The Sphinx Magazine - Winter 2008 Part 1

102nd ANNIVERSARY CONVENTION

Fall/Winter 2008 • Volume 93 • Numbers 3–4

SPECIAL REPORT

HIV/AIDS: HEALTH CRISIS FOR AFRICAN AMERICANS 16th ANNUAL CBC RECEPTION ALPHA ATHLETES

ALPHA PHI ALPHA CENTENNIAL PANORAMIC PHOTO

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MISSION STATEMENT Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc. develops leaders, promotes brotherhood and academic excellence, while providing service and advocacy for our communities.

CONTENTS ON THE COVER: (Clockwise, from top left) General President Darryl Matthews; Southwest Region Scholarship Bowl first runner-up presentation; Historian Emeritus Dr. Thomas Pawley; G.P. Matthews and G.P.Elect Herman “Skip” Mason; Swearing-in of Western V.P. and Regional AVP officers.

On This Page:

Densel Fleming named 2008-09 Outstanding Alumni Brother of the Year.

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DEPARTMENTS President’s 5 General Letter Director’s 7 Executive Letter 11 Publisher’s Letter 59 Alpha Athletes 64 Chapter News 98 Book Reviews 105 Omega Chapter 110 Corporate Directory 112 Leadership Directory

O F F I C I A L O R G A N O F A L P H A P H I A L P H A F R A T E R N I T Y, I N C .

FEATURES

12 16th Annual CBC

32 Brothers in the FBI 38 Brothers in Law Enforcement 54 Commentary:

Reception

16 Special Report:

HIV/AIDS Health Crisis

20 Special Report:

Generation Q

Educational Status of Black Males

60 Alpha Phi Alpha and the Olympic Games

76 State of the Fraternity Address

82 102nd Anniversary Convention

On This Page:

Matthew McClellan named 2008-09 Outstanding College Brother of the Year.

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L E T T E R TO T H E EDITOR

Darryl Matthews and Dr. Thomas Pawley 102nd Anniversary Convention, Kansas City, MO July 26, 2008 Brother Seaton J. White, III Publisher and Editor-in-Chief The SPHINX 2313 St. Paul Street Baltimore, MD 21218-5211

Dear Brother White: assured me that a job well done I am old enough to know that “a job well done is its own reward.” Yet, age has also should also be appreciated and acknowledged. and intellectual level which it occuYou have done an excellent job with The SPHINX and returned it to the appearance pied for decades. no scientific study—I think it would The Spring/Summer 2008 issue is an excellent publication and though I have made certainly be the, or among the, top journals of its or any type. substantive; and the placement of The paper, print and photos are high quality; the editing super; the content of articles official photos quite judicious. scholar.

The article about Tom Pawley is quite befitting and I share your feelings about this great best wishes for the future. and success; Thanks for what you have achieved with our journal; congratulations on your Sincerely, Brother Dr. William S. Edmonds Delta Beta Lambda Chapter

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PRESIDENT’S

GENERAL PRESIDENT’S LETTER

WISHING YOU CONTINUED PROSPERITY AND SPIRITUAL ENLIGHTENMENT Dear Brothers, By the time you read this, my final General President’s Letter written for The Sphinx Magazine, my term of service as your 32nd General President will have concluded. I must tell you once again how proud I was to have been chosen to be your Servant Leader for these past four years. Standing at the helm of this magnificent brotherhood has been exhilarating; and an absolutely amazing and humbling experience.

Just as the seasons change, the time for change at the Fraternity helm has arrived. It is inevitable.

In leaving the General President’s office, I offer to the brotherhood a few action steps and practical solutions that we as individuals can take to make a difference in our lives, those of our families, our communities and even the world. You may call them resolutions; however, these are items that all Alpha men should commit to doing as part of our duty.

(1) If you have not registered for the State Farm 50 Million Pound Challenge, conducted by Dr. Ian Smith, you should do so immediately. We must maintain healthy minds and bodies if we are to be and remain effective leaders. You can enroll on line.

(2) If you have not yet signed on to become a Big Brother, I ask: “What are you waiting for?” These are our children who are in need of encouragement and support; and they only want a minimum of four hours a month. Many of us can give that and much more.

Because of what we do, many young men who are approaching the abyss will now experience college life as opposed to prison life.

(3) Make provisions today to leave a tax-deductible legacy donation to the new Alpha Phi Alpha Charitable Foundation. Take out a life insurance policy on yourself or someone else and donate it to the Foundation while enjoying the benefits of paying tax-deductible premiums and building an endowment that will fund the Fraternity’s future program initiatives. These funds will never be co-mingled with our general fund; and can never be paid out to reduce our indebtedness or other non-budgeted expenses. We must face the reality that dependence on low-level fundraising activities and dues collections is not a good prescription for financial solvency and operational success.

We continue to enjoy an exemplary reputation and hold a positive image around the world. This is due in part to the outstanding stewardship of our Board of Directors, the diligence of our leadership team, and the selfless dedication of our staff at the General Office.

Equally and most importantly, we stand out as an organization because of you, my Brothers beloved, who get up everyday and live out our great legacy and provide leadership, advocacy and render services that are needed in our communities.

Hopefully, you are already registered and have made plans to attend the inauguration of the 33rd General President, Brother Herman “Skip” Mason, in Atlanta, Georgia on January 22-25, 2009. We must stand strong with Brother Mason, being at the ready to help him implement his agenda for a stronger and more vibrant Fraternity. I wish him Godspeed and offer all the support I can muster to see him through the challenges that lie before him as the leader of this brotherhood. He will do a great job; and we must be prepared to answer the call when he gives our marching orders.

Brothers, I also must inform you that Brother Willard C. Hall, Jr. has submitted his notification of resignation to the Fraternity’s Board of Directors. He has decided to return to his private consulting practice and teaching career, which he took a leave from to assume the mantle of leadership in the General Office. He arrived at a crucial time as we performed our strategic review, critical development and financial recovery efforts. We have asked, and he has consented, to delay his departure and make it effective on April 30, 2009. We owe Brother Hall our gratitude for his service as Executive Director and Chief Operating Officer; he has served us well in all regards.

Since we concluded the 88th General Convention, he has worked daily with General President-elect Mason and his transition team to ensure a seamless passing of the baton. Delaying his departure until the April 30 date will allow him time to work with the new leadership team; and ensure that his replacement has the support which will facilitate a smooth transition into this critical leadership position.

I wish you all continued prosperity and spiritual enlightenment in the New Year! Go in peace and in the light. I remain, Fraternally Yours,

DARRYL R. MATTHEWS, SR. General President

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Official Organ of the Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc®

READERS’

GUIDE

How to receive The Sphinx® Subscriptions: Price U.S. is $40.00 per year. To subscribe, please send a check or money order to: Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc. and mail to Sphinx Subscriptions, Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc., 2313 St. Paul Street, Baltimore, MD 21218-5211. To purchase selected back issues or to obtain reprint permission, contact Alpha Phi Alpha’s Office of Communications at 410-554-0040. Selected back issues of The Sphinx® are also available on-line at www.APA1906.net. Note: Active members currently receive The Sphinx as part of their membership.

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How to contact Post: The Sphinx Magazine, 2313 St. Paul Street, Baltimore, MD 21218-5211 E-mail: sphinx@apa1906.net Phone: 410.554.0040; for Magazine questions, select Ext. 114 Fax: 410.554.0054 Attn: The Sphinx How to get published Each Chapter’s Editor is a correspondent for The Sphinx® Magazine.

Chapters are encouraged to submit news and stories to The Sphinx®.

Tell us about your events and please include photographs. Article submission does not guarantee publication. We reserve the right to refuse or reject articles submitted (without notification).

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The SPHINX® (USPS 510-440) is published quarterly by Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc.®, 2313 St. Paul Street, Baltimore, MD 21218-5211 and SJW Publishers, Inc., P.O. Box 1203, Randallstown, MD 21133. Periodical postage paid at Baltimore, MD with additional entries. Postmaster: send address changes to The SPHINX ®, 2313 St. Paul Street, Baltimore, MD 21218-5211. The magazine subscription price is $40 a year.

The SPHINX® is the official magazine of the Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc. ® Send all editorial mail and changes of address to Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc.® Manuscripts of art, opinions expressed in columns and articles do not necessarily reflect the views and policies of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc.® Use of any person’s name in fiction, semi-fiction, articles or humorous features is to be regarded as a coincidence and not as the responsibility of The SPHINX® and is never done knowingly. The publisher does not assume responsibility for statements made by advertisers. Copyright 2008 Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc.® ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. Reproduction, or use without permission, of the editorial, art or pictorial content of the magazine in any manner is prohibited. The SPHINX® has been published continuously since 1914. Organizing Editor: Brother Raymond W. Cannon. Organizing General President: Brother Henry Lake Dickason.

