lb and uh despite the age difference you know we’re still best friends to this day and uh best decision
I ever made in my life besides marrying my wife awesome I love it that’s great now listening to you gentlemen talk um although you guys are in Phoenix I’m hearing that you guys are coming from different places so just a quick sidebar question is Phoenix a city of mostly
Transplants or are there a lot of us that are born and bred there um I I don’t I don’t think that there are a lot of us born and bred here I mean if you want to look at the numbers not in the Phoenix area they’re
Pockets where there’s a lot of there’s a large African-American population but a lot of us here in Phoenix are transplants absolutely so I know I I came from uh I came from New York um and there’s a lot of brothers here from the Midwest and um and and I just don’t
Think that a lot of us were here and if a lot of us that were born here in Phoenix a lot of blacks that were born in Phoenix for whatever reason they’re not here or they’ve moved like I said they’re Pockets though so you got whole Brook and it’s a lot of history
As far as um where we are but Phoenix wasn’t one of the places that um welome traditionally historically that that welcomed us here okay okay but y’all are we are we are changing that Dynamic I’m assuming absolutely absolutely okay so um what go ahead adding on to that you’ll find there are
Pockets of I was just going to say adding on to that you will find there’s there’s pockets of you know our population in certain cities right so you kind of have South Phoenix um if you go into Florence area there’s a lot of African Americans there Tucson um but
Many people you will come across have you know migrated here from other places the Midwest is a a popular popular place you know we’ve ended up in Phoenix for whatever reason but yeah I say it’s it’s a lot of uh uh you know transplants that are here in the valley now they didn’t
Necessarily they weren’t born here especially from the Midwest Midwest okay so from the Midwest yeah the W I’m just the weather cost of living brought everybody brought us there I’m assuming um my case my my wife is from here she’s a native we met in law school
On the east coast and after you know 10 plus years of her handling that East Coast weather um I decided I’ve had enough too so we decided to come back here and I find a lot of people escaping the cold weather coming here as well I’m one of those people I’m one of
Those people don’t want to shovel any snow no nor nor nor rake leaves or cut grass and you know you know what I think a lot of it too is it goes back to what you mentioned earlier just in that a lot lot of the
Jobs in that area kind of picked up and left right so like my family they moved out here for work my father moved out here to work in Motorola and I think that’s how a lot of people ended up out here as well okay gotta pay gotta pay
The light bill gotta find some way to pay the light bill yeah well let me move on to fire because we are here to talk about you guys and how amazing you gentlemen are so um could somebody please give me the brief rundown on the history of your chapter because you guys
Have been around for a minute 1946 October 1st H we we’re actually celebrating our Charter day today so that the brothers could be with their families tomorrow but uh October 1st 1946 so we’ve been around for quite some time and um been very active in the valley since then we’ve had some Heavy
Hitters um some people who were very um very important in these in the city’s progression in the getting us where we are um so we got like brother like Calvin Calvin good we got Brothers like um um um L um brother Calvin good and uh yeah loln Ragsdale Lincoln Ragsdale
Yes I couldn’t remember his name l so it’s a lot of brothers who definitely helped us to progress in this city and as far as the history is concerned um it’s been um even our our charter members here like uh Dr Wormley and and all those other um very intricate men
Who made fot and Phoenix such a such a uh more Progressive place to be um as far as African-Americans those are the ones who like fought for you know Martin Luther King to have a holiday here so oh yeah you guys were one of the okay us and brother bosel he he brought
Up a great name to bring up brother Wormley brother Wormley was initiated um on the East Coast AM College um and he was the bossess who immediately followed the honorable Dr Charles Drew who is one of our major major um you know black icons in general not just in
Omegafi um so for that man to come from there all the way over here and do what he did here is amazing he’s one of my favorite um my my favorite black historical figures in general but definitely you know he is the he is the
Father of f he is the one that organized things went out to LA uh to organize the chapter and without Wormley there would be no fire and you mentioned um Charles Drew and um many people don’t know that Charles Drew out in California is the
Only HBCU on the West Coast but he’s a q or was a q as well that was new to me yes okay I I did I learning something every day okay 1946 Charles okay so let me get into um some of the programs you gentlemen are
