Tying in with the theme centering around congressman john lewis’s good trouble quote we wanted to highlight the ways in which the members of the divine nine historically black greek letter organizations have gotten into good trouble beyond what the media portrays and how we contribute to social justice
The community and how we harness our power to unite to make change this will be a panel discussion uh first of many we are hoping that this will spark interest from those of you university students who are interested in joining one of our illustrious organizations as well as fostering conversations between alumni
The community and the students around service scholarship and making a difference it’s a few housekeeping notes again this meeting is recorded so if you have any privacy concerns please let mr washington or myself know in a message so that we can make sure that we adjust accordingly for your
Your privacy needs during the panel discussion we are asking folks to stay muted um so that we can keep this conversation going we are a lively bunch of folks i know we have a lot of wisdom in this space and so we want to make sure that we can um we can
Uh get to all the questions tonight so we will have folks if you do have questions feel free to type those in the chat box uh mr washington and myself we’ll be monitoring that and if a good question comes up when we have time for question and answer we will definitely address
Those uh for those of you who are in attendance tonight who are either a part of a black greek letter organization or interested we’re gonna uh have some options for you to contact us if you are interested in that if you are interested in becoming a part of the helen mundy wit
Affinity group for alumni as well as the university of lynchburg black greek alumni facebook group where we post information and share news and events feel free to reach out to one of the moderators tonight and we will make sure you can be a part of that because we have such a
Large and diverse panel of uh experts here i’m not going to read through all of their great achievements but i will say that they are a wealth of information and knowledge and so if there is someone who you would like to hear more from feel
Free to let us know and we will get you in contact with them to introduce our panel uh speakers we have mr jonathan harris who is a alum of lynchburg and a graduate member of the alpha phi alpha fraternity incorporated mr kobe anderson who is a collegiate member of alpha phi alpha fraternity
Incorporated miss uh kristen blunt a collegiate member of alpha kappa alpha sorority incorporated mr carlos hutcherson a graduate member of omega sapphire fraternity incorporated mr torrey callins a graduate member of the kappa alpha psi fraternity incorporated mr david lovett a collegiate member of kappa alpha psi fraternity incorporated and last but certainly not
Least my star war miss caprice smith alumna of lynchburg college and a member of delta sigma theta sorority incorporated so without further ado i will turn it over to my co-facilitator tonight mr davion washington to get us started thank you so much miss gibson it’s a pleasure to share the
Floor or screen with you is that what we say now um but it’s a pleasure to be here um again my name is davion washington i’m a brother of the sigma pi chapter of alpha phi alpha fraternity incorporated here at the university of lynchburg and it’s a pleasure to be here with you
All i’m going to kick us off with our first question for the night which will be for mr harris and miss blunt first question is what makes the national panhellenic council different from other organizations and i will leave the floor to mr harris and miss one okay well um i think the
One of the things that makes us different uh from other greek organizations is that the purpose and principles of our founding uh was you know that’s that’s that’s what we stand for today uh we were founded because there was a need uh there was a need of
Voice for a black students on our college campuses so alpha alpha as as we know was the first uh greek letter organization for uh black men uh but it’s important to understand why and how that actually came about so i think it’s fair to say that uh bjlo started in part
As a result of uh w.e.b du bois and other black and other black intellectuals um in the in the formation of what was called the uh niagara movement and that was an aggressive approach to help combat racial discrimination segregation and all that and so that niagara movement was
The front runner for the naacp and the civil rights movement so this moved many of the black greek founders to organize on college campuses and so you’ve got to understand there’s a lot of racism going on and echoing on our college campuses during that time
So it’s you know fair to say that this and other movements were the catalyst for virtually all all of the uh black greek letter organizations so you know this was happening during the early 1900s so you know black people were you know denied into social clubs societies and uh greek letter organizations
Uh and so there’s a different level of belonging i think uh that we have with one another i don’t want to monopolize the time but i’ll go ahead and defer to ms blunt um yeah i definitely agree because we have a major focus on the needs of the african american community
And we really take pride in like building leaders building upon professionalism our social skills networking skills within our community and i also feel like another difference that we do have is that there’s not just one like philanthropy that we align ourselves with we have different like facets to our outreach
So for instance we have programs to highlight hbcus and donate money to them like every year we donate over a million dollars we have different health programs that really pertain to health disparities in african-american community communities especially with heart health and women we have our hashtag cat program where we reach out
To high school students and just encourage them to apply to college help them through that process and help guide them into like the resources in order to do that to show that college is an option that you should consider and here are the tools
To help you in order to do that um we also have global outback impact outreach so we make um shirts and pillowcase dresses for kids in haiti we just have like many different things that we do and also our efforts are lifelong it’s not just after you graduate college that’s it
You know there are members i’ve been here for 60 years 80 years like it just never stops so i feel like that’s what also makes us different from other organizations you’re right and i think it’s the depth of our graduate chapters um is perhaps i think the cornerstone of each mphc
Organization not not just alpha there’s literally seven graduate chapters within 20 square miles of richmond and i think they we have a significant presence and influence on the policies race social justice uh and and just for example you know something that the um members of my fraternity did uh you know
Back in the early 90s they petitioned congress and got i think was a house bill 937 to erect the mlk um monument in dc it’s that level of deep commitment um so i think we’re standing on the shoulders of a lot of men and women that have really uh paved the way
For us so i think it’s it’s that depth of our graduate chapters i mean that’s you know i don’t think you can have undergraduate chapter without a graduate chapter i know i can say that for alphas i don’t know if that’s the same for the other black greek letter organizations
Thank you mr harris and miss blunt moving on to the next question for tonight and this question is going to be posed for miss smith mr hutcherson mr anderson and mr lavette at any point please uh ask if you need me to reiterate the question but the question for you all is what
Does social justice mean for your organization and how do you incorporate brotherhood or sisterhood and service um i guess i can go first i think i can speak for the entire um d9 when i say that we all have distinguished members that work to you know for social reform and i know
For alpha specifically you know we have distinguished members like martin luther king cornell west um thurgood marshall in that nature but i think for us it it says it right in our motto you know first of all servants of all we transcend all i think for us that means that we we’re
