Hello everyone and welcome to the first episode of rising from our roots i’m your host amber draper rising from our roots is the newest talk show on tm and television that highlights individuals who are currently involved in movements or organizations that have historically advocated the empowerment of people based on their
Race personal development and even their academic success our first episode today is about the divine nine there are nine internationally greek letter fraternities and sororities are historically african american and together they’re referred to as the divine nine each sorority fraternity has a deep history as to why they were
Established and although we only have two active fraternities and no sororities of the nine on campus both alpha phi alpha and phi beta sigma have had a deep impact on the student life here on truman’s campus so first let’s take a look back at how it all started
We are the brothers of the eighth we are the brothers of the five we are the brothers of the alpha phi alpha was the first of the divine nine to be established at cornell university and it originally started to uphold brotherly support for minority students because of the racial prejudice
Black students faced while attending the institution however moving beyond the student life at cornell university the organization has also stood at the forefront of helping with inequalities and injustices against blacks throughout american history many of their members led the civil rights movement and support other establishments such as the naacp
Some famous alpha members include martin luther king lionel richie and stewart scott like phi beta sigma was six of the nine to be founded in 1914 and their founders created the organization at a time when blacks were only seen as second-class citizens but despite the challenges they successfully established the
Organization with the goals of cultivating brotherhood scholarship and service due to the recent killings of michael brown tamir rice and air gardener the organization has promoted a new message i am my brother’s keeper showing awareness to the issues affecting men of color some famous sigma members include bill clinton reverend al
Sharpton and jerry rice all together the divine nine is comprised of nine fraternities and sororities alpha phi alpha alpha kappa alpha kappa alpha psi omega sci phi delta sigma theta phi beta sigma zeta phi beta sigma gamma rho and iota phi theta all are historically african american
But they each have their own ideals and significant historical facts as to why they were created the cultural aspect is what keeps everyone united and being a part of nphc is something most members take honor being a part of for the rest of their lives although we do not currently have all
Nine on campus most of them have had student membership at some point throughout the years at truman i had a chance to interview two members of the divine nine wayman white who crossed alpha phi alpha and blake miller who is a member of phi beta sigma
So here we are with two members of nphc we have waymon wyatt and we have blake miller i just want to thank you guys so much for coming on the show with me thanks for having us yeah no problem so my first question for you guys is
What stood out to you the most about being an alpha or being a sigma that made you decide that you wanted to be a part of that organization um i would definitely say the point where i definitely knew i wanted to be at alpha was um when i came back from my
Trip from new york i had one on the college tour and we had one on a lot of colleges on the east coast and um i came back and the my counselor who was the alpha and the assistant principal who was alpha and like i always shut them down because i
Always thought like i was gonna be nothing in life i was just going to be the average joe you know locked up at 18 or you know something like that i didn’t really have higher standards or goals for myself but they always saw potential in me and i was just like
I don’t understand like what do you see in me and as they continue to see potential in me i started gaining more confidence in myself but not only as they continue to push me they also continue to push push other young african-american males in my school and i was just like
This is just amazing and just looking at it i didn’t have a father figure again most of these young men in my high school they didn’t have father figure as well and i was very involved in you know sports like basketball football and i ran track and like they were always at
My games when you know my mother or my dad he really never came so it was just like like wow they they really believe in me and they want to see me do well and it was just like hey once i graduate college i want to do that for another african-american male
Or two or three and like you know help them get out of the neighborhood and stuff that i came from right so yeah like unlike women uh i really didn’t have like that exposure to um the mphc when i was uh in high school like even when i came to truman um
Uh the only reason why i really found out about it was when they had a step show and then my mentor was an alpha so um i really had to you know do my research on the fraternity and i think it was two things about the five beta
Sigma was one was uh the service that they um really pushed in their organization into i really felt that god was leading me in that direction um since i don’t really like to you know party and um drinking stuff like that i think when i was looking for an organization i was really
You know really um caught by the fact that when i you know researched five better sigma it really stood out as like one big service organization and culture for service service service for humanity brotherhood scholarship service you know i i really saw that as a big thing and then um the
Symbolism was far better signal like think about the 12-inch rule and um it’s uh it’s doug being a big single uh symbol really showed me that man i can really you know be myself in this organization you know different peoples very diverse and things like that really made me feel
Like being in this organization i could be who i want to be and also make a big difference on campus speaking of making a big difference on campus what event or events have you guys put on that you think best represents your fraternity and what they stand for um i think for alpha
It definitely has to be my rolex people as a hopeless people and for like a week straight we get voters registration cards and stand out from the sub well in the choir and um we give people like snowballs or ice cream or something like that to get them registered to vote
And also we have um our brother’s keeper where we kind of help mentor um youth and i feel like that’s a big part and a huge step for alpha because without alpha is kind of mentoring me like i kind of wouldn’t be here and i probably would have went to the wrong direction
