Being a member of Alpha Phi Alpha, Fraternity, Inc means everything to me. Manly Deed, scholarship and love for all mankind. Every alpha knows those terms. I think the most important piece is the Brotherhood. Brotherhood to me means everything. It means going above and beyond because our Founders did it for
Us. They fought to ensure that we had a fraternity. No matter where I go, no matter what circumstance happened, I know there’s a Brother of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Incorporated on the side of me, behind me in the front, holding it down and ensuring that we go
Through the trials and tribulations together and that we get through them and come out even better. Brandon Rule Fall 10. Epsilon Tau chapter of Alpha Fraternity Incorporated. I’m a commercial real estate developer and an entrepreneur. My name is Tamir Harper and I’m a proud Brother of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity,
Incorporated by way of the Nu Beta chapter. My divine journey over time has experienced the good, bad, and ugly coming from the school district of Philadelphia. If I went to one of the worst rated middle schools and then I had the opportunity to be bused to a school in South Philly,
Then saw the inequities, and that gave me really the opportunity to start questioning systems that launched me to go back into the education space, but not only as an educator, but as a disruptor of a system that has failed black and brown children for far too long.
My divine journey throughout my life has had a few pivotal moments. One of the biggest turning points was the first time I experienced homelessness, which was the 1994 earthquake in middle school. We also suffered a house fire and we lost everything again. And I think the pairing between the two is
Really pivotal to what I’m doing here today, studying economy and how capitalism works. Understanding that money is a tool. How do we use it to uplift our communities in a beneficial way? When I think of scholarship fellowship in good character, all three of those words connect
To my experience as a teacher. I think back to my sophomore year in high school is when I discovered Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Incorporated was so active in communities. Sterling Grimes, who is a black male educator, was part of a coalition of black
Men working to increase black men going into the classroom. And he would always throw a sign up, which I now know as the Phi, and then go give Brothers this handshake that we call The Grip. And I was inspired and I said, well, can you give me that handshake? Why can’t I throw
Up that sign? And he said, one day, you will have that opportunity if you work towards it. Alpha was drawn to me in college through really some Brothers that I still love and are near and
Dear to my heart today. They exposed me to what it means to be an Alpha man, seeing how they were transforming themselves throughout their college journey. That’s what sparked my interest. Lighting the torch of others, never dims your own.
That is in the spirit of the fraternity. If you look at the Seven Jewels, that is why they set off to set this fraternity and frankly, all of the fraternities and sororities that came after. We have had men of distinction since the founding 116 years ago. When we think of
Brother Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Supreme Court Justice, Thurgood Marshall, Dr. Cornel West, understanding African American social thought. Dr. Dennis Kimbro Thinking Grow Rich Black Choice, phenomenal book and what makes the great great. Senator Raphael Warnock and Governor Wes Moore, TV actor and author,
Hill Harper and Omari Hardwick. They have been first in their own rights. They have been trendsetters and leaders in their community. They continue to put community first. My drive in particular is motivated by legacy, really trying to create legacy
That lives well beyond the years in which I’m here. Mission is really important. How do we recreate and reimagine community so we can have an improvement in it, but the people within our community can remain and benefit from that improvement of the community?
When I think about inspiring others, I think about the founding of our fraternity, our seven jewels fault, not for themselves, but for the next generation. And we’ve been here for 116 years and I continue to fight. So we’ll be here for another 116 years so that the
Next generation have the opportunity to say they are men of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Incorporated. Because this is so much bigger than us. This is for society, it’s for humanity, and this is for the work of our communities.
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