Not just here to uplift the community but we’re here to serve all people so for that for us that means that if we need if social reform needs to happen it means we need to lead we need to lead by example and i think i speak for my organization when i say that
Um i don’t wanna monopolize the time well just to head off of what kobe was saying um my name is david lavette just by the way um cap alpha psy we started in the midwest and if you know during that time uh the midwest was very uh very racist very discriminative towards the
African-american community and our two two founders edward edward watson elder watson diggs and byron kenneth armstrong they came up with our uh with the first draft of our organization and that was to bring our african-american community together um at the university of indiana and bloomington indiana that’s a that was a predominantly white
School uh we were the first organization that was founded on a predominantly white school so you could you were able to see that we needed to stick together and ride together uh more than uh most people and um i feel like kappa alpha psi did a very good job of
Making sure we stick together as a brotherhood and making sure uh we don’t let the caucasians uh caucasian uh white community bring us down even in that time of discrimination and injustice um carlos hutcherson vasilis of gamomega chapter omega sci-fi fraternity incorporated i was undergraduate um fall 92 zeta
Chapter which is virginia union university uh social justice how does my fraternity incorporate that into our service service is one of our um how shall i say one of our most important goals um and brotherhood and we have to accept coming in this fraternity uh that as men we’re all brothers um and
Sisters we’re all sisters are all sisters but we’re all co-related so service is something that you have to do just to get in this fraternity it’s very important to us economics justice which is kind of it all kind of flows together under social justice primarily political justice which we’ve just experienced with this
Most recent election um getting out the vote um things like that black history month which is i guess addresses part of social justice to um acknowledge to the african-american community that we have history too and we’re not just engulfed or some uh a slight section of their history but we
Have a history ourselves um so social justice is very important to this fraternity um as it is to us all i think as college-minded men and women that’s kind of the the goal um that we’re what we’re supposed to do um and if you uh appreciate what the d9 is
It’s all college-educated men and women um of a certain standard um and and what that brings a certain amount of um authority and ability um and a certain amount of talent and that’s kind of where we fall in that uh as d9 we’re all in here together although we’re different fraternities
Different uh made up of different sororities we’re all together and and you ideally we’re all like-minded without a more specific question i guess that’s my piece but i’ll be happy to answer any questions thanks um i’ll go ahead and chime in so capri smith i’m a member of delta sigma theta sorority incorporated
I crossed the sigmota chapter at lynchburg in spring 2000 and simply put when it comes to delta and social justice it is the cornerstone of what we do our very first public act as a sorority took place um not like two months after we were founded as we participated as a sorority
Demonstrating in the women’s suffrage demonstration that took place in washington dc in 1913. and historically delta has used its talents to lobby for many different things throughout the years when it comes to social justice including anti-lynching bill the 1920s and 30s advocating for the desegregation of the armed forces to both congress
As well as president franklin during world war ii advocating for voting rights as well as equal rights for women and minorities and participating in sit-ins as well as freedom rides during the civil rights movement it’s important to note that when it comes to delta’s programming it’s centered around what we call our
Five-point thrust one of our thrust is political awareness and involvement and how we um play out that for us is through our social action as a sorority delta does have a national social action commission and this is basically the group that helps the local chapters to organize as well as provide guidance
Into the programming and so basically delta we run in two-year blocks we call them biennium so for talking about more current stuff for our 2019 as well as 2021 biennium the things that we focused on in social action having to deal with the 2020 census as well as the 2020
2021 elections and now one of the big things that delta is um really um putting a voice to is the redistricting efforts that’s going to take place this year in 2021 um and so we have a thing now if you look on our social media it’s redistricting tuesdays where we’re
Having programs that are centered around um letting folks know the importance of redistricting and how that impacts voting and how will impact legislation that impacts you over the next 10 years um additionally delta recognizes the fact that we have a voice so we also use our efforts to try to influence public policy
We have delta days in the united nations where we go to the united nations for a day and express our thoughts we also have delta days in the nation’s capital will go to the nation’s capital meet with congressmen and express our thoughts there and then it’s also done at the local
Level as well um through delta days at the state capitol we do that here in connecticut um you might have other chapters who do city halls as well as school board and then also too delta does encourage its members to get involved and run for political office as well as
Accept political appointments so you’ll see deltas at all levels of government whether it’s local state or the federal levels as well and i think when we’re looking at sisterhood and folks have mentioned this um just the strength of the d9 with all of our voices coming together and advocating for these common themes
That impacts us all and bringing that strong voice thank you all for that you have really um i think summarized what that social justice service means for all of our organizations and i really do believe that it ties into our next question because you know we’re we’re sitting at a time
Of racial um and uh social reckoning and so what do you all believe um to my next uh folks who will be answering this question what do you all believe um black greek letter organizations i mean we’ve seen this happen time and time again many of our organizations are older and so that
This is not the first time where we’ve seen riots or marchings or these things happen and so what do you think the role of the black greek letter organization is during this time of reckoning and uh reconciliation uh sister blind you do you want to take
This one or who’s who’s who am i going with is it me i believe i have mr mr uh harris and miss smith as well as uh miss blunt and mr uh lauvit okay um well i’ll i think we play a big role i mean like i said i think
My view is from alpha so we formally state our position on various topics uh to include social justice racism um discrimination there’s a publication uh through our national headquarters uh brother washington helped me i think it’s called the world policy council and that council gives a lot of consideration to domestic
And uh international issues uh so they seek the council of experts uh that are in the field uh they provide a lot of perspectives on uh very specific problems that that’s going on in you know the us uh social justice issues and they come up with these broad recommendations
That and solutions that have now that are not only favorable for african americans but for the community the nation and the world so i think if you’re on campus you probably see brother washington and sigma pi engage in voter registration programs which is one of our top national programs
And it’s called ebola’s people’s a hopeless people and so i think more than ever i think it’s important for black people to understand the impact of voting and the democratic process i think that’s that reckoning i think we saw that um happen recently georgia elected his first black uh senator and it’s 2021
And uh raphael award who was also a member of alpha fraternity incorporated and of course kamala harris who is a member of aka so i think it’s fair to say that you know we do play a role i think we are the role i think when you look at when uh