Uh all right so i guess like as far as social action our biggest thing has been um our hashtag chalked unarmed event that we uh put on i think maybe a few semesters ago in the fall where uh we really brought the campus together to really do something peaceful to um
Really raise awareness of the amount of police brutality that has went on because one thing they really noticed that social media is what made you know the micro brown situation really big but there were so many other you know other people who were uh harmed by uh policemen that that that weren’t
Noted so through that it was like you know we had a list of people and then people went around talking talking bodies and writing their names and the dates and stuff like that and we put it on social media and hashtagged it and was we’re really hoping to push that to
Other schools so they can do it on their campuses as well and as far as like philanthropy our biggest thing is the march of dimes which is our national philanthropy so we do our struggle-a-thon which is really you know fun fun time to get out and stroll give
The campus something that they’ve never seen and also raises visibility because not only do we stroll the office and come stroll the campus can come strolling things like that so it’s just a fun time to raise money and then you know have fun and really show people
What uh what are some of the fun parts of mphc so for those who are unfamiliar with stepping and strolling could you guys just give a brief rundown of what that is i think uh stepping in strolling is just like really definitely like like a cultural thing something that we just
Developed step in definitely started like way back in africa with what they used to do things with like grabbing barrels and bins and then just just really doing it and that’s really something that we brought over to america and the organization and strolling was probably just a another
Way for you know just to dance and have fun um and in parties is probably a way to even stay out of trouble as well you know you instead of like going getting on girls or doing stuff you’re not supposed to do you with your your brothers and together strolling and it’s
Basically just kind of dancing walking you know in the line together around the party you know i mean i i think he just hit it on the head so along with strolling and stepping that’s probably one of the unique things that makes the divine nine different from other greek organizations
But along with that not only does the divine as a whole kind of unite minority college students together but they’ve also supported national organizations that kind of advocate the rights and equalities for minorities so what do you think that says about the divine nine as a whole and what they stand for
We’re very outward focused you know like we were developed of the mindset first when we were first created of having a brotherhood of us because we weren’t always accepting other people due to due to discrimination and segregation so when we created we really had a social action mindset that we want to change
The world yeah i kind of want to agree with blake like the whole reason like we kind of started because we weren’t allowed into other fraternities so we kind of created our own and back in the day you know it was very segregated so to for us to come together
As brothers or sororities to kind of come together and help us like own something and from that evolving to like giving back to the community so because truman is in general a small campus the alphas you guys only have three members and the sigmas you guys only have two
Do you think your experience here was better or worse than you expected given the fact that it’s not an hbcu or even a school that is diverse compared to other universities i feel like if i were to went to hbcu my experience would be better because i would have more brothers
More numbers to do more things whereas me on this campus it’s only three of us it’s only so much that we can do like we don’t have those number of 60 people in a fraternity that we can kind of divvy out like all different responsibilities it’s just
Like you know three people are mine and two and his so we actually have to do every single little thing and uh that kind of takes away from some things from like you know exposure to parties or events and stuff like that so it’s only kind of setting us back but
As far as the experience here at truman i kind of love it and embrace it because in high school and my entire life i grew up around 99.9 of all you know blacks so to kind of switch that transition into it kind of being now i’m only around maybe 20 percent
Blacks i guess it was a huge culture shock but at the same time i learned a lot from coming out my element i have to say that like since i didn’t really know much about you know in phd before coming to truman i didn’t really have expectations but like no but
Actually getting to know my brothers who do go to uh lincoln um i definitely say that like you know the the fun things as far as like parties and step shows would be a lot more alive and things like that because you know that there’s more people and um here
We when we throw a part of your step show it’s mostly black but we don’t have that many but when you go there it’s supposed to be black so everybody’s going to come out so that’s going to be a lot more fun and also like women said
Like completing our goals you know like me and jesse have more goals as far as like what we want to do with our organization but you know one person wants to work on the pageant and one person has to work on intake while one person is trying to graduate all at the
Same time so there’s only only so much that you can do but definitely going to a campus where they have more members you can definitely get everything that you want finished right so despite those difficulties um how do you make the most of your experience here
You just have to go with the flow and i know in the um we all have this kind of same motto of like kind of no excuses like you you got to take what you have and you have to go with it and push forward and
Fight with it so um npac is a no excuses motto like hey you know get it done if you want something to happen yeah i think uh it’s just it’s just something to make the most of it you just got to do what you can and then you
Can’t complain because uh even though people may want to see more and expect more you know they’re not in your organization and they’re not going through what you’re going through so the best you can do is just give it all you got right and like you came here when there weren’t
Any stigmas and women you came here when they were alpha how many were there um where’s rob ward um it was about three to four and one who was about to cross my fall semester as a freshman okay so even given those small numbers and even though there weren’t any sigmas