The Sphinx® is printed in the United States of America

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EXECUTIVE

EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR’S LETTER

IT HAS BEEN MY DISTINCT PRIVILEGE TO SERVE My Brothers Beloved,

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n this issue of The Sphinx, we present coverage on the Fraternity’s 102nd Anniversary Convention; our 16th Annual Congressional Black Caucus Reception; the transition from our 32nd to 33rd General President; an outstanding article featuring our Brothers in law enforcement leadership positions; and a variety of other Alpha Phi Alpha and community-related features. During the Kansas City Convention, we successfully completed some significant Alpha business, including the adoption of a procedural manual for Membership, Standards and Extensions, which includes guidance to create or reactivate chapters; an “A Voteless People is A Hopeless People” Town Hall Forum was held; we premiered the documentary from CNN newscaster Soledad O’Brien, entitled “Black in America,” which was followed by a panel discussion on the topic; and the results of the Fraternity’s General Presidential Election were announced—and I pause here to say “congratulations” to Brother Herman “Skip” Mason who was elected as our 33rd General President and give fraternal recognition to Brother Darryl A. Peal for his campaign efforts.

As we conclude the administration of Brother Darryl R. Matthews, Sr., let us acknowledge his leadership and service to our Dear Fraternity—from January 1, 2005 to December 31, 2008. He has led and continues to lead us into this second century of the Fraternity. We will publish in the next month the 2005–2009 Quadrennial Review, which outlines and highlights the service and accomplishments made during the Matthews Administration.

The transitional planning that must occur before the next General President takes office has gone smoothly. Hopefully, you are making your plans to attend and participate in the 33rd General Presidential Inauguration activities from Jan 23–25, 2009 in Atlanta Georgia. Please visit the Fraternity’s national website for more information.

In the last Sphinx edition, I looked at the historical significance of having Sen. Barack Obama as the Democratic Party Nominee for President of the United States; and in this edition—just six months later—we celebrate the victory of the new U.S. President-elect. This is a moment in which all Alpha Brothers can take pride, as the fruits of our voter registration and voter education programs can surely be credited in part for the increased voter participation. This is a tremendous moment in the history of America!

In closing, I now inform you that I have notified General President Matthews, General President-elect Mason and the Fraternity Board of Directors of my intention to resign as Executive Director—effective April 2009. I will work with the Board to facilitate a smooth transition for my replacement. The past threeand-a-half years serving as your Executive Director have been the proudest years of my Alpha Life. In coming to the position, I viewed this as a tremendous opportunity to increase my service to the brotherhood and communities in which we live, lead and serve. The experience exceeded my every expectation. Being E.D. of “The Oldest - The Coldest - The Boldest,” during our Centennial Celebration defies description. I have traveled across the country and around the world—from Cornell, to San Francisco, to Bermuda and Germany, and to countless places in between. I have attended countless chapter meetings and events, District Conferences, Regional and National Conventions, and attended the conventions of other major organizations. To represent you, I have traveled from Jena, Louisiana, to corporate America, to the halls of Congress and the White House—and in each instance, it was the highest honor imaginable for me to represent Alpha’s interest, to discuss our mission and to spread our message of advocacy, service and leadership.

It has been an outstanding experience to work with the tremendously talented Alpha Brothers who helped to develop our first-ever Strategic Plan. It was a labor of love, knowing that it will have long-term benefits to the Brotherhood. Other bright experiences were my participation in the drafting of a major re-alignment of our Constitution and being part of a leadership team that guided four years of fiscal management, which resulted in annual budget surpluses. And yet, it all pales in comparison to the work done with a special group of Alpha Brothers in examining and updating our Ritual!

I am humbled beyond measure. When I accepted this position, I put my consulting business and an exciting college teaching career on hold. As much as I have loved being the E.D., I have missed my consulting and teaching experiences and it is now time for me to transition to new challenges by returning to an old dream. I will return to my private consulting and teaching work. I commend the current staff at the Corporate Headquarters for their efforts toward successfully accomplishing Alpha’s mission: William Lyle, Anthony Roberson, Kirk Carrington, Cornell Lynch, Jodie James, Carla Gaskins, Deloris Diggs, Aisha Coffey, Sherelle Torrence and Natalie Highsmith. They do difficult yet needed work in a challenging environment.

Brothers, it has been my honor and distinct privilege to serve! I will miss being your Executive Director. I hope to see you at the 2009 Regional Conventions.

Fraternally Always,

WILLARD C. HALL, JR. Executive Director

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®

Submission Guidelines Official Organ of the Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc® ORGANIZING EDITOR Raymond W. Cannon ORGANIZING GENERAL PRESIDENT Henry Lake Dickason

PUBLISHER AND EDITOR-IN-CHIEF Seaton J. White, III

DIRECTOR OF COMMUNICATIONS William Douglass Lyle

CONTRIBUTING WRITERS Joseph T. Durham Anton C. Bizzell Antoine M. Garibaldi Robert L. Harris, Jr. Wilbur Jackson Paul King Michael J. Myers II Thomas D. Pawley III PHOTOGRAPHERS Donald Baker Ronald Baker Rickey Brown Larry Crider Jeff Lewis Anthony Roberson

GENERAL OFFICERS GENERAL PRESIDENT Darryl R. Matthews, Sr. IMMEDIATE PAST GENERAL PRESIDENT Harry E. Johnson, Sr. EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR Willard C. Hall, Jr. GENERAL TREASURER George N. Reaves GENERAL COMPTROLLER Frank A. Jenkins, III GENERAL COUNSEL Michael D. Pegues DIRECTOR OF CONVENTIONS Open HISTORIAN Robert L. Harris, Jr.

FOUNDERS Henry Arthur Callis Charles Henry Chapman Nathaniel Allison Murray

Eugene Kinckle Jones Vertner Woodson Tandy George Biddle Kelley Robert Harold Ogle

ALPHA PHI ALPHA WEBSITE ADDRESS:

Since the founding of The Sphinx Magazine in 1914, the African American community has looked to the publication for its profound insight on issues of the day. The Sphinx is the second-oldest continuously-published African American magazine in existence and is preserved in libraries and archives across the country as an historical record of community occurrences. The publication covers a wide range of topics that are relevant to different sectors and geographic locations. The major focuses are leadership, strategy, entrepreneurship, career management, economic development and community service. Many articles are written by experts and authorities whose insight comes from research and experience. It is little wonder that for more than 90 years, The Sphinx® has maintained its place as an indispensable medium for reaching the leadership and progressive segment of the African American community.

Those interested in writing feature-length articles for The Sphinx should adhere to the following guidelines: (1) The suggested wordlength for general features is 800 to 1,500 words; the suggested word-length for special features is 2,500 to 3,500 words. Special feature submissions should be discussed in advance with the Editor. (2) Both hardcopy and electronic submissions are accepted. Electronic submissions should be sent in PC compatible format and should be editable. (3) Print and electronic photos are accepted. Electronic photos should be submitted in JPG format. A resolution of 100 KB or higher is preferred. Electronic photos that are embedded in Word files cannot be used. (4) Articles should be accompanied by a brief author’s biography. (5) Submission of an article is no guarantee of publication. (6) The Sphinx reserves the right to edit all submissions for length and suitability to a given issue, without final and formal review by the contributor. (7) Statements of opinion expressed are those of the author and not necessarily those of The Sphinx. (8) Submissions should be emailed to the address located on the Fraternity website at: www.apa1906.net; or mailed to the Fraternity Headquarters at: The Sphinx; Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc.; 2313 St. Paul Street; Baltimore, MD 21218-5211.

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L E T T E R TO T H E EDI T OR

Sigma Kappa Chapter Brothers and On-Campus Advisor.

IT’S A DIFFERENT WORLD AT MISSOURI WESTERN STATE UNIVERSITY Chapter Brothers and On-Campus Advisor Bridge Cultural and Gender Divide Dear Editor: In November 2007, I was approached by Donnell Roberson, President of the Sigma Kappa Chapter of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity at Missouri Western State University, and asked to become their on-campus advisor. I realized I had big shoes to fill.

Karl Bell, Sigma Kappa alum, had been their advisor at Western for several years until he accepted a position in Boston. Once Brother Bell left, there was another campus advisor who helped but he also left within a few years of accepting the advisor role.

What in the world could I do to guide such an outstanding group of African America n young men? I am a white female.

What could I teach them? How could I connect with them? Then it dawned on me. We can learn from each other. Our backgrounds and upbringings may be different but this is my chance to help make a differen ce in their lives. Little did I know that I would learn so much from these exceptional young men.

Mr. Roberson came to my office and asked me to attend their Spring 2008 Probate . I was not sure what that was, so he gave me a brief description. I was excited to see it and made plans to attend. I cannot put into words what I witnessed. There was so much tradition involved in this ritual. I learned that night that Alpha Phi Alpha is in your blood, it is in your heart, and it is for life.