You know our returns were founded it was during a time when there was a reckoning going on that was happening uh up in cornell i mean you have you know you you know you have all these intellectuals saying hey we’ve got to do something you know you know
You know you think about the boys you know he was the first generation from slavery you know and and it’s like they so the same issues that you know they were facing um in the early 1900s all the way through the uh 20th century we’re facing it now so i think
I think when you look at leaders in civil rights and political uh and you look at all those folks i think you you know you’re going to see a member of a bjlo you know so i i think we we have a very very significant role i believe um i believe that
The d9 organizations have the opportunity to start reaching out to younger generations i know cap alpha side we have the kappa league program where we go and mentor and educate younger high school students and get them kind of educated on what’s actually going on in the world and
When i think about it our younger generations are our future that’s it’s only going to go up from there for us um i heard on the news that we had people in the 60s dr king and uh and malcolm x they were our age they were 20 years old
When they were doing all of this stuff they had no type of fear they were woke they were uh they understood everything that was going on and they came up with the plan to fix it they came up with ideas to try to fix the problems that were going on and
Now in the present time i feel like it’s our responsibility to get the younger generation uh educated and more woke to what’s actually going on so when they get older maybe we might not be in this situation but if we are they can actually be one of our outlets to fix the situation
Yeah and um building off what david said i feel like we definitely have a major role because of like the large platform that we do have not only in our individual organizations but when all of d9 comes together as a whole and i feel like we do
Also have some influence over the peers um of our age and we have the ability to like give them ways to be active ways to serve in the community um and we can also be informative of the different things that we have going on within our own organizations like how
Alpha kappa alpha we had many programs for voting registration and just bringing awareness to those sorts of things and not only only that but like the black letter organizations on campus we have the ears of the students here and we have we can have like different events just like we’re having right now
To be informative of everything that’s going on racially and socially and that really shows people who kind of put us in the stereotype that all we do is step and show no these are the things that we’re doing what we have done in the past and like what we are continuing to do
Um and i’ll just chime in i think a big role when we’re looking at the d9 is that um as was mentioned earlier we are fortunate enough that we are college educated people so with that we do have a certain voice that others don’t so when we’re talking about this time of reckoning
Recognizing the fact that we have that and giving a voice to the voiceless um and advocating for um those things that help others um one of the expressions that i like is to lift as we climb and i think that’s a big piece of the work that d9
Organizations do it’s not just a matter of helping ourselves but it’s trying to help others and i think you know we also see that helping through others when it comes to like advocating hopefully when it comes to advocating for creating laws different laws that are more fair and more just
Um to influence and have influence on those policy makers and the people who make those decisions and i think also another thing that’s very powerful too is that you know d9 just doesn’t exist within a silo you see various dna organizations work with other organizations so whether it’s the naacp
Um you know other organizations such as that coming together and working for these these these issues that are so important to our communities i think that was all of the the folks who were going to answer that one um such again wealth of knowledge and in such nuance that you all brought to
That answer so i thank you for that um our our next question is for mr hutcherson and mr anderson uh for folks who might be joining tonight’s call who don’t know anything about uh much about greek life black greek life i know many of my friends when we came to lynchburg college
All we knew was what we saw on school days and so if i’m thinking about uh why i would want to join a black greek organization why would someone want to or why should someone want to and what made you want to join your organization
Um i guess i’ll go first talk about my personal experience i think for me coming onto campus i wasn’t really well educated on these type of things i know none of my immediately immediate family was part of any um d9 organization so i didn’t really have that background
So coming into school i just kind of just kind of pushed it away i remember you talking about school days um we had this movie come out the burning sands on netflix which kind of highlighted the negativity behind the d9 and not and completely ignore the positive
Things that we all do so for me it kind of left a sour take my mouth but i remember my sophomore year davion and his um his line brothers they crossed and they were all prevalent on campus i know davion’s student class president his his um his line brother darian was
The vice president at one point president of men i’m not mad to men black student association and tj was was you know everywhere he was doing community service everywhere so all three of them being together and they were all successful in all the things they did not just academically but
Supporting the community and to me that spoke volumes so that kind of got me interested in um in joining the organization for my own for my angle and i guess i can start with why i joined um a lot like uh um kobe i didn’t know much about
Fraternity life when i went first went to school um i did know some omega men i did know some alpha man and i i you know one thing i notice is that a lot of times you have uh legacies so you have um if you have a if your dad was a cue
You pledged q if your dad was alpha and then also let you know about the fraternity because you think he’d have paraphernalia or she’d have paraphernalia for your mom and uh and you see you’d have some idea the good thing about the d9 is we all are similar while we’re while we’re different
We’re all about service we all have uh similar aims and goals um and so when it when it comes down to well so if you want to join a fraternity or sorority um why should you join um it’s it has to be something that you want um and
I guess you have to do your due diligence to see which fraternity or sorority um fits well with you or which one uh you align with because we all have a lot of similarities like the young brother said here uh when you have uh a chapter or fraternity on campus that
Obviously brings it into your site and so you’ll you get to see the good things that they’re doing um if you have a fraternity or sorority not on the campus while they may doing be doing the same things in the community or you know at some other yard you don’t
Have it you don’t have them on the yard being able to as the brother said hold positions uh uh on campus and uh and being active on the campus um when i went to virginia union uh all the greeks were active on the campus um and i was simply drawn to
The men of omega sci-fi um i did have a uh older guy that i wrestled with or i wrestled against in high school it was a couple years ahead of me but he was an omega man uh and on campus and you just you know
You kind of fall in where you fall in uh the uh thing about my fraternity is we’re about our motto is friendship is essential to the soul um and we don’t you know i looked at the question for a while and it said um why what not what made me join but
Why would someone else want to join and i can’t really i don’t know why anybody would want to join an organization um that’s a personal decision that they have to make and and we don’t seek out people to join and we don’t uh you know