Running out there because I only have a short amount of time and I got to get to this one here to he’s going to a game so we got we got to wrap this up here um there I was going through the website and I I normally do being nosy and
Roaming around to see what you gentlemen are up to and I know that Omega sci-fi has certain mandates that you guys are required to carry out um and some of the stuff that you some of the work that you gentlemen are doing in the Phoenix area
I one of the ones the first one I want to talk about that I found was very very interesting very timely especially uh today world is this community oriented uh police task force I want to know like how did that come about and what are the different moving parts and pieces of
This program because it’s it’s very imperative our go ahead now you got it I was just gonna I I was gonna pass it to you anyway I was just gonna say all uh praise and honor is due to the late Dr Ben Harrison for coming up with that um
He is the father of that program he poured his soul and his Essence to it um he lost his brother at an early age to police violence so actually witnessed his brother being shot and essentially murdered and um he brought that concept to fota we grew it and we are so proud
To say that the district took over and more and more districts throughout um the country are taking over it um whether bosil can uh expand on it because he um when I was the bosil and he was the vice basist he was in charge of the Committees so he had the most
One-on-one interaction with the program but I just wanted to take the moment to give the uh proper respect to Dr Ben yeah absolutely U absolutely Dr Ben Harrison was was vital and he pushed this forward and one of the one of his things was is that he wanted us to have
A seat at the table so he wanted us to get on committees that’s going through the city that have a voice and even if we can’t be at the table we could be close to the table to hear what’s going on so whether it be working with DPS
Whether it be working with the city itself whether it be working with the state of Arizona he wanted us one of the things that we do is we we definitely get involved in the community Through whether it be city council or or some form of um Community meetings or we what
We want to do is we want to be involved we want to be involved directly also involved with the police you know that’s that’s a little more difficult because you know we don’t have the training we don’t have the we don’t have that but what we do have is
Um we have we have the power of voice so when we all get together and when we not so much protest but we had an organization where we had the cops and q’s where we work with um we work with the Phoenix PD on things that’s going on
On and um our goal our ultimate goal is to provide suggestions on how to better handle situations in the black community gotcha gotcha so um you know if there there is an issue um you know they have their protocol and once again we’re not going
To sit here and say that we have the voice to speak louder than they do but we do want to give suggestions on what better way we can handle this or what can we do better um I know around the same time th is George Floyd his um his his uh his
Death assassination or whatever you want to call it um there was a brother here who was murdered right prior to along the same circumstances and um and I got on the board of Department of Public Safety to talk about what we can do better and one of the things that we
Talked about is communicating with his mom to let um that young man’s mother know what we were doing and they weren’t forgotten so just kind of how do we go about it and what’s the what’s the best way to to do things and you know we all
Gave our opinion in that in that committee but our whole goal is to get involved in police committees Community committees so we can have a voice okay well let me let me ask you this um because you guys are working close hand inand with law enforcement you guys are
All uh black men I don’t know how many of you have sons um but just in reflection doing this work what do you say to especially to the younger black males when they’re encountering law enforcement to come out of this situation where it doesn’t escalate to
Something we don’t want to see do you have pointers now that you have this experience it’s it’s tough and I know brother lope and brother K could speak on his head in a minute but it it’s tough because I’m I’m an education and I remember when all this was going on and
I had a conversation with a couple of students students and the question came up like what can we do to prevent this and I didn’t have an answer to be completely honest I don’t I didn’t have an answer and I still don’t have an answer that is one thing that that we
That we’re faced with now like when we consider all the things that are going on everything that’s happening within this country there is no blueprint to say if these steps happen you are safe there’s there’s no steps um you can comply sometimes when you comply it doesn’t work work when you don’t comply