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Continued from previous page

submitting a packet for the awards At the end of the Spring 2008 semester, I spoke with Brother Harvey Jackson about not been a part of these awards since given out by our Student Government Association. I noticed that Alpha Phi Alpha had to complete our submissions to the 2002. Mr. Jackson and I sat down one evening and gathered all the information needed the Year and Most Spirited Organization, SGA. By doing so, Alpha Phi Alpha’s Sigma Kappa Chapter won honors as Fraternity of recognized for all they do on this campus and I won the Advisor of the Year award. Finally, this group of young men had been and for our community. chairperson for this event. The day On October 4, 2008, St. Joseph had its First Ever Autism Awareness Walk. I was the what to expect to see when the families of the walk, I met with AFA volunteers and did a quick explanation of autism and Brothers stepped up and completearrived. I also explained that it may not be something they are used to seeing. The AFA s were cooking the food, on the ly amazed me in how they handled the children with autism. Many of the AFA member making a lasting impression on their ground blowing bubbles, face painting, and pumpkin painting with these children and I heard two things all day long. The families. For one day, these families felt “normal”. The AFA Brothers made me proud! was how helpful, kind, and generous the first was that it was about time our city had resources for autism; and the second ss; it was personal as I have a nephew AFA Brothers were to each person there. For me, this walk was more than just awarene were truly angels! with autism. These young men had a positive impact on our community that day. They lives approximately five hours member All of the members of the Sigma Kappa Chapter are not from our local area. Each This year, I offered my home and a away. Due to this, they have never been able to build a float for the Homecoming Parade. has never entered a float in the parade. trailer so the Alphas could get involved in the parade. To my knowledge, this Chapter float. Watching them interact with each Several of the young men came over and we spent the evening building an incredible other was overwhelming. The next mornother at an event was amazing. The respect that they had for me, my family, and each they came back to my house and were ing, they were at my house at 6:30 a.m. sharp to go to the float site. After the parade, this parade. Shortly after, we all attended very appreciative of me for giving up my home, my time, and my energy to them for State University Homecoming King the Homecoming Football Game. Brother Bryan Smith was awarded Missouri Western 2008. We were all very proud of him. them. I never knew that I would I started this adventure with the Alpha Phi Alpha Chapter wondering what I could teach if it weren’t for them. The current presbe the one learning. They have accepted me into a world I would have never known advantage of my time; and if there are ident, Brother Leonard Lawson, has been so kind to make sure that they are not taking commitment to the University and comany issues, he is the first to resolve them. He is a true leader. In addition to all their Phi Alpha this semester. munity, they have completed three of the four national programs required by Alpha proud of the men they will become Each Brother brings a unique spirit to the table. I am proud of the men they are, and Chapter. They will always hold a spein society. I have been blessed by the eight members of Alpha Phi Alpha’s Sigma Kappa cial place in my heart.

Sincerely, Student Development Office Missouri Western State University

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PUBLISHER’S

PUBLISHER AND EDITOR’S LETTER

DREAMING A DREAM FOR A DREAMER

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n this edition of The Sphinx, we say goodbye to one of the visionaries of the Martin Luther King, Jr. National Memorial in Washington, D.C.—Brother Al Bailey. In July 2007, at the Fraternity’s 101st Anniversary Convention in Orlando, Florida, Brother Alfred Carver Bailey was a recipient of the Alpha Phi Alpha Award of Merit—the highest honor given to a member of the organization—in recognition of his work toward the memorial. He entered Omega Chapter, the Fraternity’s chapter for deceased members, one year later—around the time of the organization’s 2008 Convention in Kansas City, Missouri—not having seen final construction of the memorial; however, having witnessed the ceremonial groundbreaking for the project and knowing that it would not be long before the honor to Brother Dr. King became a reality.

I remember having traveled to Brother Bailey’s home in Silver Spring, Maryland in the mid 1990s when I served as the Fraternity’s Director of Communications and Editor-in-Chief of The Sphinx to talk with him about the memorial. I had already held several phone conversations about the proposed monument with MLK Memorial Project Chairman Brother George Sealey, another of the original visionaries. Brother Sealey enlightened me about the work that Washington, D.C.-area Brothers were doing.

Brothers George Sealey, Al Bailey and other early supporters of the idea were lobbying Congress in an attempt to get legislation passed authorizing construction of the MLK National Memorial on federal land in the nation’s capital. The memorial proposal was facing another major milestone in the legislative process and they were seeking media assistance to publicize their efforts.

Being a former newspaper reporter and television news assignment editor, I went to Brother Bailey’s home to discuss media strategies with him and to get information for publication of an article about the proposed memorial in The Sphinx. I made my way from the Fraternity’s Headquarters in Baltimore to his home where I found Brother Bailey surrounded by his family and grandchildren.

After being introduced to all of his family, we had a chance to discuss the project and review materials he had on hand.

They say that “seeing is believing” and I think I saw some of Brother Bailey’s and the other early memorial planners’ vision that day.

The information Brother Bailey shared was awe-inspiring, with materials dating from the initial efforts to bring about the legislation to the early support received from Coretta Scott King. I also recognized how the effort of the local Brothers had reached the congressional level—seeing the ability of Brothers Sealey and Bailey to bring the project to the forefront of one’s attention. I understood how that had been a key component toward the project’s success.

Following our meeting, additional media coverage about the Fraternity’s efforts to get project legislation approved appeared in the Washington Post and other local newspapers and on television stations in the District of Columbia. Another hurdle toward the memorial’s development was crossed soon after when the proposal was moved out of Committee and presented for a full House vote. Not long after that the bill received full congressional approval and on November 12, 1996, President Bill Clinton signed the congressional legislation authorizing Alpha Phi Alpha to erect a memorial to Brother Martin Luther King, Jr. on federal land in Washington, D.C. The vision of Brothers Bailey, Sealey and other of the original Brothers who dreamed the memorial idea had moved down the runway, taken wings, lifted off the ground and was now in flight. Results of Brother Bailey and the others’ work will soon become a reality for all Americans to see, as well as for those who travel to this country from around the world. Our profile of Brother Bailey is presented on page 105 in this edition.

We also in this edition, note the passing of a Brother whose initiation into the Fraternity marked a major advancement for racial relations in this country. Brother Bernard Levin became the first Caucasian initiated into any African American Greek-letter fraternal organization when he joined the ranks of Alpha Phi Alpha through Theta Chapter in 1946. Brother Levin’s induction was not without its controversy—from both within and outside of the Greek-letter fraternal community. However, Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity continued to move forward, opening its doors to Brother Levin and many other non-African Americans—realizing that we can never come together if we stay apart. Brother Levin’s story appears on page 75.

Fraternally, SEATON J. WHITE, III Publisher and Editor-in-Chief

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5 1 CNN Commentator Roland Martin.

2 Congressman Bobby Scott.

3 (l-r) Past G.P. James Williams, CNN’s Brother Roland Martin, G.P. Darryl Matthews, Past G.P. Henry Ponder 4 (l-r) Midwest AVP Mark Crain, Midwest V.P. Mark Tillman and Eastern V.P. Dennis Kemp.

5 (l-r) Brother Hilton Smith of Turner Construction Co.; General President-elect Skip Mason; unidentified; Past General President and MLK Project President Harry Johnson.

6 (l-r) Executive Director Willard Hall and Committee Chairman Zollie Stevenson.

7 (l-r) Ed. Foundation Chairman Ralph Johnson, G.P. Darryl Matthews and Brother Jodie James.

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FRATERNITY’S 16TH ANNUAL CBC RECEPTION HELD DURING FINAL DAYS OF HISTORIC U.S. PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION CAMPAIGN Voter Registration and $700 Billion Financial Bailout Proposal among Topics Addressed During Reception Article by Seaton White Photos by Ronald Baker

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peakers at Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity’s 16th Annual Congressional Black Caucus Reception—held September 25, 2008 in Washington, D.C., just a few weeks before the historic U.S. Presidential Election where an African American candidate was a Presidential nominee for one of the two major political parties for the first time in the country’s history— emphasized the need for Alpha Brothers to register voters and make sure they voted on Election Day. The Bush Administration’s $700 billion bailout proposal for the country’s financial institutions also was addressed during the reception.

CNN Cable Network political commentator Brother Roland Martin told the reception: “We are looking at one of the most historic times in the history of the country in terms of Presidential Elections.

“What each and every one of us should be doing is making sure everybody that we know is registered to vote and that everybody we know is actually going to vote on November 4th,” Brother Martin said. “If we want to make a difference, that’s what we have to do.”

Roland Martin told those attending the reception that there are currently more than 600,000 unregistered African American voters in Texas. He reminded them that 19 Electoral College votes were decided by less than 500 votes during the last U.S. Presidential Election with George Bush having won Iowa by 10,000 votes and New Mexico by 6,000 votes over John Kerry.

Meanwhile, Kerry beat Bush by 9,000 votes in New Hampshire and 23,000 votes in Delaware.