Hey come you know come join and and join us as opposed to join them or or just say hey join somebody because everyone’s not meant to be in a group or a fraternity or sorority um you know there are other things there are academic academic groups there’s athletic groups um and so
It just has to be a choice um and and that was a choice that i made to join a fraternity um but i don’t i don’t i really don’t have any words for anyone to encourage them to join it’s either something that you want to
Do or you know if you don’t want to do it that’s fine to have many most of my friends aren’t in a greek organization um because i’m from lynchburg i know a lot of people and most of the people i know aren’t greek um but uh that doesn’t mean uh
I guess i’ve been in the organization longer than i haven’t been and once you get to a certain age i think everyone who’s in may may be able to say that but it’s a difference and it’s um it’s a it’s a life of work but you have to love the work you have
To want to serve the community you don’t have to be in the organization to serve the community you have to want to work for the organization um and it’s just another job that you don’t get paid for but you so you have to want to do it and that’s the thing you can’t
I can’t really say hey i know you want to do some work uh come join the fraternity because it’s hard and they say well um you know is it hard to get in and that’s my response is always no it’s not um harder to to get in than it is to stay in
Because you have to do more work once you’re in um and so that’s kind of the difference and that’s my take but i i love it i enjoy it i love the ability to uh meet all these other d9 uh my fellow members here um i love being able to go
To any state um or internationally internationally and have fraternity brothers um persons that i have commonalities with um simply because we know some of the same things we know some of the same people and because we both made that choice ideally you think we have additional commonalities and that’s the
Beautiful part about it um and that’s my two cents on it thank you well mr hutcherson i believe you just summed that up so eloquently but because you all are self-moderating yourselves i don’t have to stop you for for talking so i’ll open it up to any of our other
Panelists who might want to address that that question as well um because we we we have some good time here and i’d love to hear from some of our other folks if anyone has any burning desire to to to address that question i’ll chime in real quickly so as mr hutchison mentioned
Um he talked about legacies i am a legacy so my mother is a delta my father is an omega man and so i and so i grew up around historically black fraternities and furries um we have good friends of the family you know folks who are akas
Um deltas cap is like like everybody alpha is like i grew up around all of it um and so from a young age i was you know i saw what was going on my mother has been active basically my entire life with her local graduate chapter so it’s something that i’ve always known
Truth be told my mom told me she’s like you can pledge anything you want to but i’m only paying for one thing so she made it very clear um how her opinions on what she wanted me to pledge but no i mean in all seriousness and also also i
Should mention as well i’m the youngest of three girls and my oldest sister and actually both my sisters are on this call right now my older sister is also a delta as well that my oldest sister and then i crossed and then my middle sister ended up crossing a graduate chapter so
We’re all delta as my mom has her lifelong dream she’s accomplished you know what she set out to accomplish but i think the big thing is you know all joking aside it’s you know i would encourage you all do your research find out about the organization see
What their values see if their values align with yours again it’s about the work so see what are the types of things that that organization is doing and does it align with your values i know personally for myself when i was when i got here my freshman year i really did not know
A lot about uh divine nine organizations my cousins had brought it up to me uh because they attended bowie state university another hbcu in maryland um and they brought it up to me but i really never thought about it that much so i started actually doing research to see what
Lynchburg college had at the time and um i was able to come across cap off assad and you know i made my decision based off of how i see my future going i know that a lot of the divine line organizations and kappa alpha psi in general they foster a lot of uh
Professional athletes um i’m a sport management major so i’m actually looking to step foot into that field so i kind of did it more for my future um my future endeavors and uh career goals and to really build a brotherhood um i am the only son in my family i have an
Older sister so i grew up with my sister my mother in the house and me and my dad were always very close but i always wanted to have some brothers you know just to joke around with play the game with play catch football stuff like that and you know
As i got when i got down here and found my uh a group of brothers who grow kappa we i love them those are my bros those are my boys and uh it’s just one of the greatest opportunities that i was able to embark on good evening um this is uh torrey
Collins i am paul mark of the lynchburg alumni chapter of kappa alpha psi um i’ve been pole mark here for about the last 10 years um actually 10 plus she is i am a actual lynchburg alumni initiate um as a result of what i came through 2007. 2007
But i want to kind of speak to why you would want to be a member of any black greek letter organization uh myself i’ve got a kind of a long story if you will i was actually exposed to capital for as a high school student through the guide right program and
So what first initially attracted me to cap alpha psi was literally the social aspect of it um just to see kind of how you know the camaraderie with all the brothers as they as they kind of flow you know around and you know going to different events they
Actually used to come to our high school and pick us up and put us all in vans and take us to different colleges and you know universities and you know we could kind of fellowship with the different brothers there so at an early age i identified with the social aspect
Probably over identified with the social aspect and that’s one of the reasons why i want to speak to it i guess when i went to radford um as an undergrad i didn’t want to be a college student i want to be at kappa um so i quickly got consumed with you know
Just trying to get online and and you know become you know this big you know kappa man and as a result of that i was on three different lines and i was never initiated as an undergrad um and there’s a lot of a lot of stories behind that as well
But to the tune to where i had such a drive to become a member of kappa later on i graduated from radford in 94 and as i told you earlier i didn’t become a member of cal poly posada 2007 but i had such a drive that when the lynchburg alumni chapter reactivated
In 2000 i think it was six in 2007 i became a you know initiate or i was on the first kind of line through the alumni chapter um but at that point in life because of the kappa man that i knew and all the different other members that i knew from divine
Nine i was inspired differently and it was more of the community service aspect so i look back and the reason why i even wanted to go to college in the first place was because of capping the guy right program i had no desire to go to
Any college i was going to graduate high school and if i made 10 an hour i was happy but as a result of me being in that god white program it kind of kind of instilled something to me to make me want to go to college and it also kind of
Gave me the under realization that i was college material because before then all i knew about college was big books so i was intimidated so they got me over that hurdle so after you know later on in life i realized that’s a life-changing experience just to be a part of an
Organization to you know tap a young man like that and kind of make him realize his potential so that’s one of the reasons why i want to kind of give back so later on i became a member of kappa and here i am paul mark 10 10 month i mean 10 years later
And um mr levitt he’s on the call and i’m actually a charter member of the royal capital line uh for for the undergraduate time here and i mean what started here in lynchburg at vul and it’s kind of expanded to different colleges throughout the area but that’s all because