It doesn’t work so I mean you know it’s it’s it’s no um it’s it’s no win I mean there is no win I don’t know maybe brother Lopes and brother K but there’s no blueprint that says you are safe if these steps are followed definitely um I’m I’m in
Education too this is my second year um I spent 20 years in law enforcement um first as a line probation officer than as a deputy chief and ultimately as a chief um and as brother berri said there is no answer all you can do is give these young people the best set of
Advice to mitigate the risk the risk is always going to be there I tell my students all the time the lessons you’re learning in my class how I’m talking to you how I’m instilling discipline in you you’re going to have to remember that and use on the street because you will
Be in cont and depending on how you react your risk will grow up or DEC but there’s still going to be risk just by virtue of you being who you are and it’s unfortunate but we have to keep it real with these kids because you know nowadays with the Advent of social media
And the dominance it plays in everyone’s lives and even now more so with AI um these kids are on in sometimes in a fantasy world and they don’t see the things that we know until it smacks them in the face so that’s one of the reasons I switch from law enforcement to um
Education which was to get them on the front end and keep them away from the system I used to have the mentality of I’m in the system to try to get people out and then I realized uh through my experiences that once you’re in you’re in whether you serve your time or not
There’ll be someone somewhere waiting to hold your past against you regardless of the heights you’ve climbed to since regardless I heard that and I don’t have I don’t have sons you don’t have sons I don’t have but you have experience you have the experience I have I have three
Beautiful daughters I also have nephews and you know kids that I Mentor Etc and the discussion is always the same I agree with what the brother stated where there are some situations unfortunately where you can do everything right and you still may not come out of that
Situation I always tell kids if you do get pulled over over you know just comply the best you can listen to what the officer’s telling you you know make no sudden movements all those things that we you know have to teach our kids and unfortunately we just have to try to
Do our best to remain on the right side of the law because while some other kids may be able to go steal and there’s petty theft and things like that those things could get you killed so you really do have to walk the straight and narrow you know to the best of your
Ability and like brother L said just try to avoid even those interactions because once you get involved in those things it could go left and it may not even be your behavior it could be the officer that you’re dealing with where it’s completely out of your control so that’s
One of those things where as a parent I know I can speak for them as well I stress about that every morning because you never know when your kids come in contact with a police officer it could be at school it could be jaywalking it
Could be a friend that they went to the store with and that friend stole something and then you have a situation so um it really is one of those things that does not have a a good a good answer it’s it’s terrifying you know brother boses has a son and a daughter
Teenagers I’ve got two sons I have a 15y old that’s I’m six foot five he’s an inch taller than me and I’m terrified every time he leaves the house because to me he’s still a little boy because that’s what he is but to the world he’s
A grown man he’s very large and they look at him as being Angels he’s a threat and I I I’m terrified of next year when he’s eligible to get his driver’s license so it’s it’s a problem that we we understand and we need to deal with but unfortunately the other
Side who’s never had to experience these things you would think that they would say all right I don’t have this experience just like as a male I don’t know the female experience so I’m not going to go against the female in terms of whatever Reproductive Rights um
Sexual harassment Etc I don’t know that you would think the same thing would happen here but it doesn’t when we show how we feel we show what we’re experienc we’re told to get over it we’re told that doesn’t happen anymore or there’s just that that sense of I can’t believe
This bro you need to believe it and and you know I had a a really a really nice man talked to me about this once and he brought up one of these incidents and I said to him what’s new and he broke down crying um he was very empathic white man
Um I appreciate him I consider him a friend but he was just so stricken by the fact that it kind of just rolled off my shoulder like it’s an everyday occurrence which it is he just couldn’t comprehend it you know and and unfortunately that’s how it is most of the time go
Ahead real quick it just reminds me of a of a reading um the 1903 WB The Voice book um Souls of black folks and even another rendition written by Dr uh Tyrone Howard um he talks about um how does it feel to be the problem and it is