Brother Martin also told Brothers to decide to address an issue such as mentoring or the Fraternity’s Go-to-High School, Goto-College program and focus on the issue during the upcoming year so that when they return to the Alpha Phi Alpha CBC Reception

next year, they can do a self-evaluation to determine if they have advanced a cause over the past year.

Brother Congressman Bobby Scott (D-Virginia) broke away from an emergency session being held on Capitol Hill to report on President George Bush’s proposed $700 billion bailout designed to jump start the economy by giving funds to ailing financial institutions. Rep. Scott reported that the Fraternity’s seven other Brothers currently serving in the Congress—led by Brother Congressman Charlie Rangel (D-New York) were still in the sessions, working to ensure that the best options were being considered for distribution of the funds. “They haven’t gotten it straight yet so we are working on it,” he said.

Brother Scott thanked those at the CBC Reception for attending and asked that they also participate in the hundreds of workshops that the Congressional Black Caucus set up to address the issues of the day.

Mr. Jim Speed of North Carolina Mutual Life Insurance also addressed the Reception and discussed the company’s partnership with Alpha Phi Alpha. He directed attendees to the tables set up for charitable program giving.

General President Darryl R. Matthews, Sr. challenged Brothers at the Reception to do what they are supposed to do to fulfill the Fraternity’s mission in the community; and to promise that Alpha men will stand up and deliver on their mission statement: “Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc. develops leaders, promotes brotherhood and academic excellence, while providing service and advocacy for our communities.”

Brother Matthews was joined at the Reception by Past General Presidents Harry E. Johnson, Sr., Henry Ponder, James R. Williams and 33rd General President-elect Herman “Skip” Mason. Several

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1

2 3

4

5 6

1 Jim Speed of North Carolina Mutual Life Insurance.

2 (l-r) March of Dimes’ LaVonia Anderson, Brother Darryl Matthews and March of Dime’s Gwen Carmen 3 Fraternity Historian Robert Harris.

members of the Fraternity’s Board of Directors also attended, including Executive Director Willard C. Hall, Jr.; Eastern Region Vice President Dennis Kemp; Midwestern Region Vice President Mark Tillman and Midwestern AVP Mark Crain. In addition, other Fraternity leaders who joined the aforementioned Brothers in the receiving line, included Historian Robert Harris; Education Foundation Chairman Ralph Johnson; Organization Effectiveness Chairman Zollie Stevenson; and MLK National Memorial Project Board Chairman Roderick D. Gillum.

Earlier that day during the MLK Memorial Project Board Meeting the Fraternity paid tribute to the late Brother Alfred “Al” C. Bailey who along with six other Brothers conceived the idea and began work for a national memorial in Washington, D.C. to honor Brother Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Posters featuring images of Brothers Martin Luther King, Jr., W.E.B. Du Bois, John H. Johnson, Jesse Owens, Charlie Rangel, Cornell West and other celebrated African Americans were dis-

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4 (l-r) MWPR Owner Monica Wood and G.P. Darryl Matthews.

5 (l-r) G.P. Darryl Matthews and Congressman Bobby Scott.

6 (l-r) Brothers Darryl Matthews and Maurice Jenkins.

played in the corridors leading to the Reception Ballroom as part of the Fraternity’s “Brought to You By An Alpha Man” campaign to bring about awareness that some of the most noted champions in the African American community were also members of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity.

“We say that the best this country has seen both today and in the past has been brought to them by Alpha men,” Fraternity Executive Director Willard Hall said. “So if you know these men based on their celebrity but have not known all there is to know about them, we want you to know them as the Alpha Brothers that they are.”

The Fraternity’s CBC Reception is held annually during Congressional Black Caucus Legislative Week in Washington. This year more than 18,000 people attended the 38th Annual Legislative Conference. The four-day event featured dozens of policy forums, general sessions, exhibits, a job fair, book signings and networking opportunities.

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SENATOR ED BROOKE MAKES LARGE DONATION TO CHARITABLE FOUNDATION FOR AFRICAN AMERICAN MALES PURSUING EDUCATIONAL CAREERS General President Darryl Matthews Receives Prestigious Honor

F

ormer U.S. Senator from Massachusetts Brother Edward W. ing people of color around the word was actualized when he Brooke has become a major contributor to the Alpha Phi became the first Chair of the Alpha Phi Alpha World Policy Alpha Charitable Foundation with a sizeable donation that Council in the mid-1990s. The World Policy Council examines was presented to General President Darryl R. Matthews, Sr. pressing issues affecting the national and international communiBrother Brooke’s $100,000 donation to the Charitable ty and recommends solutions that impact humankind.

Foundation is the largest single donation made thus far by an In addition to the donation by Senator Brooke, Brother individual contributor. Brother Matthews accepted the gift from Matthews has been able to secure additional funds for the Senator Brooke and his wife, Anne, during a private luncheon in Charitable Foundation. Since taking office in 2004, the General Miami, Florida where former General President Milton C. Davis President has been instrumental in generating substantial contribuand World Policy Council President Dr. Horace G. Dawson, Jr. tions to the Fraternity and other initiatives the organization supwere also present. ports, including the Washington, D.C. National Martin Luther King, The funds will be used by the Alpha Phi Alpha Charitable Jr. Memorial Project and the March of Dimes.

Foundation to provide scholarships and grants to African American Brother Matthews was recently inducted into Pi Eta Kappa, males pursuing careers in education as teachers.

Inc. at Medgar Evers College in Brooklyn, New York. Pi Eta Kappa For many years, Brother Brooke has been a leading advocate is an honor society for men dedicated to promoting cultural for the return of African American males to the classroom, citing growth and academic excellence in scholarship. The prestigious the need for men in the community to engage with young males as honor is bestowed upon only an elite number of inductees. Darryl positive and productive role models. He addressed the issue durMatthews shared the honor with other inductees that included ing the inaugural Charles Harris Wesley Lecture, which he presentEarl Graves, Founder of Black Enterprise Magazine; Milton Nathaniel Barnes, Liberia’s Ambassador to the United States; and ed at the first Alpha Phi Alpha National Scholarship Forum, held Grammy Award gospel music artist Hezekiah Walker; among 1996 in New Orleans, Louisiana. other noted individuals.

In accepting the gift, General President Matthews stated: “Brother Brooke has continually served our Fraternity and this country for many years. He exemplifies why America turns to Alpha—because we have in our midst great leaders, and our mission is to develop future leaders in every field of endeavor.

“It is my distinguished honor to accept this donation from him and Anne with the hopes of inspiring African American male educators for years to come,” he concluded.

The 89-year-old former U.S. Senator has been a member of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity for seven decades, having been initiated in 1937 through Beta Chapter at Howard University in Washington, D.C. His involvement and commitment to the organization has been unparalleled.

Brother Brooke’s vision that the Fraternity have (L-r) Darryl Matthews, Anne Brooke, Edward Brooke, Milton Davis and strong influence on national and global issues affect- Horace Dawson

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SPECIAL REPORT

HIV/AIDS: A Health Crisis for African Americans

By Dr. Anton C. Bizzell

H

IV/AIDS is growing most rapidly among minority populations and is a leading killer of AfricanAmerican males between the ages of 25 and 44.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), HIV/AIDS affects nearly seven times more African Americans than whites. In recent years, an increasing number of African American women and children are being affected by HIV/AIDS. While the rate of infections for other minority populations have not reached the epic proportions evidenced among African Americans, HIV infection rates are rapidly climbing. The data is alarming. Meanwhile, Alpha Phi Alpha understands that the time to act is now in order to prevent the further spread of HIV among the communities we serve; and the devastation that lies ahead is more urgent than even the following statistics indicate.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, approximately one million Americans are living with HIV and nearly one quarter of those are unaware of their status, increasing the risk for this group and others.

Moreover, about half of all HIV-infected people may be untested, untreated, or both.

African Americans and HIV/AIDS In the early years of the epidemic in the U.S., the impact of HIV/AIDS on African Americans was not widely recognized.

However, by most measures today, African Americans are the most

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significantly affected racial or ethnic group in the U.S. At all stages of HIV/AIDS—from infection with HIV to death with AIDS—African Americans are disproportionately affected compared to any other race and ethnicity.1, 2 Although African Americans make up approximately 13 percent of the U.S. population, in 2005 African Americans accounted for 49 percent (18,121) of the estimated 37,331 new HIV/AIDS diagnosed cases in the U.S., in the 33 states with mature HIV surveillance systems.

In 1996, the number of AIDS cases reported among African Americans first exceeded that reported among whites, and has remained higher ever since. Since that time, the number of estimated deaths among African Americans with AIDS exceeded deaths among whites with AIDS, and HIV was the leading cause of death among African Americans ages 25 to 44 in 2000, the last year for which data is available.