You know it can it’s a life-changing event you know you see you know different people when you see different members of different organizations achieving things in life and you just quickly identify with them and it just wants you it makes you want to grow yourself so i
I really see all the divine nine is inspirational and you know their strength in numbers too so i encourage anyone to you know to affiliate with like i said you know you want to choose what’s right for you but to affiliate with one of the organizations that’s right for you but
For me it was kappa and i’m happy to have you know to have made that move wonderful i’ll turn it over to mr washington thank you miss gibson so the next question is going to be answered by three of our alumni uh mr collins uh miss smith
And mr hutcherson as well as our three undergraduate students that are on the call and it’s a three-part question so i’m going to ask each part separately um so the first question uh for the six of you is do you think there is still a place for black greek letter organizations today
I feel like glory i’m sorry um i feel like with the start well not the start well with the vice president madame vice president entering the office this year it really opened the eyes up to a lot of these a lot of people um he realized in all of her
Most of her speeches she mentions uh alpha kappa alpha and the d9 organizations and i feel like with her being in the office being in uh one of the head powers of the world this will definitely definitely open up the opportunities for growth in our divine mind organizations
And i do see us growing as a divine mountain organization organizations i’m sorry and i’ll pick you back off of uh brother lovett’s uh comments there but yeah i think there’s definitely a relevance for uh black greek letter organizations here um in today’s time because just from the
Mentoring aspect like he said you see so many positive black leaders and you know in powerful positions and that gives our youth you know the i think that you know the kind of the belief that they can kind of be what they want to be and when you see
You know black men men and women leading by example i think that’s more important and more significant than anything um because that’s one of the things that motivates me it’s one thing to to try to you know to tell a child if they can do something but when they can see it firsthand
Um and and and know that someone they can realize it then that’s kind of a you know a motivator or you know something that drives it home so yeah i think at this point in time more than ever um by us being involved in politics and technology and things like that we
Have the ability to influence and to motivate our youth to kind of be you know the leaders of tomorrow so yeah i think it’s very relevant you know reflecting on what has been expressed throughout this this forum just the different services and service um that these activities that the different organizations do
Absolutely you know it’s this whole idea of we’re using our collective talents to help others and i think there’s a place for you know there always be a place for our organizations because of just the strong house service yes i agree with everything that’s been said already
And i feel like there’s still a place for them especially on pwise because they give a chance for undergraduate students of color who do want to be a part of a greek organization a place where they can like feel like resonate with each other because you look like each other
You’ve gone through the same things that you’ve been through you can like really be yourselves and that kind of and it provides like a safe space other than um maybe if they want it if all that was available on campus was like predominantly white ones maybe they might not feel
Comfortable joining that and making like a change the way they want to because they just don’t see themselves in that so i feel like there’s definitely a place for us especially on predominantly white institutions everyone have a chance to answer that part did i okay so the next part for the six
Of you is and and please let me know if i need to elaborate or provide any further explanation but how will black greek letter organizations have to adapt to changing needs of new members and the times currently well i feel like they’re gonna have to um definitely uh adapt to how colleges and
Universities and most workforces have adapted so that means virtual learning virtual um virtual intake uh processes so i feel like that’s gonna definitely be a huge part to how we’re gonna grow and how we’re gonna improve this uh nine organizations um i’ll kind of i think one of the
Things that we need to do and this is just kind of from a mentoring standpoint one of the things that i’ve noticed is i think um it’s more about our youth now um as opposed to where sororities and fraternity i think early on was like it was for the social aspect of the
Collegiate members uh and it was kind of a bonding you know process or an opportunity to bond or you know to kind of grow a brotherhood or sisterhood but now it kind of goes beyond that and i think as especially alumni members we need to realize that it’s more about the youth now
And you know making them keeping them involved making them socially aware um so training for leadership and having mentoring programs and you know you know kind of fulfilling that service obligation and you know like i said being on the front line and leading by example um i think that’s
Something that we have to do because people and when i say people are our younger generation i think are watching us now more than ever um you got a lot of single parent homes and things like that and i know that’s one of the voids that
We as a black male organization or black fraternity we try to fill that void sometimes which you know there’s nothing like having a father figure in your home but you know a lot of that’s lacking in today’s society so you know as opposed to just kind of
Being on a college campus and being relevant there we’re trying to be relevant in the community as well so you know being conscious of that and staying you know involved in the community and you know staying involved with our youth and growing them as leaders and training them for tomorrow
I think that’s that’s where we need to kind of focus on and evolve too yeah i think the fraternity has evolved i mean i think about when i was an undergrad the the old heads would get on our nerves and you know the new school brothers tried
To run the ship and at the end of the day we didn’t know what we were doing uh but i think as time moved on as that now i’m old here now see the frustrations that they had but i think we have evolved and grown i think i think uh david you mentioned
It um you know i attended my first uh founder’s day celebration virtually i mean and i connected with burlesque that i hadn’t talked to in 10 years and i don’t think i would have been able to do that if if it it wasn’t virtual so i think the fraternity
As a whole all of the fraternities and uh sororities have to evolve i mean uh we have virtual chapter meetings now you know we have committee meetings now uh that you know that’s happening uh virtually you know and i think it’s a challenge i think it’s been a
Challenge for my chapter in particular i think i can speak for all the fraternities as well we’re we’re really hands-on you know we’re out in the community we’re change agents in the community and so when you have this pandemic happening right now we’re kind of hamstring like well
We rely on proximity and talking to the youth and putting our arm around a young boy or girl you know and encouraging them going to the elementary schools going to the middle schools and you know we we really can’t do that now and so i think it’s an opportunity for the for
All the black greeks to you know redefine how we organize and how we communicate and so um our membership has increased uh the activity has increased so hopefully you know that will carry on after the the uh pandemic is over with but um yeah i think that we’re we’re always
Changing we’re always evolving and adapting um black people as a race we always have to evolve we always have to adapt anyway so i think it’s kind of in their dna to do that and so i don’t think the fraternity or the sororities are any different um as far as the adapting