It’s a tough concept to think that even when I look at my son and and brother Lop son um that they the problem and they haven’t done anything it’s it’s it’s a tough concept to even explain to them what equity and equality really looks like when we’ve never seen it
Ourselves so um so so you know when it when I read when I read those P when I read those passages about how is it feel to be the problem and I got to go back to say like how do we get here and it just seemed like the more the further
Back you look the further you got to keep looking because I don’t see a problem just honest honest um Impressions here because you guys are working with the police force um lope Lopes you said you you were with Department of Probation here in 2023 what we’re seeing a lot of
Is diversity equity and inclusion training a lot of cultural awareness training um when non black non people of color officers are stepping into these environments are they able to leave their biases and microaggressions to the side with all this training or are they still bringing this to their day-to-day Workforce I
Mean I mean some of this should be you were trained in that we went to the class last week why are you still not why are you still escalating these situations I’m just I’m when I talk to my students and my kids about it I I I
Tell them a point blank I was like before any of us are in any of these positions because the same thing happens in school brother birthrights an expert on that he’s he’s a long-term teacher um same thing happens with teachers before you’re a teacher a doctor a lawyer a cop
Whatever the case may be you’re a person and some people are good and some people are bad some people are mentally physically spiritually aligned with the profession some aren’t and unfortunately a lot of times those people aren’t slide in and those are the problems I know a
Lot of good officers lot of good officers that care want to do the right thing and I know a lot that don’t I know a lot that got into it for the wrong reason got into it to settle scores uh things that went back into their childhood um they’re people um people
Are good people are bad people are imperfect um and I think we need to remember that when we’re dealing with them so we don’t go into a situation thinking that hey you know what I didn’t do anything um fairness and Equity is going to rule and this person is going
To do their job the right way it doesn’t work like that in any profession so I think you have to we have to train these kids to be mentally prepared to handle any of those situations um to again you like brother Williams said there’s no eliminating it you just got to do what
You can to potentially decrease the threat as much as you can okay before I move on to my next question um uh brother Birthright you’re an educator are there many black Educators in the Phoenix area or is it well I I I can give you this statistic Nationwide black
Men in education is at 2% and that that that resonates as well here in Phoenix um and and there’s many reasons for that but it is a it is not a it’s not a well it’s not a well visited po uh occupation here in uh in Phoenix
Or as it looks like anywhere else um you know and co co really revealed a lot to people like hey I can’t deal with my kids I’m getting out this profession um you know online education has changed a lot of things as well but it’s it’s it’s not an easy it’s not an
Easy job to to be in and I could see you know we get blamed for stuff that we don’t do outside so when we come to work we don’t want that and parents come with the same gripes and complaints as well so it is not a celebrated it’s not a
It’s a it’s a service uh profession definitely a job a social service we provide services to the kids however it is not a glorified position and u i Comm I commend I commend you I I don’t have the patience for it especially um you I’m from a different generation I’m 54
So you know it was go go to class sit there pay attention don’t talk back um but but but you know Ed education has changed so much like even in the ideas and the thoughts of um of just kids I think and and I’m saying this as an
Educator I don’t care how much you know if you can’t think you’re doomed critically think critically yes think critic and yes and if you can’t understand and identify the perspective that particular kid is coming through or coming from you’re not going to be effective because a lot of
These kids before they walk into that school at 7 eight o’clock they’ve already gone through a full day’s worth of issues so if they walk in that door and the first thing that’s going down is a teacher complaining about they don’t have a pencil or they don’t have a pen
That kid’s already at the limit um you know I personally try my hardest and I’m not perfect and it doesn’t always work to take a step back and try to figure out what’s going on but as brother B right uh referenced earlier um you know what you know you don’t know what you
Don’t know and a lot of these teachers they don’t understand because they’ve never been in that position and with it only being 2% of us that brings a whole different aspect to it you know you get put in that position and you get you end up dealing with all the black kids and
