All right we’re back with another episode from the tap in podcast with your boy miles Johnson I have another great guest with me here today your boy Jonathan Wharton uh amazing guy don’t confuse him with the Wharton Center but Jonathan Warton man he’s here straight
Out of Detroit man let’s clap it up for him man appreciate you yes sir all right John so you know why we here people don’t but go ahead explain who you are what you do uh in your roles got you so like my good brother Miles said my name
Is Jonathan Wharton uh I am the 31st and current uh chapter president of alpha F Alpha attorney Incorporated is cap de to L the chapter seated right here in lanon Michigan uh as well as the chief Deputy probate register for Ingam County um so
I’ll say all that to say we do a ton of work here in the community and I only look to uplift even further and when you say we by we of course I mean the ice cor Brothers of of alpha alpha attorning corpor that’s what I’m talking about
Okay okay of course you as well absolutely absolutely uh so let’s let’s let’s talk a little bit deeper man about your history your journey um cuz I don’t think I’ve ever asked you man but like what really got you interested in Alpha man so I have to be honest um I would
Say it was more subconscious more than anything else um so growing up like you said from Detroit um I had a ton of teachers and male uh influences around me black um absolutely black men and and like when you was going up in school yes oh wow okay that’s what’s up so attended
Cast Tech um shout out to CT CT man green and white always on my heart all right um so one of my best friend’s dad um his name is George Davis Alpha man pledged at uh Epsilon chapter at University of Michigan okay um and he
Made it clear from jump he was like hey man you know you’re getting ready to go off to college if you do anything it better be an alpha man I was like you know tell me more about that what is what does that even look like like what
Is this um I didn’t grow up in a family where you know the majority of my family or anything went to college um so I kind of had a um are you first generation first generation yes sir all right bet bet bet bet yes sir congratulations on
That thank you man I owe all that uh to God to my my mom single mom worked really hard single mother of four on a teacher salary we all had the opportunity to go to college she did her thing she definitely did yes sir appreciate shout out to M dues absolutely
Absolutely but um I had uh men like uh brother George Davis um and other actual teachers at ctech um and I didn’t even know at the time all of what they were and what they were about but it was something about them it was their Aura it was their The Way They Carried
Themselves that really uh took it there for me to the point you know you know I’m I’m in college I’m talking to my mom I’m like hey you know I’ve been to uh you know this group on campus they have like these great events talking about uh
The prison uh the high school the prison uh pipeline um you first heard about that in college yes I just told some high school students about that that’s important but go ahead it is important and it’s important that we feed it to them uh from jump so that they
Understand that there are systems and institutions at play that could form as a trap for them could you uh explain the prison the school Pipeline and a quick Ted Talk for the for the for the viewers in a very brief sense um so the um school to prison pipeline is very
Similar to like a poverty trap whereas there are a ton of instances around you that will configure your way um as a developing young individual right into uh the institution of prison and jails and it’ll keep you there um as some people are aware uh if you have felonies
It shows up on your records when they doing background check searches um and that’s that’s something that might make an employer hesitant to hire you also can impact some of your voting rights which of course we very passionate about as members of alpha F Alpha absolutely but back into your your
Journey into Alpha yeah man you had what was the teacher name um my teacher’s name is Mr Johnson Mr Johnson yeah okay another one a mentor George Davis George Davis that’s what it was okay uh so okay you in college he like bro you better not do nothing but Alpha yeah so what
Was that like for you uh you got to tell them where you went though I mean I know but they don’t know got you uh went to Michigan State University go green go white absolutely um and that was where I really uh got to see the brothers in
Action um shout out to The Zeta Delta chapter at Michigan State um they were the brothers uh on campus that were hosting good quality events um again addressing real pertinent issues such as uh civil and voting rights related issues that uh school to prison pipeline that I discussed earlier um and if you
Name it those brothers were taking the initiative to bring bring uh those resources directly to the community on campus okay okay uh so you at Michigan State yeah you like man I love Alpha they doing it they got the events it’s slapping what uh what was that like for
You to see other black men in college at a pwi putting on you know for the culture like that sure you know and I’m glad you brought up that pwi component um because they don’t understand pwi real quick predominantly white institution if you don’t know absolutely and somebody that
