What is going on people and welcome to another episode of real talk with Marcus McCoy I your host Marcus mcco mcoy now of course it is now black history month so we want to definitely take the opportunity to highlight Black History Month um and but what better way to
Highlight Black History Month by bringing on one of our African-American leaders um he’s a widly recognized respected figure in the African-American Community but the community in general so without further Ado uh I would like to introduce the grand BX list of the Omega scii attorney Incorporated uh Mr
Rick Lewis welcome to the show thank you brother Marcus how you been man oh I can’t complain I can’t complain definitely thank you for having uh for coming on here and uh I know you’re a very busy man I seen you had uh pictures with the president not too long ago so I
Know you’re very well traveled so I appreciate you taking out your time your busy schedule toh sit down and have this conversation with me yeah man I’m honored to be here I appreciate you allowing me to come on and giving an opportunity to come on your show and
Speak to your audience thank you thank you so for the people that are listening uh tell them a little bit about yourself yeah born and raised in Pensacola Florida um Mom and Daddy Harvey Lee Lewis and alther Lee Lewis mom and daddy was born in Alabama my daddy worked at
The military base uh the Navy base in Pensacola he’s an army man my mother worked as well both had seven children God-fearing family a very disciplined family my father is my hero um moved to California in Los Angeles when I was 13 years old my mother had a
Job transfer and I’ve been here in Los Angeles now for 49 years I met this pretty girl from Houston Texas from the Third Ward and she said yes and we have two boys our oldest boy is a major in United States Army he’s a college graduate he’s an member of Omega SciFi
As well and our youngest boy is uh Wyatt he’s a freshman at UCLA so we are empty nesters man we’re empty nesters in our house um I’ve been employed in the Aerospace industry for 40 years really happy about that I’m uh looking forward to retiring soon hopefully and my wife
Is a stayhome mom and we live here in Los Angeles man and we have a great time here in California oh it’s awesome that is awesome so I just you know did some research and you would be surprised uh this day and age how many people still probably don’t actually know what Omega
Scii fraternity is um what it encompasses what it does so for the people that are listening could you tell us about you know what Omega SciFi is some of the programs you all have and um things of that nature just so we can educate the listeners yeah good question
Um mega Sci-Fi fraternity um founded November 17th 1911 at Howard University uh we was the first black fraternity founded on a all black campus HBCU we call it the mecca at Howard University we have 200,000 initiated om mea men uh in 17 countries and on four continents
We stand on the premises of manhood scholarship perseverance and uplift our colors is rawal purple and old gold our model is friendship is essential to the soul and we’re a service organization we’re here to service the community help young black boys be the best they can be through metering
Programs helping fathers to be the best fathers they can be we actively involved in Social Service organ organizations that we support we’re member the divine nine in terms of all of us all the nine fraternity sororities four sororities and five fraternities so we organizations been around for a long
Time continue to do the work that our Founders laid out for us Brothers just love Cooper and colan and we’re excited about serving our community that is awesome that is awesome so here’s a another question I mean I I think I have to double back to this question just
Simply because we are in Black History Month Dr Carter G Woodson is credited with or recognized as the the father of black history or the one who founded Black History Month in general can you speak to uh Dr kg Woodson he’s also a member of uh Omega SciFi fraternity
Corporated as well absolutely yeah Dr wlson is a fraternity brother of ours uh just a little history on him uh Dr Woodson is a a scholar really a scholar on African-American culture um born in 1875 and died in 1950 uh second graduate of Harvard University he was a scholar outstanding
Uh academician but his primary emphasis was on African-American culture and he’s been um kind of wed or being viewed as the father of black history month so every February when we serve Black History Month is because of Dr cter G Woodson um because of his history
Because of what he’s done what he’s done as an academician the many times and of hours and service he’s put into understanding and talking about African-American history he’s the father and so anybody who wakes up in February of any year and talk about Black History Month we all owe it to our fraternity
Brother Dr Carter G Wilson that is amazing it’s also amazing to see that you could just tell from the lineage that members of Omega scii fraternity incorpor um have been leaders for for quite some time um you know when you think about Black History Month and probably the
Things that went into just being able to have a month dedicated to African African-Americans and probably the struggle that uh you know our ancestors went through in those times just to get here it’s a great Testament to um not only the the dedication of African-Americans but awesome me uh
Definitely the the brothers of Omega S 5 attorney Incorporated too because um there’s a longstanding history of achievement and um just being barriers for for Change and and going out and seeking um and doing the work that it requires to make uh the communities better would you agree with that oh
Absolutely agree with you 100% um that’s our mission is to help folks who are less fortunate helping the least of the um helping them be the best they can be give them some resources as kind of can stand on their own feet uh be here and