And I want to deal with all the kids of course I I’m I’m G to do what I can for for my people but you know the the other people need to learn how to deal with our people too just like they know how to deal with Asians just like they know
How to deal with Hispanics they need to learn how to deal with our kids too because our kids see it our kids know who’s there for them and they know who’s not and they’ll tell you about it brother Williams you GNA say something I didn’t want
To oh no you know I can just listen to them brothers uh talk about education and all the pitfalls and all the biases forever I’m not in education so I don’t you know have anything to add you know to what they laid down we we could leave
It there let me move on to the next thing you gentleman of high ioda got going on here I mean this kind of parlays into the to the kids aspect the younger generation um you run a Omega youth leadership academy did I get that right yes what are the facets of that
And what is that involved and is this a year round program or what um it’s it’s a it’s a nine Monon program that um really provides some kind of a some aspects of what um how to get through school and what your options are so
Twice a month um twice a month they they they teach a class um on things that’ll help you be successful in class I remember I went in there and this it’s a great program founded by the late brother Larry Ross Who had who was such an icon in and Progressive thinker as
Far as seeing this thing through um uh I went to a I went to a program and he was teaching kids how where they need to sit and how you raise your hand like it’s simple simple Concepts like how do you need to raise your hand
And we all think like we put your hand up but he says elbows to ears elbows to ears it has you know mean and and even though we think of these things as simple things they are so important for our kids to be noticed um he refuse to
Let kids sit in the back don’t sit in the back if you don’t want to learn you sit in the back and um and with that what another great thing that oila does is um they they teach things like decision making um how to fill out a fast for and in
February first week in February they go to the West Coast College Excursion um and what they do with that is they go to um the LA Convention Center where all the HBCU are and um they can fill out applications they can um there’s a performance
There and if you fill out or if you go online and fill out the name of the I don’t know it’s the black college tour um if you fill out the uh the essay contest you could win money right there on spot so they do a lot of a great job
Of exposing kids to what they can get they bring people to to the um to those meetings and then they cap it off with a living above the influence um conference um where everybody gets together and you talk about various things in the community um that could affect you that
Could help you and it’s also resources there for the kids that need that need help so it’s a lot of things go ahead I’m sorry no so the the kids enroll at a certain month they have to enroll into the program well yes they um they’re they they enroll via social media and
Usually it’s a it’s a running it’s a um they reach out to you every every every so often the summertime they reach out to you to make sure you’re doing well and see if you need any help and um they mark it through the um social media OA
212. org they they they mark it through social media where you could join and be a part of it um and it starts in um it starts in September late September early October and it goes all the way to um May and June okay okay so we got the
Kids for almost the whole and I believe the the range on that is it’s what fifth grade through 12th grade right yeah yes so ages 10 through 18ish you know we’re reaching out to those those young men and and one of the amazing things that brother Ross
Accomplished and and you know I agree 100% with brother Birthright using the term Visionary I always used to tell them you need to be in a think tank out in DC sharing these these ideas but he was able to connect with a uh organization on the west coast so that
When they’re out there on that Excursion they actually get to attend the HBCU um fair and we have had kids get scholarships to HBC who’s on the spot academic and athletic that’s right that’s right we don’t have to get these loans and come out in debt okay
That’s well let me uh I just been running my mouth with y’all I had only planned to take 30 minutes of time so I’m gon have to speak through the rest here I want to make sure I get to the next project because we talked about the
Kids and I think this is very important important um because a lot of times our kids you know you mentioned that a lot of times kids are fighting battles before they get to school and we don’t understand some of these battles that these kids are fighting some of that is
Uh just finding something to eat and I think that’s what part of the project of uh Omega uh friends of Hope project uh what is that project in couple because I think I heard like a food bank or something involved with that project yeah well we um we we partner