Uh was born and raised in Detroit Michigan um I’m used to seeing my chocolate brothers and sisters out there so I’m used to interacting with us and our culture being the most prevalent culture and genuinely understood at all times um so operating this pwi you know
It’s a sense of community that the black community on campuses bring and divine nine culture especially those Brothers for me at Michigan State University we’re able to instill creating a safe space for us to interact with each other have a good time educate ourselves and grow as individuals and
Leaders yeah I need they they hold they hold it down yeah for the community at uh pwi for sure for sure even at HBCU I would say but oh yeah yeah they hold it down period oh yeah shout out to the HBCU we love y’all yeah we do y’all we
Do uh so all right so you at you in college loveing energy uh at what point did you cross so I crossed uh fall 2019 at the Kappa Delta Lambda chapter of alpha F Alpha Fraternity Incorporated gotta um so for those who may not know um Alpha has undergraduate chapters and alumni
Chapters and alumni chapters are uh individuals that have um either crossed in undergrad or crossed into those alumni chapters of which you have to have a at least a bachelor’s degree from a uh un accredited foryear institution absolutely um so graduate chapter I think you had said it but they
Always end with the Lambda so for those of y’all that you know interested in Alpha uh specifically for Alpha all of our graduate chapters and with Lambda so if you thinking you oh I’m about to cross at whatever whatever University he like but it got a Lambda on it that’s
Probably the city chapter and not the schools chapter right for quick education but I brought you here though John because I wanted you to explain uh what is Greek life and I wanted your P perspective specifically because you’re the president of your chapter of our chapter excuse me yeah
You’re the president of our chapter and I also want you to highlight what it really means to be Greek sure because I feel like you do it at at a high level thank you brother right you just came off a three win right my boy three and0
Right now yeah so like tell them like let’s say I’m all right we sitting here right I’m not miles yeah I’m a third grader right that goes to Wexford monory School sure John what’s Alpha what’s Alpha um I would say this to any individual so I’m
Glad that you phrased it just like that Alpha is this idea that men who are college educated can come together from any background and work towards a common goal of uplifting our community of developing our leaders and promoting Brotherhood so in terms of that what does that look like in practice that
Looks like our 11 uninterrupted years of deliveries with the Mobile Food Pantry in conjunction with the Lancing uh food pantry that looks like um for the past 24 months um collaborating with with the East Lancing and Lancing Alpha cap Alpha sword Incorporated chapters for our first fam first Wednesday food pantries
Where we’ve delivered over 1600 uh to over, 1600 families food when they were in need um what does that look like that looks like giving out over $155,000 in scholarships over the past uh three years what does that look like that looks like us being in the community welcoming our students back at
Uh schools like JW sexon like P University uh P Andale Middle School that looks like us during real men reading month going in and reading to our children so they can so that they can see black men in suits black men black men well dressed and educated
Speaking directly to them so they know that they can do that too so when you ask what Alpha is Alpha is this idea that we can be better than what we’ve seen and be the leaders for tomorrow okay well I’m still a third grader so got you y dance
Uh so do we dance um we do have um I don’t want to call them choreographed uh but cultural uh cultural dances uh like stepping like strolling um me yes the alfit are the coldest in the land just so we all clear um Hest moves absolutely what’s strolling so
Strolling is what I would say a younger generation maybe like the 90s forward okay D and in conjunction with each other yeah man you think you could stroll at my school absolutely cuz we got it like that you got it like that yeah well uh yeah I need you to come to
Wexford a no problem we there at the monastery say less cool cut scene not a third grader anymore back to Miles Johnson uh so I wanted to ask you um that was that was great by the way if I was a third grader not going to lie you
Would have lost me at conjunction for show got you but when you when you said Alpha is this idea and you did that part and then you went to the big words I felt like that was cool because you told me what the idea was it’s was like all
Right I don’t know what you saying with these big words but I know it’s something I know it’s something yeah like that’s what I was getting the vibe uh so that that was good got um now I don’t want you to go to w i mean I do
You could do xra two but crying um I actually want you to come to sexon okay and I want you to come to Harry Hill okay cuz I had this young man bro I’m in the class telling him about entrepreneurship right M and I I think I
Had like a alpha jacket on or something like that he was like he was like Hey you be like like stepping like you know I’m like yeah bro like he like can you do something I’m like I don’t really like strolling by myself like it look