Particular segments of African American populations have been more severely impacted by the disease. African American men who have sex with men is the group that has been most affected; however heterosexual contact accounts for a rising number of cases. African American females are especially vulnerable to this epidemic, as HIV/AIDS is the number one leading cause of death for African American women ages 25 to 34.

Current statistics continue to support the fact that HIV estimates are profoundly impacting our community and further buttressing that fact, CDC released new information in August 2008 that illustrated more alarming rates of new infections than previously estimated.

As a result of new technology used to more precisely estimate HIV incidence (the annual number of new infections), the first CDC estimates reveal that the HIV epidemic is, and has been, worse than pre-

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Brothers of the Fraternity’s Omicron Lambda Alpha Chapter raised more than $7,600 for the Washington, DC-area 2008 AIDS Walk.

viously known. Results indicate that approximately 56,300 new infections occurred in the U.S. in 2006, which is roughly 40 percent higher than previous estimates of 40,000 new infections per year.3 According to the latest data, in 2006, the rate of new infections among non-Hispanic blacks was seven times the rate among whites (83.7 vs. 11.5 new infections per 100,000 people). African Americans also accounted for the largest share of new infections (45 percent, or 24,900).3 Historically, the number of new infections among blacks peaked in the late 1980s and has exceeded the number of infections in whites since that time.

African American Youth In addition, more infections occurred among young people under the age of 30 (ages 13 to 29) than any other age group (34 percent, or 17,400). The data indicates that HIV has reached epidemic levels amongst young people and calls for critical action in reaching the younger generation with HIV prevention messages and programs.

Although, the numbers indicate that new infections seem to hit the younger population at high levels, we must not negate the fact that persons over age 50 continue to account for a portion of new infections.

HIV/AIDS in 2005

African American Men An analysis of the recent data when taking into account gender and age shows great areas of concern. In 2006, men accounted for 73 percent or 41,400 new infections, whereas women accounted for nearly 27 percent. Among the new incidence in males, male-tomale sexual contact (MSM, or men who sleep with men) accounted for 53 percent (28,700) whereas high-risk heterosexual contact accounted for 31 percent (16,800) and injection drug use accounted for 12 percent (6,600).3

African American Women According to CDC, the HIV/AIDS Surveillance Report: 2005 shows that black females age 13 years and older accounted for 66 percent of the HIV/AIDS cases diagnosed among women. The rate of HIV/AIDS diagnoses for black women was 20 times the rate for white women. Approximately three-fourths of the HIV/AIDS cases diagnosed among black women were related to high-risk heterosexual contact (i.e., with a person of the opposite sex at high risk for HIV/AIDS, including MSM or injection drug users).2

• Of all black men living with HIV/AIDS, the primary transmission category was sexual contact with other men, followed by injection drug use and high-risk heterosexual contact [2].

• Of all black women living with HIV/AIDS, the primary transmission category was high-risk heterosexual contact, followed by injection drug use [2].

• Of the estimated 141 infants perinatally infected with HIV, 91 (65 percent) were black (CDC, HIV/AIDS Reporting System, unpublished data, December 2006).

• Of the estimated 18,849 people under the age of 25 whose diagnosis of HIV/AIDS was made during 2001-2004 in the 33 states with HIV reporting, 11,554 (61 percent) were black.

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Alpha’s Response to the HIV/AIDS Crisis These trends present tremendous challenges to all involved in addressing the HIV/AIDS epidemic in the U.S., including policymakers, community leaders and public health practitioners, including Alpha Phi Alpha; however, we are highly committed to reducing the disparities that exist among African Americans and we realize that we cannot do it alone. We believe that an urgent and collaborative response among Fraternity members, other black Greek-letter Organizations, community members and influential leaders is necessary to decrease HIV/AIDS among African Americans.

Through the work of our Health and Wellness Committee and the Fraternity’s Corporate Headquarters, Alpha Phi Alpha has developed a plan to ensure that the organization’s response will begin to make an impact in decreasing the number of African Americans contracting HIV. The Fraternity’s plan includes the following: • Building linkages with other organizations that provide related social and health services to African Americans. For example, Alpha Phi Alpha is working with CDC through their Heightened National Response to intensify prevention efforts nationally and to create linkages among African-American serving organizations. In addition, Alpha actively participates in the National Alliance of State and Territorial AIDS Directors African American Partners Board to foster collaboration and coordination between health departments, community-based organizations and the African American community.

• Increasing access to HIV testing and treatment services by offering opportunities for testing or partnering with community organizations that offer testing or treatment services. During the General Convention in Kansas City, Missouri, Alpha Phi Alpha began a partnership with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Office of HIV AIDS Policy, directed by Brother Christopher Bates to educate our members on the National HIV Testing Mobilization Campaign which is mobilizing communities to encourage their members to get tested for HIV. The campaign will send speakers and materials to events across the U.S. about the need for sexually active Americans to get tested for HIV. • Offering opportunities to break the silence and increase awareness of HIV/AIDS among Fraternity members, friends, family, co-workers, and others within our reach in African American communities.

In conclusion, HIV/AIDS is a threat to the health and wellbeing of African American communities and Alpha Phi Alpha stands ready to continue our collaborative efforts and to further ignite efforts amongst our brotherhood and the communities we serve in

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reducing the toll of HIV/AIDS in African Americans through increased education, testing and other preventive efforts.

For more information on how you can become involved with the Fraternity’s HIV/AIDS initiatives, please contact Brother Dr. Anton Bizzell at: Phone: 202-422-1560 or Email: drantonb@aol.com; or Brother Dr. Kama Tillman at: Phone: 734-945-8319 or Email: kamatillman@aol.com.

For more about HIV/AIDS, please visit the following websites: www.cdc.gov/hiv; www.aids.gov; and www.hivtest.org.

For more information on the National HIV Testing Mobilization Campaign, please visit: www.aid.gov/takecontrol or call 202-6905560.

For more information on the Heightened National Response, please visit: http://www.cdc.gov/hiv/topics/aa/cdc.htm

REFERENCES 1. LCWK2. Deaths, percent of total deaths, and death rates for the 15 leading causes of death in 10year age groups, by race and sex: United States, 2003. Accessed September 15, 2008.

2. CDC. HIV/AIDS Surveillance Report, 2005. Vol. 17. Rev ed. Atlanta: US Department of Health and Human Services, CDC: 2007:1–46. Accessed September 15, 2008.

3. CDC. CDC HIV/AIDS Facts: Estimates of New HIV Infections in the United States. August 2008.

Brother Dr. Anton C. Bizzell currently serves as Chair of the Fraternity’s Health and Wellness Committee (formerly Medical Advisory Board). He is a Family Medicine physician currently serving as the Vice President, Health and Clinical Services with the DB Consulting Group in Washington, D.C. area and is the former Medical Officer for the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism/National Institutes of Health and the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration. Brother Bizzell is a member of Omicron Lambda Alpha Chapter in Washington, D.C.

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ALPHA PHI ALPHA JOINS WITH AMERICAN CANCER SOCIETY IN THE FIGHT AGAINST CANCER Collaboration Formalized during Signing at Fraternity’s 102nd Anniversary Convention

A

lpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc. and the American Cancer Society, Inc.® have teamed in the fight against cancer; and to conquer the disease in communities of color. During the Fraternity’s 102nd Anniversary Convention in Kansas City, Missouri, General President Darryl R. Matthews, Sr. announced the new collaboration with the American Cancer Society and the organization’s advocacy partner, the American Cancer Society Cancer Action NetworkSM (ACS CAN).

Formalized in a signing ceremony on July 19, 2008, both organizations are collaborating and implementing specific programs designed to increase cancer awareness among the Fraternity’s members, their families and communities in which the organization serves; and to encourage individuals to get involved with the fight against cancer. The organizations initially will focus on promoting cancer prevention and early detection in communities of color as well as advocacy work on federal and state levels.

“Cancer disproportionately affects racial and ethnic minorities and medically underserved communities,” Brother Matthews said in announcing the collaboration. “Through the efforts of our Health and Wellness Committee, we will provide each Brother with information designed to educate them on ways to screen for and prevent cancer as well as how to become involved with legislative activities in our fight against cancer.”

John R. Seffrin, Ph.D., Chief Executive Officer of the American Cancer Society stated: “While we have made significant progress in the fight against cancer, African Americans continue to have the highest death and shortest survival rates of any racial or ethnic group in the United States for most cancers. Through this new two-year collaboration with Alpha Phi Alpha, we aim to help reduce these disparities.”

Alpha Phi Alpha will work with the Society’s nonprofit, nonpartisan advocacy partner, ACS CAN, on legislative issues related to colorectal cancer (commonly known as colon cancer) and other national, state, and local interests to the Fraternity and African American communities. Although colon cancer can be prevented through screening tests, racial and ethnic minorities may face barriers—among them lack of access—to getting the lifesaving screenings they need. A recent report from the Society shows that the uninsured are less likely to receive recommended cancer screening tests, including colon cancer screenings. As a result, they are more likely to be diagnosed with cancer at a later stage, and to have lower survival rates.