With um we partner with a school and um if you click on that link and you you could purchase Goods for the school directly through Amazon you don’t got to touch it it goes from Amazon directly to the school so um friends of Hope is where we supported Hope
Academy um and uh that was a school that that Larry Ross attended he was the administrator over there at Hope Academy and we helped them uh we provided turkey giveaways um we provided um um uh the Christmas adopt the family okay um so we did a lot of things and we
Try to support the school in areas that need and even just be a presence there so sometimes we would read so it all depends on um what school we adopt okay so that so in this case we adopted a Hope Academy and uh we are still doing
Things with Hope Academy in hopes that you know they we one we never forget about Larry Ross and two so our presence will be felt in the community keep on hearing about brother Ross he must seriously be a tri Trail bracer for absolutely absolutely awesome awesome all right so one of the things
Uh all the brothers of Omega sci-fi have coming up is achievement uh week and for those outside of D9 who might not be aware could somebody explain why this is so important uh to the brothers of Mega SciFi and what what actually transpires hello yeah can you hear I
Lost you I lost you for AE she’s she’s asking for recap on achievement week it’s history how it impacts us while we do coming up soon right you guys you got a big shending coming up soon right yeah Founders Day Founders Day big all across the country absolutely so achievement
Week is the week leading up to Founders Day we have activity for the community um we have um we’ll do a health we’ll do a health initiative we’ll do an U we’ll do service with the undergrads um with at ASU um we will do um we’ll do just a
Plethora of community events whether it be by zoom and we give the we give the history of achievement week which was started by Dr Carter G Woodson who wasn’t a member of Omega scii so not to cut you off is um ASU the only undergrad chapter in Arizona in
Phoenix no in Phoenix right we also have Alpha Epsilon that’s in Tucson okay yeah and and just to touch on and this is gonna be a quick pass to Kai just to touch on what brother Bosler stated about Carter G Woodson not only is it he an integral uh member of our
Organization’s history but an integral member of black history in general if brother Williams who was an expert on this could give a few words on that I think it would be very informative for people to know yeah so you know Dr Carter G Woodson I know many people are familiar
With the miseducation of the Big R that was one of his uh well I don’t want to call the most famous but well regarded Works was just talked about a lot of things that are still relevant to what we’re dealing with today um and so without going into too deep
Into it he actually envisioned you know a negro history week which ultimately became a negro History Month which became Black History Month and our two programs were intertwined and we kind of peeled off and that’s where a lot of achievement week ties in to uh just the
Historical aspect of Carter G won and the program that he started back in the 20s um you guys it just clicked in my head you gentlemen are in Arizona and um Arizona had some let me see here interesting voting uh issues last time around and we are getting ready to uh
Walk into another voting season are is your chapter out there educating people on the the V brother Lopes you got this question yeah definitely we have been heavily involved with the get out the vote um we have worked alongside the current um Secretary of State Adrien font who was
The former um recorder for Maricopa County who actually in the state of Arizona the although the Secretary of State oversees the entire entity of voting the county recorder is the one handson um and when we worked with him we also worked with the Secretary of State at the time who was now the
Governor um so we’re very closely aligned with voter registration that is one of our mandated programs voter registration mobilization and education so we keep our ears to the concrete um one of our Zoom calls that we had with the then recorder and then Secretary of State um it was broadcast on Facebook
Live and YouTube in between the zoom direct zoom and those two uh platforms we we reached thousands and um you know you know how it is it’s not just Arizona it’s the entire country there’s a lot of misinformation going on about voting and um we got the information that was
Necessary to the people that needed it the most and we continue to do that and we look forward to doing again and again and again and advocating for um what is an essential right and you know I know there’s a lot of people out there that
Think oh my vote doesn’t matter and I would just say this one thing and leave it it down if our vote didn’t matter they would not be trying to restrict it so much that’s right that’s the bottom line true you know and if if you do your
Your work your do diligence and and look at some of the elections you’ll see how many of them are actually won just by one or two votes so you know to think that your vote doesn’t matter um yeah we don’t hear that you know the black black women Drive the vote so we
