The SPHINX | Spring/Summer 2011 | Volume 96 | Number 2 & 3

A R T S A N D C U LT U R E

ALPHA’S POET LAUREATES DARE TO BE AN ALPHA MAN Dare, collegiate men of dreams To go well armed in all your schemes And pay no heed to distracting things That would have your patience tried.

For seven men did found one year A vision they saw as crystal clear Through trials and tribulations Sweat and tears A brotherhood couldn’t be denied.

There was no task they would not do For first of all they were servants who Transcended all and remained so true To the precepts they pledged so faithfully.

Personal progress as a must Loyalty to those deserving trust With dishonor or disgust to those that treat women other than politely.

With high moral character as their aim And outstanding scholasticism treated the same Love for mankind was the eternal flame That cast a light across a nation Of strong Black men unified as one Fully aware the job’s not done

And the battle never will be won Without the captains at their stations.

Dare we be leaders amongst all men Fully aware that we may sin Yet very confident we won’t again In the self same manner we did before.

With initiative as ours to take, The daring to gamble, to make a mistake For when all is shattered Our pride will not break And we’ll continue to strive for more.

While some say arrogance is our great fault We know this nonsense will never halt Unless our prides placed in a vault And that is something we’ll never do For we have got Alpha in our heart A fraternal bond which is very smart That encompasses every integral part Of we “Alpha Men.” For brotherhood is what we have dared In a world that is frankly scared To express feelings of love and care Due to society’s image laden game of chess

Why I wrote Dare To Be An Alpha Man

By J.W. Wiley IN THE SPRING OF 1983, 1983 as a young man from South Central Los Angeles, I had just completed a challenge I had taken on after much consideration.

For years I had thought about the merits of joining an all-male organization, and dismissed it as inconsequential due to the lack of necessity from having played team sports during most of my adolescence. But when I considered the need to learn how to work with other men with the necessity of knowing how to work with other underrepresented people, and more specifically, blacks folks, it was a no-brainer that it was time for me to explore what Alpha Phi Alpha and I might offer one another.

The intake process for Alpha was provocative. Learning to work with an array of men was daunting, while remaining proactive as a “pledge,” intimidating. Alpha taught me to care about what I

82 THE SPHINX H Spring-Summer 2011

But we know images are to project, not to hide nor to protect.

So we try to always reflect exactly who we are and nothing less True to ourselves we will always be For success in life is not guaranteed So we will most assuredly Conduct ourselves with the utmost taste.

For we are men that all should know when cast as extras can steal the show for unlike the wind which dies and grows our aura remains constant to state our case.

We are men of colors, Black and Gold.

Men who won’t be bought and sold.

With Alpha Phi Alpha dwelling in our soul In a world that can’t understand That men of destiny from birth we are Men that shine bright as a star Men who have dared to have gone so far As to have dared to be Alpha men.

—J.W. Wiley

projected to others because now it wasn’t just a statement about me, or my family, but also about my brotherhood.

Within my chapter was a closeted gay brother. In the 1980s more men than today were homophobic and Alpha men were no exception. Considering the irony of the chapter brothers not wanting to endure racism, some of them still discriminated against our gay brother, often discussing his organizational worth, and right to even be an Alpha.

Knowing that this Alpha brother loved and worked hard—if not harder—for the fraternity than many shirt-wearing members, I committed to ensuring this brother knew that he had brothers who would judge him by the “content of his character,” not by the sexual orientation of which he was born. My poem was then and remains today a challenge to all men of Alpha to truly build an organization that is about changing dysfunctional behavior, not succumbing to it. The poem speaks to authentic “brotherhood,” proactive images and men with ideals that “won’t be bought and sold.” Before we can be Alpha Men, we must “dare to be” Alpha men striving for ideals not always easily attainable.