The Fraternity and ACS CAN will engage in a number of grassroots activities in support of legislation that will help improve access to colon cancer tests and treatment for minorities and other medically underserved men and women disproportionately affected by the disease. Planned activities include developing a co-branded website, email alerts, trainings and communication materials for the Fraternity’s undergraduate and alumni chapters.

Undergraduate chapters will have the opportunity to become involved in the American Cancer Society Colleges Against CancerSM, a program that brings Society programs and services to college communities nationwide. Through regular communications in The Sphinx Magazine, the Alpha Phi Alpha website, newsletters, and regional and national conventions, the Society will provide lifesaving early cancer detection and prevention education to Alpha’s network. or questions regarding the Alpha Phi Alpha and American Cancer Society collaboration, please contact Brother Barry-Lewis Harris II, MD at: 228-860-6906 or via email at: drharris@teneohealth.com. For more information about the Society, call: 1-800ACS-2345 or visit www.cancer.org. To take action or learn more about ACS CAN and advocacy efforts around this collaboration, visit: www.acscan.org/alphaphialpha.

Brother Anton C. Bizzell, MD, Health and Wellness Committee Chair, and staff from the American Cancer Society contributed to this article.

AMERICAN CANCER SOCIETY ® The American Cancer Society is dedicated to eliminating cancer as a major health problem by preventing cancer, saving lives, and diminishing suffering from cancer, through research, education, advocacy, and service. Founded in 1913 and with national headquarters in Atlanta, Georgia, the Society has 13 Regional Divisions and local offices in 3,400 communities, involving millions of volunteers across the United States.

ACS CAN, the nonprofit, nonpartisan advocacy partner of the American Cancer Society, supports evidence-based policy and legislative solutions designed to eliminate cancer as a major health problem. ACS CAN works to encourage elected officials and candidates to make cancer a top national priority. ACS CAN gives ordinary people extraordinary power to fight cancer with the training and tools they need to make their voices heard.

For more information on the Alpha Phi Alpha and American Cancer Society Collaboration, visit www.acscan.org/alphaphialpha.

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SPECIAL REPORT

THE EDUCATIONAL STATUS OF AFRICAN AMERICAN MALES IN THE 21ST CENTURY

By Dr. Antoine M. Garibaldi President, Gannon University

T

his article assesses the educational attainment of African American males between the 1990s and early 2000s.

Beginning with a summary of a 1987-88 study conducted by the author on African American males in the New Orleans Public Schools, national data are provided on the high school graduation rates of African American males and females, as well as trends in their enrollment and degree completion at the undergraduate, graduate and first-professional levels. The data show a growing educational disparity between African American women and men in all higher education institutions, but also in public and private historically black colleges and universities. The author offers recommendations to improve the performance, enrollment and graduation rates of African American males in order to close the current college gender gap.

Since the mid-1980s, the educational performance and progression of African American boys and men have received an extensive amount of local and national attention. The primary reason for this group being singled out was due to the fact that on most local and national measures of academic achievement, African American boys as a group were underachieving significantly. Additionally and strongly correlated with those low scores of academic performance, these young men usually had the highest rates of suspensions, expulsions, non-promotions, dropouts, special education placements, and the lowest rates of secondary school graduation and gifted and talented assignments in the majority of the more than 16,000 school districts across the country. Unfortunately, the situation has not changed considerably in the first decade of the 21st century even though black males have made modest educational progress over the last two decades. This article focuses on several of the major issues that have been raised by this author with respect to black males’ educational progress

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over the last 25 years, and it will include a review of the most recent and available college enrollment and graduation data of African American males and females. A steadily growing gender gap exists among males and females of all races, but it has widened and become extraordinarily large for African American males and females over the last 25 years.

The 1987-1988 New Orleans Black Male Study Twenty years ago in 1987, I was invited by the New Orleans Public Schools’ Board to serve as chairperson of a task force of New Orleans educators and community leaders who would meet to review the status of African American males in the local school system. After accepting to take on this major pro bono project, I decided to model the task force’s work on similar procedures that were used by the 1981-1983 National Commission on Excellence in Education, where I served as a staff member while working at the U.S. Department of Education’s National Institute of Education.

As the Chair of Xavier University of Louisiana’s Department of Education at that time, and as a former Director/Principal of the St. Paul Urban League Street Academy in the mid-1970s during my graduate school years at the University of Minnesota, I approached the task force role from the perspective that the only way to bring about realistic solutions and remedies to the poor academic performance, progression and behavioral issues of African American boys would be to analyze the most available data and obtain input from school personnel who interacted with these young men and other male and female students daily. Additionally, four public hearings were held, and the local community was given the opportunity to provide their perspectives and comments on the issue through an informational survey that was included in several thou-

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SPECIAL REPORT

sand copies of the local newspaper, The Timesrevealed that 60 percent of the teachers samPicayune, in the winter of 1988. pled taught in elementary schools, 70 percent Educating Black Male Youth: A Moral and of them had ten or more years of experience, Civic Imperative (Garibaldi, 1988) was the and 65 percent of those teachers were black. title of the 1988 final report, and a summary of That response provided added support to the the task force’s findings and recommendations teacher expectancy literature and confirmed for were published exclusively in The Journal of this author that no teachers are immune from Negro Education (Garibaldi, 1992). Because it holding negative, self-fulfilling prophecies was my intent that all of the nation’s public and about the children whom they teach, even when private school systems in the country would the pupils are of the same race as the teacher. have access to the school district’s data and When parents were surveyed, their analyses, as well as the surveys developed for beliefs coincided with those of their children. the students, teachers, parents, and local citiMore specifically, 80 percent of the 3,523 parzens, several school districts, particularly ents surveyed indicated that they believed their Milwaukee (WI) and Prince Georges County sons expected to go to college, a response that Dr. Antoine M. Garibaldi (MD), replicated the study and arrived at the was twice as large as the teachers’ expectations same results with respect to the below average (Garibaldi, 1988). But, despite those high colperformance of African American males within their respective lege aspirations expressed by parents, one-fourth of the parents geographical areas. A summary of a few of the studies’ more responded that they had never gone to their child’s school for notable findings are presented in the next section. parental conferences. Those two apparently countervailing results provided an opportunity for the school system to address this probSurvey Results of Students, Teachers, and Parents lem by adjusting the time when parental conferences are held in order to make it possible for more parents to attend. The parents’ During the 1986-1987 school year, African American males in positive college expectations of their boys and girls sent a different the New Orleans Public School System accounted for 65 percent of message to teachers who previously had believed that their total suspensions, 80 percent of all expulsions, 58 percent of nonabsences from parental conferences were indications of a lack of promotions, and 45 percent of dropouts. Black males, however, interest in their children’s education. Rather, their responses indiaccounted for only 43 percent of the school district’s student popcated that parents were concerned about and interested in their ulation, and black females represented 44 percent of the school children’s school performance. population (Garibaldi, 1988). While there is a widespread belief Overall, the New Orleans Black Male study’s findings were very that black males have low educational aspirations, the New Orleans revealing and instructive, and helped to clarify many mispercepBlack Males study showed just the opposite. In the study’s survey of tions and erroneous beliefs about the educational interests and more than 2,250 African American males in the New Orleans motivation of African American males and females in the New school district, 95 percent reported that they expected to graduate Orleans Public School System. At the end of this article, some of the from high school. But 40 percent responded that they believed recommendations that evolved from the task force’s study will be their teachers did not set high enough goals for them, and 60 permentioned because they are just as relevant today for all school syscent suggested that their teachers should push them harder. (It is tems as they were 20 years ago. important to note that a comparable-sized sample of black females Males Perform Better Than Females on who were also surveyed in the study responded similarly to the the SAT and ACT boys on those items.) Adding strength to the belief that self-fulfilling and low expectations by educators may strongly affect how boys As the reader will observe in the next section, the number of are taught and treated in schools, the results of a random survey of females enrolled in and graduating from college is significantly 500 teachers (318 of whom responded) indicated that almost six higher than males across all racial groups. However, despite the out of every ten of those teachers did not believe their black male smaller number of males in colleges and universities, SAT and ACT students would go to college (Garibaldi, 1988). That major finding data demonstrate that males have performed better than females on became even more important and disconcerting when the analyses

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SPECIAL REPORT

these tests and achieved higher average scores in 2005-2007.

Additionally, African American males have obtained higher scores than African American females in those same years. Table 1 provides the average SAT scores for all racial/ethnic groups in 20052007. Asian American students had the highest scores, whites were a close second, and blacks had the lowest scores on both tests.