Here you guys still felt that it was worth going through the process and being part of these organizations definitely and my whole point of kind of continuing to pursue alpha was because the same brotherhood and intelligence and personality that i had experienced with those members in my high school were the
Same type of people i was experiencing it with here in college like they they spoke well dressed well there was always about the community i felt around myself that brotherly love so it was just like something i wanted to continue and the main thing was that they always
Wanted to give back to community and i’m a huge advocate you know for giving back to the community just like hey i just want to continue to be a part of that yeah i think for me it was big because since i didn’t you know come in with the
Mindset of yelling you know being an mphc or like me doing research like even with the ifc orgs around the campus and a lot of them going into like um the fraternities that are npac like really like maybe resets them and like i think a big thing was really just knowing the
History behind it and then knowing that uh that when even if i’m one person or two person i’m really a part of something bigger like this is for life you know people um graduating they’re 60 years old 70 years old still talking about their organization and i just really want to
Be able to carry on the legacy because not only am i like you know the first to maybe even graduate i’m definitely like the first um in the greek organization right and blake you mentioned that people who are even in their 40s 50s and 60s you know really take pride in being
In a fraternity or sorority that is a part of the vine i have family members who it has definitely affected them and made their experience in college and throughout life you know a lot of their friends that they have were their sorority sisters and their brothers so i
Guess my question for you is how has being a part of these organizations changed you and what have you learned from it i would definitely say joining this fraternity helped me become a better man in general like i had said before i didn’t have any like you know father
Figures or mentors that kind of looked over me and those men in college did an absolutely fabulous job with me and i literally wouldn’t be here today if it wasn’t for them and um based on seeing that brotherhood and them saying potentially i mean and do something
Great and then when i came on campus and the alphas kind of took me under their wing because i was kind of like no familiar with with alphas from my past school but i would definitely say you know they helped me become a man and gave me like man characteristics and traits
I think uh first like the process teaches you a lot because through that um you really learn about the values of the organization that that are really values that you should have like have been you know practicing like from like you know your boring days you know really values that
Like really teach you like how to carry yourself how to treat other people and how to be a leader another thing is like um the elders in the organization that are really wise and like you meet them when you go to like regional conferences and stuff like that they’re about to
Teach you and they tell you about like finances and business or or you know how to get through tough situations in college or how to you know run your organization when you have minimal a lot of people it’s really taught me how to be a leader
And it’s really taught me um ways of life and then things i need to learn right right so given the history of the divine nine how does that correspond with black history month i think the history of it i think um in these organizations you know you know like i think
It’s really you know college is important and then a big thing about college and definitely hbcus is joining you know a black greek letter organization so i think um and in the history they expect the hundreds of years you know they were found in 1906 us in 1914 so it’s like
That’s like history you know it’s been a long time so that’s like doing things like having this interview right now or or step show is really just a reflection on what we’ve been doing for the past you know 100 to something years so even though you guys are all a part
Of the divine line is there still competition among the organizations to be the best definitely yes definitely definitely definitely and i feel like i feel like it’s a good thing because i’m going to always give 110 to out beat him at you know every single thing whether it’s a
Pageant a party events or whatever and i feel like me giving 100 110 percent is going to push somebody even further to you know better push his events and at the same time if he if i’m pushing myself and he’s pushing himself to beat me it’s only at the end it’s
Going to help the community that’s what it’s all about so if i push myself to put on a passionate party whatever it may be event and he do the same like the only person who’s benefited out of this is community that’s what mpsc all about is giving back to community yeah and
Then just to add to that like a big thing about it is knowing that you know your competition is very like healthy competition and then the way you learn that is just through maturity you know like um when we like i always tell like you know like when like our pageant
Girls like when you do a pattern like like the beauty of it is that like not only are we both pushing each other to put on a good pattern you know things are different you know when we stroll you know we’re trying to store the best but our strolls are different you know
Like our our steps are different what we say is different and then the fact that you know we’re going hard it’s just like it you know it it attracts people because it really just shows how you know even with like little amount of people you still embrace your
Organization and i think that’s what makes people really want to be a part of you know npac okay okay do you guys have any messages for young men or even young women who are thinking about joining a greek life organization my message would be definitely do your research and don’t be
In a hurry to pledge take time to research each and every fraternity and sorority that you are going to look into fill out the members in their fraternity and make sure like it’s a right fit for you i would say first like make sure that when you’re thinking about pledging that
You’re doing it for the right reasons second uh make sure you have a strong mind because you know there’s there’s positives and negatives that come with it because you know when you join the organization there’s others and there’s going to be competition and then you’re