Uh to the times i agree i think that that everyone every organization every person actually has to um adapt to the to the times because times change um but i don’t think that the organization needs to um adapt to new members um and and and i say that because
Um omega sci fi our our cardinal principles are manhood scholarship perseverance and uplift and and those um cardinal principles haven’t changed uh since the founding of this fraternity and i don’t think they should ever change and i don’t think they should change for new members um because then it’s
A different organization so i don’t think the organization has to change to the people um and and i also say that because i pledged at 19 years old in 1992 undergraduate at hbcu and at that time those principles manhood uh meant something different than it means to me now
And so i changed as i matured but the principles didn’t change my understanding of them and my perception of what manhood means changed as i matured and became more intelligent and became a father and a you know my life changed and i think that’s going to happen with everyone that’s the one thing
No one can keep that’s time we’re all going to get older that being said mr hutcherson i’m sorry to cut you we’re having a hard time hearing you there we go sorry and um and if you don’t have the the if your principles don’t match with a particular organization that’s
Probably not the organization for you um and that’s and that’s there’s nothing wrong with that um everything is not for everyone and that’s kind of my two cents on it i think the organization has to stand for what it stands for um but it absolutely has to change with
The times i had my first conclave on zoom also this year and it’s interesting you know it’s a different day uh and and uh but but it’s you know it’s uh i also remember the first cell phones and i remember you know you know we had the old nintendo and you
Know things change and you grow with the changes and if this is the new now we’re in this dental meeting via zoom with a lot of people i believe that’s what it is thank you sorry about my phone um i guess as a as an old head i i would say that i
Agree a lot with mr with what mr hutchinson said in regards to when it comes to the foundation so those those uh foundational beliefs so like delta for example we are a sorority of sisterhood scholarship and service those things should not change those things should not be
Modified in order to meet the needs of new of new members um i think the word that was used that i like is the whole idea of evolving so we’re still doing these um these acts these acts of service but they should reflect you know what they should reflect the times that
They are in so you still have that solid foundation however the work is evolving to reflect the times um so you know earlier i mentioned um for example like in the 20s and 30s delta you know advocated for anti-lynching well now you know you can make a correlation to police brutality
Is it a different topic yes has it evolved yes but it’s still very much rooted in that foundation that we have as a sorority do you have any other responses to that part of the question my response i got focused on um i think we’re you know i don’t want to confuse
With adapting to changing um because you know i don’t like like you know mr hutchinson was saying i don’t know that any organization should so to speak change their principles or anything like that but you know kind of adapting you know to the way that the world
You know is now to how you get those principles across um i think is one thing because you know especially with you know reaching different generations of people you know some people are going to embrace technology there are others who don’t so even from a communication standpoint um that’s one of my challenges
You know as an alumni you know pole mark i’ve got members in my chapter that are fresh out of college all the way you know to 50-year members so just communication you know the way that you know i’m able to communicate with them is different
So you have to adapt and you know we waste too much technology to a certain aspect we can do conference calls but you know not everyone is is is comfortable with that you know some brothers are okay we’re still stroking the check um i’ve got undergraduates that didn’t
Even know how to write a check so you know there’s there’s different i guess aspects so i’m not saying that we necessarily have to change but we definitely have to adapt and and leverage you know whether it’s technology or personalities or social skills or whatever
We have to adapt to be able to leverage those skill sets to our advantage i echo that same uh sentiment i think when you think about everybody every fraternity sorority has their own aims errors is a man indeed scholarship and love for all mankind and we think about manly deeds
Well that may look different in 1906 that may look different in 1925 that may look different in 1955 and so i think that’s going to transcend time i think scholarships gonna look different you know um you know it’s you know now you have you know the college board and
You have the sats you know now that’s actually kind of going away you know when i was in um undergrad i i’m trying to help some of these young high school guys you know prep for the s.a.t not so much now because it’s really not a huge requirement to get into college anymore
Um so i think you’re right i think changes uh shouldn’t be a mistake to adapting and evolving um the principles are going to stay the same the aims are going to stay the same i think um all of us have roots in social justice you know um
You know fighting for that so until that’s eradicated on planet earth i think we’re safe to say that we’re going to be still relevant in this society thank you and so with that the last uh the final part of this question and we’re gonna ask for some quick
Quick fire responses before we move into question and answers but um why do you think there has been a lasting effect that black greek letter organizations have had on society um for me uh it’s been one of our founding principles and that’s been you know we’re a christian-based organization so at the
End of the day we’re all god-fearing people that’s the one commonality i’ve seen out of every organization there’s no way nowhere that i’ve gone where we start a meeting or an event or something that doesn’t start with prayer so god first i think that’s one of the
Reasons why we’ve lasted so long is because that’s the that’s the common denominator with all of our organizations um so once you have that christian foundation um i mean it it’s here to stay so uh so as long as we’re grounded in faith i don’t i don’t think we’re going anywhere anytime soon
Um that kind of drives our purpose if you will i feel like um the reason it’s had a lasting effect it’s just a rich history of it um this is we’re winding down on black history month and honestly i think that this is one of the best events that we have
Done for black history month and you know there’s not a lot of people that see uh divineline as our history this is our history we are living part of history and you know they’re going to be talking about us in the books they’re going to be talking about kamala harris by
Madame vice pr president kamala harris she’s going to be in the history books as the first african-american woman to be vice president just let that sit um one additional reason that the um black greek letter organizations have had a lasting effect is because of their makeup um like i said we’re all
That we’re made up of college educated men and women um and that um enjoined with uh youth um will create a long lasting organization so if you have bright intellectuals running an organization and they like that organization they pass that down to their children who typically uh the children follow their parents
Um sometimes you say well we need to break a cycle and sometimes we need to follow that cycle and when you have uh if both of your parents are greek you’re pretty much gonna be greek um not for not because they’ll make you but because you’ll understand it and
You’ll have some affinity for it or to it um and i think that’s kind of what um helps to promote and give a lasting effect to our organizations and just kind of chime in on that one also i think it’s the alumni aspect um because this you know we’re not like
Most of those organizations that aren’t divine nine and our membership is lifelong um so we kind of continue beyond college years so ours our membership doesn’t stop after college so that kind of caters to the longevity as well and i’ll also chime in i think because