Be available for people who may call and want some information about men ing or tutoring or scholarships or Talent hunts um obviously it’s important for us to be able to be available for people who need help and we all know people need help it’s just the way life is everybody goes
To their trials and errors trials and tribulations and organizations like aica SII and really all of us in D9 uh that’s what we’re here for that’s what these members who’ve been in this organization for hundreds of years collectively uh to be available for people who need us as I
Said earlier we’re trusted Messengers that when you call on the men in the purple and gold we’ll deliver if we said we going to do something we’ll do it and that’s what we all stand for particularly the men of Omega Sci-Fi fraternity that is awesome that is
Awesome so when you think about black history in general um if you had to pick maybe one or two depends on on you who sticks out in your mind when it comes to black history and why yeah yeah you got to stop at the uh start at the top Dr
Martin Luther King he was an alpha man a morehous man uh academician scholar outstanding speaker who gave his life for the Civil Rights struggle didn’t have to but he chose to and he gave it all so Dr King certainly has this you have to think about the ultimate African-American who served
This this country vows and done the work Dr King stands at the top in terms of what he has stood for what he’s given the sacrifice and this is the most important part the sacrifice to his wife and his children can you imagine the number of days and weeks and hours Dr
King was away from his family serving other families serving other people putting his life In Harm’s Way uh through the segregated South having his life threatened often and ultimately killed in uh in Memphis Tennessee trying to help sanitation workers they used to call him garbage
Man back when I was a little boy brother Marcus he went there to help sanitation workers to try to get a little extra money on their paycheck just think about that number two you got to think about Malcolm X Malcolm X also put his life on
The line pretty much the same era that Dr King came through talking about it from a different angle but pretty much the same thing in terms of self-reliance self- responsibility personal responsibility and encouraging African-Americans to start your own businesses spend your money in your own Community helping each other out
Respecting each other respecting our women respecting our children respecting our neighbors respecting our community he talked about personal responsibility stop putting your life in somebody else’s hands you could do it yourself we can go to college we can start business we can save money we can
Buy homes we can take care of our own communities I to think of two men I think Dr Mar Luther King and Malcolm X that is awesome that awesome those actually would would be the first two African-American men that I would probably uh recognize as well for many
Of the reason that that you mentioned now you are undoubtedly one of the most recognizable africanamerican leaders in our community and um you know I’ve had the opportunity to be a part of some of your speeches and lectures um and one thing I noticed and I do know about you
Just in the research I’ve done is that you’re very passionate about the community so for the people that are watching um I like to always get an inside track of of how a person became who they are now so where does that love of community actually come from right um yeah it came
From it came from primarily um my mom and dad um as I said earlier man a god Fring home my daddy was always helping Folks at church always helping people in the community the little boy I went with him and I always say man my dad’s coming home from work and taking
Care of his family now he’s going out to help other people who are less fortunate they call him Mr Harvey let me call Mr Harvey If I need a roof of my house let me call Mr Harvey If I need something fixed in the house never ever took a
Dime he did it out of the kindness of his heart so as a little boy that’s all I saw but Marcus I just saw my daddy giving back helping out and I just always said to myself you know man when I got a older little fortunate I’m going
To give back and my dad used to always say always try to help those who are less fortunate just try to help him as best as you can and I remember that as a little boy you know became a grown man went to college got a pretty decent job
Got a few dollars in my pocket en joined the greatest fraternity on earth a mega Sai fraternity and Rose up to be the CEO the grand boss’s International president of this great organization and give him back kind of similar the way the same thing that my dad did when I was a
Little boy in Pensacola Florida so I guess you would say it’s in my DNA I I don’t know any better just the way I am and it’s primarily because of the foundation laid down by my mom but especially my dad so I think what you said too is probably a message that a
Lot of people need to hear is that through the influence of your parents being raised in the right Manner and things of that nature that’s timely uh you basically had you had great role models oh yeah because of that those great model Role Models excuse me and
Their influence is how you came to be that that with that being said it brings brings us to another great point is I know you are very passionate uh about the youth I happened to be um in Louisiana a couple months back and um I listened to one of the speeches you gave
Uh to the body that you were you were speaking to and you just were were uh very adamant about the things we should be doing as adults to you know Foster our our youth in the right place and and and and understand how we the things we