Even though the widespread perception and reality are that African American males underachieve in elementary and secondary schools, it is pleasantly surprising to learn that the average SAT scores for males overall, and black males in particular, have been higher than both females overall and black females, respectively, in 2005-2007. As Table 2 shows, the average SAT score in 2007 for all

males was 1037, compared with a national average of 1017 for all students. The average SAT score for all females was 1001. Black males’ average score was 866 on the SAT compared with an average score of 859 for black females. On the ACT, which is also taken by many students across the country and particularly in the Midwest, the South and in the West, the average ACT scores for African Americans in 2005-2007 have also been the lowest among all racial and ethnic groups. While the national average on the ACT in 2007 was 21.2, African Americans’ average score was 17.0, more than four points lower than the national average. ACT performance data by gender and within particular racial groups are not available from ACT, but it would be interesting to find out

Table 1

Average SAT Scores by Racial/Ethnic Group: 2005, 2006, 2007 Ethnicity

2005

2006

2007

American Indian Asian American Black Mexican American Puerto Rican White National Average

982 1091 864 916 917 1068 1028

981 1088 863 919 915 1063 1021

981 1092 862 921 913 1061 1017

Source. The College Board. (2007). SAT national and state summary reports for 2005, 2006, and 2007.

Retrieved September 18, 2007, from http://www.collegeboard.com.

Table 2

Average SAT Scores by Gender for All Students and Black Students: 2005, 2006, 2007 Gender/Ethnicity-Gender

2005

2006

2007

All Males All Females Black Males Black Females

1051 1009 874 858

1041 1004 868 860

1037 1001 866 859

Source. The College Board. (2007). SAT national and state summary reports for 2005, 2006, and 2007.

Retrieved September 18, 2007, from http://www.collegeboard.com

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SPECIAL REPORT

whether males’ scores on this national test are consistent with their scores on the SAT. As was the case with the SAT, Table 3 shows that the highest performing group was Asian American students with an average ACT score of 22.6; followed by white students at 22.1; American Indian students at 18.9; and 18.7 for Hispanic students. It is worth noting that American Indian students’ scores are very competitive for college admission even though many American Indian students do not go to college at the same rate as other students. While males have performed slightly better on the ACT in recent years, Table 4 shows that the average ACT score for all male test-takers in 2007 was 21.2, compared with females’ average score of 21.0. That aver-

age difference of two-tenths of a percentage point between males and females was also consistent with scores in 2005 and 2006.

High School Graduation Rates of African American 25- to 29-Year-Olds Even though much of the attention on black high school graduation rates is usually focused on 18- to 24-year-old groups, where black males lagged behind black females by more than 357,000 diplomas (Education Week, 2007), it is also important to look at the educational attainment percentages for 25- to 29-year-old African American men and women,

Table 3

Average ACT Scores by Racial/Ethnic Groups: 2005, 2006, 2007 Ethnicity

2005

2006

2007

American Indian Asian American Black Hispanic White National Average

18.7 22.1 17.0 18.6 21.9 20.9

18.8 22.3 17.1 18.6 22.0 21.1

18.9 22.6 17.0 18.7 22.1 21.2

Source. American College Testing Program. (2007). ACT national and state scores for 2005, 2006, and 2007.

Retrieved September 18, 2007, from http://www. act.org

Table 4

Average ACT Scores by Gender for All Students: 2005, 2006, 2007 Gender/Ethnicity-Gender

2005

2006

2007

All Males All Females

21.1 20.9

21.2 21.0

21.2 21.0

Source. American College Testing Program. (2007). ACT national and state scores for 2005, 2006, and 2007.

Retrieved September 18, 2007, from http://www. act.org

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because the educational attainment percentages show a higher graduation rate for black men in 2004. As Table 5 indicates, 91.3 percent of 25- to 29-year-old African American men completed four or more years of high school compared with 86.6 percent of African American women in 2004. In addition to the difference being only 4.7 percent between the two groups, the educational attainment percentage is actually higher for males compared with females. The latter is a very interesting statistic for 25- to 29-year-old black males and black females because the percentage of 18- to 24-year-old African American males and females who graduated from high school was an average of 10 points or lower. Thus, Table 5 suggests that it is very possi-

ble that African American males and females who do not graduate from high school with their 18- to 24-year-old peer groups may in fact be graduating from high school either with an equivalency degree (i.e., GED) or by returning to high school in order to get the required credits for graduation. If either assumption is correct, this latter group of black high school graduates is another untapped pool of individuals, particularly males, who are eligible to enroll in college but who may be overlooked by colleges and universities because of their age.

More intensive research is needed over the next few years on this surprising high school graduation data result for 25- to 29year-old African Americans.

Table 5

Percent of 25- to 29-Year-Old African Americans Who Completed Four or More Years of High School: 1994, 1999, and 2004 Gender/Ethnicity-Gender

1994 (%)

1999 (%)

2004 (%)

Black Males Black Females All Blacks

82.9 85.0 84.1

88.2 89.2 88.7

91.3 86.6 88.7

Source. American Council on Education (2006). Minorities in higher education annual status report: 2006. Washington, DC: American Council on Education.

Table 6

African Americans Enrolled in College by Gender: 1993, 1998, 2003 Gender/Ethnicity-Gender Black Women (BW) Black Men (BM) BW-BM Differences

1993

1998

2003

842,002 526,610 315,392

965,699 561,475 404,224

1,266,107 686,615 579,492

Source. American Council on Education (2006). Minorities in higher education annual status report: 2006. Washington, DC: American Council on Education.

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More African American Women than Men Continue to be Enrolled in College As I have expressed in several articles in The Journal of Negro Education and other periodicals, as well as chapters in books, over the last 20 years (Garibaldi, 1986, 1991, 1992, 1997, 2000), more black women than men have been enrolling and graduating from college for almost a half century. Analyses of recent years’ data bring this issue into sharper focus. Table 6, for example, shows that a much higher number of African American women were enrolled in college in 1993, 1998, and 2003. The cumulative effect of each of those ten years has meant that there has been a sig-

nificant increase in the number of college-enrolled African American females. In 2003, a total of 1,266,107 African American women were enrolled in college compared with 686,615 African American men. That difference of 579,492 is 54 percent higher than the gap of 315,392 more African American women than men who were enrolled in college in 1993.

Table 7 demonstrates that blacks are not the only group with a postsecondary gender gap crisis because each racial/ethnic group’s college enrollment gap is quite large. The college gender gap for whites was more than 1.3 million in 2003; Hispanics had a gap of 283,850; for Asian Americans it was 75,811; and for American Indians the difference was 36,923. Thus, the gap is large for every

Table 7

College Enrollment by Gender and Race/Ethnicity in 2003 Ethnicity Whites Blacks Hispanic Asian American American Indian

Females

Males

Difference

5,947,756 1,266,107 943,167 531,422 99,960

4,591,166 686,615 659,317 455,611 63,037

1,356,590 579,492 283,850 75,811 36,923

Source. American Council on Education (2006). Minorities in higher education annual status report: 2006. Washington, DC: American Council on Education.

Table 8

African American Enrollment at All HBCUs by Gender: 1993, 1998, and 2003 Category

1993

1998

2003

All HBCUs Men Women Gap Ratio

227,518 91,804 135,714 43,910 60/40%

219,736 85,689 134,047 48,358 61/39%

245,494 92,886 152,608 59,722 62/38%

Source. American Council on Education (2006). Minorities in higher education annual status report: 2006. Washington, DC: American Council on Education.

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one of these racial/ethnic groups based on the latest data available from the United States Department of Education (ACE, 2006).

African American Enrollment at Historically Black Colleges and Universities The African American college attendance gender gap also shows that at two-year colleges and universities there are a much larger number of African American males and females, many of whom do not transfer to four-year institutions. In 2003, 842,817 African Americans were enrolled in two-year institutions. That figure accounts for 43 percent of all 1,952,722 African Americans

enrolled in college that year. Table 8 also demonstrates that 59,722 more African American females attended historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs) in 2003, or a 62 percent: 38 percent ratio of females to males; and a larger number of African American females attended both public and independent HBCUs than males.

One positive observation from Table 8 (page 25) is that the number of African American males enrolled in HBCUs in 2003 was slightly more than in 1993, after a decline of 6,115 in 1998. However, black women increased their share in 2003 by more than 18,000.

In 2003, 43,758 more African American females attended public HBCUs (see Table 9). At independent (private) HBCUs in 2003, there were almost 16,000 more African American women

Table 9

African American Enrollment at Public HBCUs by Gender: 1993, 1998, and 2003 Category

1993

1998

2003

Total Men Women Gap

157,888 63,940 93,948 30,008

150,934 58,750 92,184 33,434

175,844 66,043 109,801 43,758

Source. American Council on Education (2006). Minorities in higher education annual status report: 2006. Washington, DC: American Council on Education.