When you look across the board at the d9 organizations it’s not just like we’re limited to one issue so it’s not like we only work towards say voting rights and um and registering people to vote it’s stretched between many different topics so whether it’s issues of health whether it’s issues of social justice
Whether it’s issues of education and i think because we’ve able to use our influence in our reach to put our hands in many pots that definitely contributes to our longevity any further responses particularly from our undergrads i hate to call y’all out i got you um i think i think a piece of
Longevity longevity is just because the number of black people going to colleges has increased over time you know like my dad my parents were both first generation college students you know so for me growing up i didn’t really have a choice of going to college
It was just where am i going what am i going to study like i’ve had that bestowed upon me you know since like i was born so i think the fact that we have more students going to college graduating college going to master school getting phds just as a
Whole one you you know i’m saying you go to college you’re more exposed to d9 anyway so that’s gives you a reason to be a part of it but also you kind of see you’ve reaped the benefits from it so i think from that from that perspective
The fact that there’s so many more black kids now that expect to go to college and don’t just see it as a possibility is probably the biggest reason why we’ve had such long longevity and keep growing to this day i also think because of all the prominent leaders
That have come through each of our organizations that have like really set the example um for a lot of the younger generation is what’s helping with the longevity especially with the people that we’ve already talked about like i’m okay molly harris um tony morrison thurgood immersion like
So many prominent people i think that’s also helping driving the longevity as well thank you all so so much um so that was our final question from our list of panel questions but now uh ms gibson and i would like to open the floor up for anyone on the call to ask
Any questions to our panelists you can either do so verbally um using the hand raise feature or you can type a question in the chat um and the chat will be monitored by uh miss gibson and myself so we like to open up the questions the floor for any questions
I know there are a lot of non-deny members on this call so you might have questions about certain terms that were used throughout the call interested members may have certain questions be careful what questions you ask but there might be questions so please please please um yeah the floor is open
And thank you all for being on here with us we’ll give it a moment oh could i ask a question to some of the i’m just curious i’m you know the old alum getting sentimental it’s going to be 20 years out for me this year
Um but i’m just curious to hear from our undergrads what type of programs are you all doing right now on campus well from alpha kappa alpha this past month um one of our targets was heart health so we had a virtual cooking class um where one of our stores in the graduate chapter
Made a heart healthy meal and she was also a chef and it came out really really nice um we also have our ski week coming up next month where each day we highlight um each of our program targets so we highlight hbcu awareness we highlight the arts in the renaissance era
We um highlight women’s health we highlight global impact and things like that and we also have caregivers awareness day where we send goods and like our ways of appreciation to the caregivers around our community especially with the whole pandemic thing going on so those are some of the things we’ve done
So far this semester well we actually did a back-to-school drive um did a back-to-school drive down in averitt university um that’s actually one of our started schools and they have about three brothers down there that actually they help a lot they put together about 50 bags and
I really don’t know the exact numbers they did uh come together and we were able to raise about 500 for them so back to school um last semester in light of the election we did um a couple voters registration events so the first one we did we actually went around helping students get
Registered to vote on campus prior to the election and then we also sold um wristbands that said v p uh hp i think um brother harris brought it up earlier which is stands for voters people the hopeless people to kind of get out a message that everyone does have a voice in this
Election since we all know this was kind of a big election for i think everybody but specifically people of color so just kind of pushing that um that agenda and also we did some service work early in the semester last last like semester in the fall where we um
We went to a basketball camp and we kind of volunteered just helping the cam run so we actually facilitated the food for all the kids that showed up and um stuff like that well and i’m also not above giving folks back their time so i want to be cognizant of of our
Panelist time i know many of you all are working on your last semester projects and many of us are preparing to go to work tomorrow however that work might look like virtually or in person so um willing to do that mr washington do we have a question
Yeah so we actually did have that extra question that we had oh yeah okay wonderful so i think this uh i’ll get to dr canada first and then i think that the question we have that we have left over would be a great note to leave on dr
Canada great good evening everyone um on behalf of the black history planning committee thank you all so much uh for your time and your commitment and support to the university of lynchburg or lynchburg college this evening has been wonderful i would like to put in um
I won’t say shameless by no means but in the chat the an event that’s coming up sunday that will conclude our black history month and it’s our gospel concert sunday at four o’clock there’s a zoom link if you are free at that time please plan to attend so thank you mr
Washington thank you ms gibson and and i heard something about like like black history wasn’t wasn’t over i heard that we was carrying it over into march in in april and some other stuff like that’s what i that’s what i heard but i might be wrong i don’t know
What y’all think celebrated every month yeah i heard it was i heard it was black history year 365 it’s every day period every year technically it’s black history year we just highlight it in february yes that’s all that is we have black history all you know we’re making history daily so every day
So if there are no further questions we have one final question that i think it would be fair to hear from all of our panelists um did you have your hand up guess not drew pokey everyone thank you oh sorry what hello did you have your hand up drew
No i don’t think so okay everyone say hi to our fsl coordinator drew hello we love you drew she pulls all the strings um so the last question that we’ll leave everyone with and we’ll give everybody let’s say a minute to to take us out if you could leave our
Audience with one thing about your organization what would it be the floor is open well our motto is achievement in every field of human endeavor i’ll leave it at that we achieving everything that we do first of all servants of all we sell tresendo i can go all in with that question um
But i think um the last thing i will leave you with is that um alpha alpha is uh to me uh has has been uh a change agent in society and i think i echo everyone when i say that you really have to uh you know look at yourself and look at
Your values that’s what miss smith said and see if the fraternity aligns with their values you’ve got to see if you know the people that you see on campus if you’re undergraduate student you’ve got to see if they’re actually living up to uh their organization or they are they
Doing what they say that they uh stand for and uh if that speaks to you uh if you feel like you want to be around like-minded individuals by uh uh you know being a change agent then do that i think one of the big things you have to realize is that
Um you can’t join any of these fraternities or sororities uh without a internal drive to change society you can’t just say oh i want to join a fraternity or sorority you know well you know it’s it’s you know alphas we have this old saying that you