Do impact them so if if somebody you know for again for the people that are watching what message would you want to give them in terms of uh the way moving forward or your perspective on how we take our youth and now Elevate them to a place where they could be successful
Absolutely and this message is particularly to black men U we certainly understand the black family is critical in our community but this message is especially for black men that we need to commit ourselves to mentoring these young black boys we do know that when there’s a man involved in a young black boy’s
Life chances are likely he’s not going to go to the penitentiary whether it’s a coach uh somebody from church uh a neighbor across the street um a father figure the father in his life uh it’s very likely he’s going to be on the straight and narrow we want to do all we
Can to disrupt this school the prison pipeline we want to encourage more black boys to go to college um go to trade school start a business become a good father and a good husband we want to make sure we do all we can to give these young black boys a
Chance we we understand if there’s no man around and these mothers are doing the best they can I mean black mothers Mother’s period are the salt of the earth you don’t get no better than a mother but she only could do so much with a young black boy at eight six and
Four and two he’s kind of cute she just raising him but once he gets 11 and 12 and 13 and 17 and 18 there’s not much more she gonna be able to do from a discipline standpoint because many times he’s gonna be a little older and a little bigger
And there’s not much she could do at that standpoint she’s going to need some help and she’s going to need some help from a man and we believe that if men are actively involved in these children’s lives these young men lives will minimize as many of them going to
The penitentiary or going to jail are not doing what they’re supposed to do lastly when we go on these college campuses particular HBCU are full of young women young women are going to college but it’s very Spar Us in terms of young black boys so we believe that
You know if you get actively involved in a young man’s life at a young age and kind of steering in the right direction then he can in turn become a productive citizen be an asset to our community and not a liability and then he in turn brother Marcus will turn around and
Become a mentor himself and then another mentor and then another mentor and another mentor and I think that’ll make a difference in terms of where we are in our community when we know that men are actively involved in the lives of these young men through a mentoring program so
That also speaks to uh in a sense kind of you know we always talk about breaking generational C curses and generational barriers so basically we kind of have in a sense with through mentorship and um basically parents you know doing the right thing as far as their children we have a
Uh kind of like a feeder program in a sense kind of like like from high school going from high school to college or going from middle school to high school yes sir these steps that we’re taking along the way ultimately develop these young men and women so that these things
That you mentioned don’t happen um there’s no secret that you know black people are at an alarming rate are being incarcerated at a higher rate than some of our counterparts yes sir um and it’s due to things like you spoke of lack of mentoring lack of guidance um many of
These children are just basically looking for Outlets to have especially in the inner city or or um in in you know rural neighborhoods and things of that nature so on mentorship you you you mentioned I know that is also one of the things that you you’re really passionate
About what type of mhip programs does uh does your fraternity have in terms of you know just so that people can get an idea cuz there may be somebody watching who wants to they may have a kid that for lack of better terms is is you know
And maybe in a in a in a bad phase in their life they might need that mentorship so what are those type programs that the the fraternity has for those type of individuals yeah good question um all of our chapters around the world not just in America but around
The world in 17 countries all our chapters are mandated to have a minoring program now some have oneone minoring programs some have group minoring programs some have school school minoring programs some have church minoring programs we all mandated to impact the lives of these young men we don’t discriminate could be Asian young
Man it could be a Caucasian young man it could be a Latino young man it could be an African-American young man now charity starts at home and sprad a bar we’re really particular about mentoring young black boys we think it’s important that when a black man is involved in his
Life it make a difference in his life so wherever you are in the sound of my voice there’s an Omega chapter somewhere that you can call and say hey I heard your grand bosses on this radio program and they say you do a mentoring program they
Would be able to help you and that’s what we do we help we certainly not going to be the Panacea to all the problems in our community but we’re here to help and kind of guide and direct because sometime mamas do the best that they can when there’s no man around
She’s going to need some help for this young boy to get some type of guidance and that’s where the man of Omega scii come man just to give some guidance put him back on the right track tell your personal story my M several years ago uh was a
Undisciplined young man I got him back on the right track and his mama said he’s good now he don’t need to be part of Min program went on to graduate from high school went on to graduate from college became a good father and a good husband so many times it’s just some
Intervention just a little bit of intervention out all long four five six seven eight years and we do that as well but sometime it just get him back on the right track when you get him on the right track he can kind of carry on and