Weird like I was about to actually you to Str on camera but I’m like it’s kind of unless the BRS are with you yeah it don’t it don’t it don’t really hit like you know it’s tight space right here but anyway um he said something crazy like
Do y’all swap blood I’m like bro don’t nobody ever swap blood that’s Wild N that’s like AIDS bro like who’s doing that what yeah nah that’s weird that’s gross and that’s weird right so again why I brought you here is because I wanted you to educate yeah anybody else
Sure any naysayers anybody that watch the dang on what’s that movie which one bur s anybody that’s watching Tik Tok listen to all the uh whistleblowers right tell them the real man like what what does it mean to be Greek yeah so first to address whatever controversies that individuals that either one don’t
Know what we do or what we’re about or two people who join for the wrong reasons so one um there’s no blood swapping that’s weird um I’m actually a real germaphobe I don’t do that um there no like swapping eggs and and you know uh jumping into a pool and all that
Other uh weird Jazz what we do is we take very measured and intentional approaches to developing Brotherhood now what those approaches are yes I’m not able to disclose those at this time um if you want to learn more information please reach out to your local Alpha
Chapter and see if you might be a candidate worthy of initiation to our great fraternity um but to those individuals that may um consider themselves to be as you stated a whistleblower somebody that’s trying to you know raise the red flags I again would say um one that is
Very likely that they’ve engaged in theatrics and have dramatized their experience and what it is they’ve done um two I would question um if they did it for the right reasons because to be clear I’m a Baptist Christian God is my God Alpha is not my god um and we have
So many say that for the people in the back I’m going to restate that okay Alpha is in no way shape or form my God I went to church today okay like that’s that’s my thing that’s my bad I love God I love what I
Do and we have so many members uh in the fraternity in the chapter even that are pastors that are ministers and what they do how they lead their flock it’s not Alpha’s word this is God’s word period and they are great individuals you know them brother Dr Martin Luther King Jr
Perfect example right literally in no way shape or form was he a cultist person but he believed in love for everybody and and believed in God’s message so that’s my response all right um well also another thing I want to say uh we got to put the bag drop he dropped
A bag on that one hello everyone this is Joshua Southern owner engineer producer here at risky Studios and risky Studios you know it’s a place where you can be yourself you can be creative you can you know make your wildest dreams come true you know
So come join us in the heart of East lanon go green go white go Spartans All right we back we back short break short intermission camera got too hot you know I guess it’s I guess it’s just a room man but either way John man non hazer organization that you’re that we’re a part of excuse me that we’re a part of but that you’re speaking about
Um being Greek let’s like really dive into like Greek life okay okay so you got Alpha yeah what are the other or organizations let’s just say I didn’t know um so we have Alpha Capa Alpha already Incorporated okay um of which my fiance is part of shout out to you baby
Hey here we go uh Capa Alpha Sai turn Incorporated okay yeah you want me to go through the whole list yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah um you might have to tag in bro cuz you know it’s really just Alpha for me okay all right uh 58 segment Fraternity Incorporated
Yeah definitely them um they Sig meeta s [Laughter] Incorporated okay moving forward might cut all right no shout out to y’all man no hate all right got but uh now I love my fellow Greeks man yeah man same man same shout out to Omega SciFi shout out to Sigma gamma row
Um Zeta beta and Iota feta shout out to them too all right all right I feta what fraternity yeah yeah Fraternity Incorporated sh to them so uh that’s Divine n yeah and they make up the uh the nine uh so what is nphc uh so the nphc uh stands for the
National uh panh helenic Council m um so what that is is a conglomerate uh collaboration of all of the D9 organizations so each of us had representation there to actual uh Council so it’s set up with like similar to like Robert’s Rules of Order there a president vice president secretary
Courton secretary all that stuff okay um so it operates as his own uh separate organization but we all um comprise and bring things to it so let’s just say not great mhm okay John I want to be an alpha bro right yeah but you’re telling me if
I join Alpha it do make sense but if I join Alpha all of a sudden I’m a part of the nphc which is technically the Divine n sure so like do I have to pay dues to that like what does that look like so the
Nphc um for those who may not know um chapters comprise those npac organizations so we pay dues so for example Lancing npac our chapter of the Lancing Alphas we are dues paying member of that organization um so that’s what gives us our voting rights and all those things