Going to need to have like a a strong mind to be mature to those situations and understand that you know it’s all for fun and the software you know the show when in the in the immigration of your organizations and then lastly i would say to this stone
Just love your letters go out and then do what your organization really wants to see you do on campus and really be a phase be something that somebody can look up to and if you think that you can do that and be a good leader then definitely join it because you know
You’re the type of person that we’re looking for so so question so we we’re alpha having three and sigma is having two so let’s say a group of five people want to join your fraternity but they were trying to join for the wrong reason would you allow them to be in your
Fraternity even though you guys have really low numbers i think i think there’s see that’s a question that that douglas like like let’s just say like all they wanted was just to party yeah you know i think um i don’t know if i would want
This to be on camera but like two things was like uh first i think if you’re joining it for the wrong reasons that’s going to show throughout the process and then another one is like uh even but but if you make it through the process you know into what it tells and
Then we’re going to learn more about you and then by the time that you’re done you probably won’t be willing to join it for the wrong reasons no more if you really learned about what the organization’s values and goals really are me i’m i’m very i’m very uh prideful
For like the reason i joined that’s like to you know help the the community out and give back like i didn’t join just to you know turn up at the parties or you know scroll or you know like that like that wasn’t my main focus so for someone to
Come to my fraternity and want to be a part of my fraternity and my brotherhood and for me to call them my brother and all they cared about was partying and strolling i feel like we have different values values and we’re going in two different directions so i wouldn’t be open to um
I wouldn’t be open to letting them in i i don’t i think that’s a big thing because i remember like when i first like had my interest like i went to rob about it who’s like who who is it output here and then um like
Me being a freshman like my mind is just focused on the wrong things i’m like man i want to be you know cool you know if i join you know this fraternity everybody’s gonna know me i’ll be at the parties i’m gonna get all the girls and
Things like that and then what he said was he he said well if that’s what you want to do then you may want to look more towards ifc and then um and then i went on break and really thought about that and then that that’s when i started my research and
Said nah man i really want to you know be a part of this like this is a rich history you know with this like i’m only thinking about partying and girls like but this is like this is going to be for life you know the value that they have are
Strong in every organization and it’s just really going to be something powerful whether it’s one or ten members you’re going to be doing something powerful do you guys think that you’re living up to the expectations and goals that your founders wanted your fraternities to stand up for i feel like
I’m living up to the expectation because as much as i can no matter if i’m busy with school work or any other things i’m always focused on giving back to community scholarship brotherhood and love for all mankind you know at the end of the day that’s all i’m focusing about
And you know just me growing up in a rough neighborhood and seeing the things that i saw i vowed to myself that i would go back to the community you know help pull someone else out so yeah and i think uh i found it really set out for us brotherhood scholarship
And service and i think uh one thing that uh me and jesse really want to be able to do more is like increase like our brotherhood because since we are are at truman and we’re far away and it’s only two of us and we really haven’t really been able to
Like travel as much as we wanted to so that’s one thing that like we feel like we want to work on but on campus scholarship and the service really try to do that with him like playing football as well as you know keeping his grades up me you know getting ready to graduate
And also being in other organizations serving as president of other organizations us having internships and things like that and then culture for services service for humanity which is our biggest one doing things like the stroller down to raise money for march of dimes or penny wars to raise money
For st jude or going out to next homes and things like that as well so my final question for you guys is before you graduate as an alpha and as a sigma what impact do you want to leave on truman’s campus i think the biggest thing is just
Really i want people to understand not only what our organizations stand for but but why we did it and why we went so hard and why nphc is important so like having you know interviews like this as well as having like forums where we give the history of us and step shows and
Things like that we really want them to not focus on the fun of it but focus on why we were created why we feel that it’s important and why like when we get our letters you know it’s for life you know what makes us want to hold on to it for so long
I think mine would be is that i did the most i could to to give back to the community no matter if it was throwing a party a pageant helping someone you know go to class or anything giving back to the community just anything in general but overall i want the community
To kind of recognize that we must get back to the communities for us to grow and succeed and that’s what the main purpose of npac and just all mphc org is about giving back to the community making them stronger and us sticking together to better ourselves
So thank you women and thank you blake for coming on i think you guys had some really powerful insight about your organizations thank you for having us head on down thank you all so much for tuning in to the first episode of rising from our roots we all have people before us that
Have paved the way for future generations and with the current men of alpha phi alpha and phi beta sigma and with all the current members who are a part of the divine nine their founders did that by creating a sisterhood and a brotherhood between african americans when they weren’t getting that at their
Institutions simply because they were people of color we have a lot more in store and you can look forward to future episodes when i look into the roots of jazz music and even the military make sure you tune in next time and never forget to keep your
Dreams alive by continuing to rise from your roots you
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