Do what he need to do in terms of his life and become an asset to our community and not liability absolutely that is that is wonderful I also want to throw something in there in the beginning as uh as I was introducing the grand boses there may be
Some people people out there excuse me that don’t know what that actually means he he clarified it as well but I want to double back and make sure I explain it so the the grand bossless is the in sense the grand president or the president of the entire Omega Sci-Fi
Fraternity incorporation because again I know there are some people that might be watching that may not know anything about Greek life and have no understanding so I just want to make sure I clarify that so you know the people that are watching understand you know the terminology that we’re using so
They’ll know what I’m saying now with that being said um I know you are a Visionary man um so for the fraternity moving forward what is your vision for the fraternity moving forward yeah very good question um our job is service that’s what we do in this organization and Service uh we
Want to do all we can continue to grow our brand holistically grow our membership to get more members good quality members who stand on manhood scholarship perseverance and uplift who want to sacrifice their themselves to give service back to our community our Brotherhood our members is the most
Valuable asset that we have so we certainly want to take care of each other’s way well check on a brother see how he’s doing see how his family is doing provide any help that we can to a brother who may be in need some help uh
But I said most importantly we we are service organizations that give back to the community uh be available for community services for anything the community may need and to provide ourselves in terms of partnership with other community based CBO Community Based organizations to provide service
As well many hands make light work uh we think it’s more folks who are actively involved and trying to give back to the community will make the community a whole lot better so that’s the future we have for our fraternity just continue to grow it continue to be trusted
Messengers in our community and continue to provide service I want to Pig it back on what you said too uh as I was growing up in Jackson Mississippi um there is a very I would say large uh population of the men of Omega SciFi Fraternity Incorporated in that particular area you
Know I can’t speak to the demographics of our areas but I can speak to Jackson Mississippi and and um I would you know I grew up seeing omegas doing service in the community um taking on it I think the the most important part is taking ownership of their Community because
Many times people will say you know I love my community but they don’t actually do anything to help the community where you know that they actually live in or they thrive in and I think that is important that if you live in a community if you care about the
Stake of the community well-being of the community you have to take steps especially in as an adult now I understand if you’re a child there’s only going to be so much you can actively participate in but as an adult you definitely have to uh take stake and ownership in your own community and
That’s how we grow a lot of T times people will uh the first thing they want to do is you know they they’re growing up and they say oh you know when I get my opportunity I’m going to leave this community and I’m never going to come
Back but if everybody thinks like that how does that Community grow cuz it’s not there’s no there’s no guarantee that everybody in that Community who stays there is is going to be an active participant or contribute to the growing of the and the flourishment of that community so to
Speak yeah I agree with you I agree with you 100% um we we have to be around we have to be around to be role models for other children in our community um we have to be around and be trusted Messengers and trusted people in our community as well so I certainly agree
With you 100% in terms of us have to be actively involved in our communities and stay visible so before we get out of here again I want to this has been an awesome segment and I definitely appreciate you um taking your time to your busy schedule to come on here today but
Before we get out of here what’s one message that you want to leave the listeners with yeah uh that are men of Omega scii trusted Messengers uh that you can call on us for help and we will deliver uh that we are God-fearing men who are committed to
Service committed to making a difference in our communities in the community that we serve we’re here to help any way we can again we’re not going to be the panace seere to all the issues that may be L’s in our communities but you can call on us we’ll deliver there’s a
Disaster you can call on the men of Omega if you need some mentoring you can call on the men of Omega uh you need some scholarship money you can call on the men of Omega you need some tutoring you can call on the men of Omega uh if
You need some help and trying to guide a young man in a different direction from the direction that he’s going you can call the men of aica the men in the purple and gold of trusted Messengers and that’s the message I want to leave with your audience definitely thank you
Thank you before we get out of here my message is pretty simple I’m not going to beat a dead horse but although we only have the shortest month of the year black history happens every day of the year so in saying that for the people that are watching I ask you and I
Implore you let’s continuing let’s continue excuse me making black history I invite you to join me for the next episode of real talk with Marx McCoy but until then it’s been real
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