Don’t hear that from black women um you know we’re all descended from a matriarchal society so as far as I’m concerned we need to follow the matriarchy black women Drive the vote in this country period we got Uncle Joe in there we got Uncle J all right let me wrap this up because
Uh I see I could sit down with you gentlemen for a while and I have not asked all of my questions that I wanted to ask um but real quick uh because we were teasing you brother berri beforehand let me let me lean in a little uh bit and ask you what’s it
What’s what’s it’s challenging about leading a bunch of grown men and I guess you’re past you’re P you you can answer this as well what’s what’s he can do it he can do it what’s the challenge because they they’re already trying to fire you I’mma stick up for you oh
Appreciate it I appreciate my sister um it’s it’s it’s hard um no pun intended but it’s hard there it’s a bunch of alpha men it’s a bunch of alpha men and you trying to you trying to lead and they have their ideas they have their goals they have their
Families as well so um one of them is just trying trying to not trying to but just kind of instructing them and getting them on the same page and giving up some of their time to to give to the community um so those are some of the challeng and their challenges with
Everywhere with everybody because of you know the just the makeup of the home but we all but at the end of the day the one thing I can say about the Brotherhood is everybody wants to serve everybody comes out um you know due to situations and life happening May some people might not
Be able to do it but um you know but but when I need Brothers when we need Brothers to show up we show up in droves how how many brothers are in not to cut you 100 135 no that’s 135 fully Financial fin more there’s more Who come out it’s it’s
Closer it’s closer to three to 400 in Phoenix alone yeah and and what you know brother Bosa stated about um you know it’s it’s we are a organization of well well educated black men um and being in room like that trying to lead has its challenges however you know when you’re
In that role if you take a step back take a breath and realize that the challeng is rooted in the desire the strong burning desire for each and every one of those men to serve it becomes palpable and you you can deal with it
And you can find ways to move in in the spaces to get people to understand and yeah I get it you want to do that but hey come help me with this first and I promise we’ll get back back to that and typically you know we we we do what we
Have to do because we all have the same goal which is to uplift our community and to serve our people great conflict resolution skills within the Brotherhood okay all righty let me ask you gentlemen my random question and then I will ask you to tell us how we connect with you
If we’re ever in the Phoenix area and if we want to support such but let’s see what we have here Al righty so if somebody wants me to pull another question I’ll pull another question but um the question is should you put your socks on first or your pants put your so
Socks we’re in Phoenix we’re in Phoenix sometimes it’s too hot for socks so I’ll go with pants okay all right you want another question K or you want to do this one oh you can ask another question but it socks on first for me oh okay let’s see
I ask what was your favorite class in high school man that was a long time ago um I’m I’m a writer I’m a creative person uh so probably like a reading or an English class I always excelled in those okay all right well gentlemen tell
Us how we connect with you um you have the Founders Day banquet coming up somebody might want to buy a ticket you have fundraisers to do the the wonderful work that you’re doing in the community we need money to do that um if we just
Want to stop by and say hello how do we connect with you gentlemen in Phoenix area we we could be reached at Phoenix Q Phoenix q.org and all the information is current um more information is coming but our Founders Day banquet will be held on November 18th
At the Mesa Convention Center okay all the information is on the website you can reach us and you just fill out a contact card and I promise I will get back to you and I can vouch for that they they came through expeditiously when I I sent
Out my please so well gentlemen I thank you so much for making time for me today I just want to commend you from my little small Corner world and and tell you I appreciate the work that you doing I know you get that a lot but here’s one
More voice to add to the pot that I appreciate you for being Stellar examples of black men in this world that we need to see more often and I just commend you on the work that you’re doing in the Phoenix area and Beyond because I know it touches more than just
Phoenix so thank you from L me thank you thank you thank you so much that is all this special special big up to the Eastern stars from another light W Wanderer Walker that is all for this week’s episode of the male perspective I’m your host Lana Reed and I will see everyone next
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