Know you know you know there goes alpha man you know when you’re on campus you know you you they they stand out in the crowd they’re they’re the ones you know they’re the sga president they’re captain of the track team they’re they’re you know you know they’re doing all these community service activities
You know and so i think every fraternity and sorority can speak to that same thing so you really gotta look at yourself um you can’t if you don’t have that drive you know and i think that’s what happens to a lot of people when they go
Uh to college they just want to join a fraternity or sorority because you know they think they want to step or they want to struggle or they want to party whatever the case is and that’s just that’s not even a a percentage of what we do you know and so um
I think that’s really the big thing look at your values uh look at the people that are around you and if you are already someone that likes to volunteer your time uh and not get paid like uh brother hutchinson said um you know then use use the uh shield or or banner
Of the fraternity for or the story for change and i think that’s really the takeaway from it um um if i can speak now i guess we’re saying one good thing about our organization and mine is capital um one of the things that i would like to say is that we’re not
Just one organization that just takes everything from members we actually try to give give something back and that’s one of the you know brother lovett actually spoke to our you know our motto as an achievement in every field in human endeavor but the way that we reach that goal is you
Know we have mentoring programs and we have achievement academies within kappa to grow our members um so it’s not just something that we’re looking to take from our members we’re looking to give back and to train our members for leadership whether it be business education government health stem
Social science military science and you know what have it we’ve got members in all walks of life that you know that have something to offer back to our other members and so we don’t just try to take members we try to grow our members and and
And that’s how we that’s how we achieve is you know we’re you know iron sharpens iron kind of thing so uh so that’s one good thing about this organization i can definitely say i’m not the same person that i was when i first came in
You know and i’m still growing so and we all realize that as men so that’s one good thing about this organization um i don’t think this is alpha specific but i think something for everybody to know is that the members make the letters the letters don’t make the members
So we all work to uphold the ideals that our organizations have necessarily so if you are planning on thinking about joining organization of that such don’t think that just because you get the letters the work is done you always work every day to uplift the ideas that we have specifically
Because every organization has historical members that are put down in history books not because they’re alphas or akas or deltas because they’re historical in their own right so i think for us we’re all working towards that and um i think that’s a big takeaway i could take away from
Just you know this whole talk i guess and um one of the major things about alpha kappa alpha is when you join it’s like making an investment in yourself um you’re growing constantly throughout being a member you’re becoming a leader you’re becoming um professional and like the workplace there’s just so many things
About the organization that just help make you into like the best version of yourself and so that way you can go out in the community and be like of use to others because we’re our motto is service to all mankind so i feel like that is something that not only us
Um can relate that not only akas can relate to but like all the d9 organizations of how it is and really an investment in yourself in your future um and i’ll just chime in you know delta where we’re about to work um but it’s definitely good work
And i would just say just in general um and you know all of our organizations are basically steeped in um you know christian values but one of my favorite bible verses basically says the best way to serve god is to use the gifts and the talents that he’s given you
To serve others and that’s what makes the work so powerful by no means is that limited to delta but that’s just across all the d9 organizations is just using your talents your gifts which you have to serve others um friendship is essential to the soul uh and we’re the bras
You know it’s always you know at the end of the day it always comes down to um you know where to brush um i think all the fraternities and and sororities are great um i think it’s a great brotherhood it’s a great sisterhood um and i don’t uh have any um self uh
Aggrandizing thoughts that the the fraternity is one’s better than the other i know alphas will say where we were first and the count was to say where we were um and and to that i will say uh we are the bronze um and we have michael jordan thank you we got okay
Well and i will say as a panel as a panel facilitator but as a member of delta sigma theta i love what you said mr hutcherson because one of the things i loved most about delta is that uh you know several of my best friends are on this call and unfortunately they’re
Akas but you know we we all make choices right and i was in uh i was the maid of honor in an iota wedding and you know several of my best friends are are members of omega sci-fi and so i think whatever you decide i would leave folks with whatever you decide
We’re all family we’re all striving towards some of those same common goals which is you know uplifting our community the black community uh doing service in our community giving back to our community and really trying to just better ourselves and better the next generation and so you know for me
It didn’t matter what organization you were part of if i saw you know a member of zeta phi beta or alpha kappa alpha in need i’m going to help them regardless of the colors that we wear that we wear because that is who we are um and so that’s what i would
Leave with you all one i would like to offer one thing because i mean and it’s it’s first of all i would say thank you for putting this together and organizing organizing this and to be a part of this is a great thing and and i’m sure mr hutchinson he can speak
To this i mean i’ve known mr hudson since high school and being a member of being a part of something like this like i said i i can speak for myself you know being a you know i know it’s a 90s graduate or 80s child whatever you want to call
Us that i never envisioned myself being a part of a panel discussion offering knowledge back and you know so this is just a testament to how being affiliated with such an organization can kind of grow you and it gives you an opportunity to give back so um
I can remember myself and mr hutchinson and junior achievement you know going out to the house selling cutting boards and um you know and and you know to kind of go from something like that to be able to sit on a panel discussion like this and be able to offer something back
Um i can see the growth into both of us and and i’m sure you can see the growth in each other and the people that you affiliate with so i applaud those who put this together and thank you for allowing me to be a part of it
And i just want to say thank you to all of our rock stars of the night which are our panelists uh providing us with their infinite wisdom uh their dedication and their knowledge of their chapters uh the fraternities and their sororities uh thank you all so so much for participating and
We truly truly appreciate you um miss gibson and i put this together really with the idea of this not being the end but this being the the starting point not only for mphc to further interact with the campus community but for our alumni to continue to uh be in touch with our current
Undergrad students and for us to work together to bring about great things not only here at the university of lynchburg but out in the world so thank you all so much and we hope to continue to have these conversations um there’s some new faces on here that i
Love to get to talk to some more and different things like that so i’m very excited for what will happen i’m i’m claiming it thank you all so much
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