Be able to run for offices things of that nature okay okay okay so the work just doesn’t stop once you become an alpha no no it it only begins man I’ve been in the game uh four years like I said you know 31st chapter president um I’ve been the secretary I’ve been the
Cent area director uh for the past two years so that’s for uh making sure we’re in compliance my chapter say the Delta as you said it uh yesterday won uh alumni brother of the Year okay uh alumni chapter of the year and our collaboration Award with the
Undergraduate chapter so the work no it only begins hey that’s facts yes sir so what do you feel like you learned um before joining Alpha till after you cross till now what do you feel like Alpha has taught you um I would say through the process
Of becoming a brother of alpha F Alpha um it taught me what Brotherhood meant in a deeper sense so I actually have an older brother who I love we grew up in the same house all that stuff but there is something very and I mean fundamentally different about the
Relationship that I had with my lion Brothers for example yeah because here we are put together in this situation again different uh backgrounds and and walks of life got a brother um from Chicago you know Detroit the rivalries Run Deep right right right but I love that man that is my brother
Unquestionably I was one of the best men at his wedding and it’s not that you know him and I um are just Polar Opposites but it’s the fact that we are black men across this polarity experience in America and we can say hey let’s join together for the common goal
Of advancing our community that’s what I learned becoming a member of this organization what I’ve learned since is that the work that goes into bettering our community that goes into developing the members of the chapter that is a ton of work not that it’s not it’s it’s a ton of work it’s a
Ton of work and as someone um I was the youngest chapter president when I was uh when I became chapter president age of 26 and what that looks like um you know the Baton of leadership being passed on from someone uh 67 to 26 year old we look at things entirely differently from
A generational stand 41 years yeah man and that same brother is my brother right and it’s Brothers who’ve been in the fraternity over 50 years is they’ve seen Alpha through its many stages um and here we are in a new era and we’re just trying to again continue to uplift
Our community to do the work making sure that we are inspiring the the Next Generation that comes behind us okay yeah wow um yeah man I feel like your answers to my questions are very uh thorough and I feel like that is also something I pulled away that Alpha
Has I mean you probably like that personally but like definitely sharp like I feel like you like TI low key like I appreciate it you giv me TI Vibes like use big words like you know lowy smart like you know what I’m saying hey man I’m again I’mma just shout out to
God that’s God and that’s my mom again the teacher and my grandma another teacher grandma she was educator absolutely okay okay all right all right um trying to think of another question man that I got for you but you know what I’m I’m more interested in John though
Sure sure I want ask you no more great questions that’s cool at least not for right now that’s cool that’s not a problem bro um what do you want to know about me where you just want me to go uh didn’t know you had an older brother
Yeah so what does it feel like being the youngest man so I’m the youngest of four actually so youngest of four yeah John yeah that’s just the game I live in like Batman what it’s the black and goldo okay um no man my uh so all my siblings
All our first name start with Jay um um so is that intentional or like yeah okay okay so Jason Jana Jalisa Jonathan and uh my oldest brother is 14 years older than me so we got a really good oh he like way up there yeah old let him let
Him hear this he old okay but uh no I love him though but um yeah man I grew up uh again my mom’s a teacher she uh made sure that we knew how important it was that we went out and saw our education actively yep um
She is also uh proud Cast Tech Alum okay yeah yeah she made sure I saw absolutely okay we bleed green all four of y’all no no some of them didn’t find the light bro it’s sickening like that though that’s why I’m the favorite right ma
But all right we gonna leave that up to ma uh what y’all think in the comments put what y’all think y if y’all think he the favorite put it in the comments real quick all right so you’re the favorite yeah uh youngest yeah got a lot to prove
Yeah clearly hey man uh let’s say like with your professional Journey sure um what made you want to strive uh to be the best in your field um because I feel like that’s like something that you like that’s what you want yeah you want to be
The best why that feel though I mean I know the feel but like saying Mama mentality bro uh okay but on a serious note um going back to my mom she made it clear that whatever we did in life that we ought to be the best in what we do so
Bara bar that’s what she told you yeah yeah oh she’ll quote that to you right now like whatever you going to do you going to be the best at it um don’t play Don’t dilly d be about it don’t talk about it be about it that’s that’s what
We say in Detroit all the time shout out to my du oh yeah so um I already knew that I was going to push myself no matter what I did thankfully I went to MSU um you know fell in love with the laning community never left um so in
2019 when I had my degree conferred from MSU um I started working at the uh the 30th Circuit Court in downtown Lancing as a deputy Court Clerk um I did that literally um March 2020 Co happens everything shuts down so here I am young adult just got my degree I’m like I
Don’t know is the world ending that I put all this time like in my education just for like everything to fall apart right especially with the courts yeah cuz they got shut Dam yes bro and we have people who are they have a constitutional right to a city trial um
So the courts did their absolute best to make sure we could continue our operations again Circuit Court handles uh domestic matters like child custody it handles ppos and a lot of stuff can be life and death right so but we had a great uh great Administration staff and
And judges that that saw us through that um in 2021 the opportunity came up for me to make the jump to probate court and Probate Court handles guardianships conservatorships deceit and States trusts uh and mental health matters okay um and for me that just gave me a better
Opportunity to be able to be directly involved with the community um in things that I deemed you know critically important uh and since January of this year uh I’m the first black Chief Deputy probate register in Ingam County’s uh history um so I’m supervising staff and making sure we’re in compliance with the
State court administrative office and yeah man it’s been a journey that boy banging down doors ain’t it hey man I’m trying Hey that’s that’s what’s up man that’s what’s up uh so I want to kind of slide into our next set or we about to wrap up kind of wrap down
Or whatever you want to call it we’re going to call it wrap up but let me grab my book my book of Tricks we gonna play a game all right uh also shout out to you on your professional Journey um I know it’s not hard as a a young black man navigating
Quote unquote Corporate America anything that’s I would say not McDonald’s I shouldn’t say not McDonald’s but higher skill labor is that what you say yes yeah feels like Corporate America so yeah man shout out to you for navigating that thank you my brother all right so all right can’t drop that so tell
Me I’m sorry you good I got tucked that cool uh this game is called apples or oranges all right so I know play just play the game uh as you see you got apples or oranges apples or oranges okay which one I’mma go with apples okay peanut butter and jelly or grilled
Cheese grilled cheese lake or ocean it’s going to be the lake for me wait grilled cheese absolutely over the peanut butter and jelly yes bro every time oh that’s nuts bro put some turkey in there is crazy all right uh ice cream or fro yo ice cream chocolate or vanilla chocolate my
Man all right um the M or the uh what’s that strip mall strip mall like the indoor or the outdoor outlet or the mall Outlet outlet for show yeah okay okay okay in and out have you been to Atlanta yeah all right now this is this is a cultural
Question all right Somerset or Linux Linux I hate that for me but Linux I’m already knowing for you too I hate that for you but yeah all right um I got like a couple more all right vegetables or fruit fruit fruit you a fruit man yeah okay okay what’s
Your favorite fruit apples oh wow okay okay that’s convenient all right and then the last one U of State it’s go green all day every day go green all right thank you for participating in that game yes sir I like you know switching it up uh it’s a new segment I
Just added I was like you know I want to be a little bit more personal I want to be too uptight we already comfortable on the couch but I feel you you know all right so as we wrap up is there anything else that you would like to say to the
Audience uh P perspective uh Greek members um perspective Alphas for that matter yeah um what I’ll say is uh put yourself out there um there are far too many individuals that keep their talents and their skills to themselves absolutely when I think about where our community is right now I can’t help but
Think about how much further we would be if people uh stood up and stood out um so if you’re thinking about joining a Greek letter organization um I hope that uh you are a quality uh person and would love to join the brothers of the black
And old gold um again put yourself out there make sure you do your research on our organization um we’ve been around for all of us now for over centuries um so the important piece is that you uh do the history you think about the uh notable members in these organizations
And you think about your why why did you want to become a part of these organizations important absolutely now that you can take that to the bank think about your why and when you’re able to articulate your why that’s when you may be ready to contact that chapter um but
Make sure you’re doing it for the right reasons don’t let it be for the lights the glamour uh whatever money or connections make sure you’re doing it because you want to do some community building that you want to be a actual contributor um um to our communities
Because to be quite Frank we need it we do absolutely thank you for that word John thank you for being on the podcast it’s another episode with your boy miles Johnson on the tapin podcast we’ll check y’all soon man sir 06 to the good brother
source