Table 10

African American Enrollment at Independent HBCUs by Gender: 1993, 1998, and 2003 Category

1993

1998

2003

Total Men Women Gap

69,630 27,864 41,766 13,902

68,802 26,939 41,863 14,924

69,650 26,843 42,807 15,964

Source. American Council on Education (2006). Minorities in higher education annual status report: 2006. Washington, DC: American Council on Education.

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than African American men enrolled on those campuses (see Table 10). Moreover, Tables 9 and 10 show that the number of African American females at both public and independent HBCUs has increased at greater rates in 1998 and 2003 compared with the declining numbers of African American males.

Black Men are Graduating from Undergraduate and Graduate Programs at Lower Numbers than Black Women As a forthcoming chapter by this author will outline in greater detail (Garibaldi, in press), women of all races are receiving more undergraduate, graduate and first-professional degrees than men.

And, in the case of black men and women, the graduation gap between these two groups continues to grow larger each year. Black women, for example, earned a larger number of Bachelor’s degrees between 1993-94 and 2003-04 compared with black men. Blacks overall had a 54.6 percent increase in Bachelor’s degrees between 1993-94 and 2003-04 (from 82,007 to 126,768). But when the focus is placed on the gender disparity of those Bachelor’s degrees, African American women’s share increased sharply by 62.7 percent (from 51,985 in 1993-94 to 84,559 in 2003-04). African American men, however, only increased their share of Bachelor’s degrees by 40.6 percent (from 30,022 in 1993-94 to 42,209 in 2003-04).

Black women also earned more than twice the number of Master’s degrees earned by black men in 2003-2004—32,453 Master’s degrees for black females compared with 13,017 for black males. With respect to doctoral degrees, black women earned 1,780 doctorates in 2003-04, compared with 946 doctorates for black men. While the figure for men is slightly more than half of the number of doctorates for black women, black men actually increased their share of doctorates by almost 60 percent compared with the data for 1993. Lastly, despite some gains by black men in obtaining first-professional degrees, black women received 3,508 degrees compared with 2,127 for black men in 2003-04.

The previous data convincingly show that the African American gender gaps in education are becoming larger each year at the elementary, secondary, and postsecondary levels, and only a collaborative effort among schools, colleges and universities, local community agencies and the homes of these youth will reduce the size of these growing distinctions among black men and women.

Conclusion and Recommendations The preceding data clearly show that African American boys and men are continuing to fall behind their female counterparts

on most educational performance measures and also on graduation rates from high school and undergraduate and graduate programs. But even more significantly, these young men are losing educational and economic ground to just about all other racial and gender groups. Therefore, a few recommendations that may have a meaningful impact on this critical situation are offered here.

First, the academic achievement of African American males must be reinforced at every level of the academic continuum so that these young men are not only motivated “to do well in school,” but also to pursue a college education. In today’s society, an inadequate amount of time is devoted to recognizing students’ academic achievement, while the celebration of athletes’ success is usually given more attention in schools. With a stronger emphasis on college preparation, more black boys and young men will internalize the importance of attending college and its linkage to their long-term economic security. This emphasis on college must begin in the elementary grades and the responsibility for assuring that this happens must be shared by teachers, counselors, and other school personnel. Parents must play an even more pivotal role in ensuring that their sons will attend college. Too many African American males do not think that they can go to college because they do not believe they can afford a college education. As the ACT and SAT average scores indicated, males continue to score higher than females on these tests. Therefore, we must convey that message to them so they will not only improve their classroom performance and secondary school grade point averages, but also to help them to ignore the negative effects of peer pressure from their male classmates in particular.

Colleges and universities must also develop more pre-college programs to increase the number of students enrolled in America’s more than 4,000 colleges and universities. During the 1960s and 1970s, colleges and universities significantly increased the amount of African American students in higher education with several successful federally-funded summer and weekend pre-college programs. Programs such as Upward Bound, Talent Search, and other similar enrichment programs, which are funded through the U.S. Department of Education, began on many campuses over the last 40 years, and they have had a significant impact on the number of students who enrolled in college, especially those from low-income families. The impact of those programs was very noticeable around 1976, which was the peak year for African American students who attended college. More than 1.3 million African American students attended college in 1976 and the comparable number today is about 2.2

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million. With more non-white students graduating from high school today, though not as many as should be graduating, their numbers in college should also be significantly higher. Upward Bound and Talent Search, which unfortunately have had to plead their case for survival to the Congress and the Executive Branch of the federal government over the last few years as they have been threatened for elimination, are two essential college preparation programs that deserve to be continued because of their success in promoting the benefits of higher education.

College students are also effective mentors to prospective college students. Those students who are already enrolled in college help promote the many benefits and advantages of pursuing a Bachelor’s degree and also tell students about the excitement of college life and the many leadership skills they can learn during that experience. In the 1980s, two popular television programs targeted to blacks had a noticeable impact on the numbers of African American students who enrolled in college. The TV program, “A Different World,” which had a historically black college setting and which explored college’s varied social and academic life, influenced many African American students’ decision to attend college. Additionally, a regular theme of “The Cosby Show,” another popular program in the 1980s, advanced the benefits of higher education. And the show’s star, Bill Cosby, playing the role of a successful physician, conveyed the importance of college by wearing the sweatshirts of many colleges and universities. Promoting the advantages of a college education is extremely important, but we must also strongly tell students that college is affordable and that they are eligible for and entitled to numerous federal and state grants and scholarships. Colleges and universities, therefore, can help parents and students obtain this information by offering financial aid workshops for the parents of high school students, as well as bringing students of all grades and ages to visit college campuses.

In addition to the above suggestions, I strongly encourage school personnel and educational researchers to review the more than 50 recommendations that were developed as a result of the New Orleans Public Schools’ Study on Black Males of 1987. Some of those recommendations, published in The Journal of Negro Education (Garibaldi, 1992), are very relevant today as many segments of society strive to improve the educational performance of African American males. If those recommendations are implemented successfully across this country, we will be able to write about more of the educational accomplishments of African American males when The Journal of Negro Education celebrates its centennial anniversary in 2032.

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REFERENCES American Council on Education (2006). Minorities in higher education annual status report: 2006.

Washington, DC: American Council on Education.

American College Testing Program. (2007). ACT national and state scores for 2005, 2006, and 2007.

Retrieved September 18, 2007, from http://www. act.org The College Board. (2007). SAT national and state summary reports for 2005, 2006, and 2007. Retrieved September 18, 2007, from http://www.collegeboard.com Community opinion survey for the Committee to Study the Status of Black Males in the New Orleans Public Schools (1988, February 5). The Times Picayune.

Diplomas Count: The Graduation Project 2007. (2007, June 12). Education Week, 42.

Garibaldi, A. M. (1986). Sustaining Black educational progress: Challenges for the 1990s. The Journal of Negro Education, 55, 386-396.

Garibaldi, A. M. (1988). Educating Black Male Youth: A Moral and Civic Imperative. New Orleans, LA: New Orleans Public Schools Committee to Study the Status of the Black Male Student.

Garibaldi, A. M. (1991). The Role of Historically Black Colleges in Facilitating Resilience among AfricanAmerican Students. Education and Urban Society, 24, 103-112.

Garibaldi, A. M. (1992). Educating and Motivating African-American Males to Succeed. The Journal of Negro Education, 61, 4-11.

Garibaldi, A. M. (1997). Four Decades of Progress . . . and Decline: An Assessment of African American Educational Attainment. The Journal of Negro Education, 66, 105-120.

Garibaldi, A. M. (2000). Postsecondary Access and Degree Attainment of African Americans 1976-1996: A Dream Fulfilled or a Dream Still Deferred? In C. Camp Yeakey (Ed.), Edmund W. Gordon: Producing Knowledge, Pursuing Understanding (pp. 143-155). Stamford, CT: JAI Press.

Garibaldi, A. M. (in press). The Expanding Gender and Racial Gap in American Higher Education. In, The History of Race and Higher Education. Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins University Press.

This article originally appeared in The Journal of Negro Education (JNE) in December 2007. Published under the auspices of the School of Education, The Journal of Negro Education is a scholarly refereed journal, founded at Howard University in 1932. It is one of the oldest continuously published periodicals by and about black people. For more information, contact the Editor-in-Chief, Brother Ivory A. Toldson, Ph.D., The Journal of Negro Education, Howard University, 2900 Van Ness Street, NW, Washington, DC 20008; Phone: (202) 806-8120; Email: itoldson@howard.edu.

Brother Dr. Antoine M. Garibaldi is President and Professor of Education at Gannon University (PA). Brother Garibaldi received his B.A. degree in Sociology from Howard University and his Ph.D. in Educational Psychology from the University of Minnesota.

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MORGAN STATE UNIVERSITY PRESIDENT

BROTHER EARL RICHARDSON ANNOUNCES RETIREMENT

M

organ State University President Dr. is nationally recognized for increasing the numEarl S. Richardson announced his deciber of minorities in the field of mathematics, scision to retire from the school at the end ence and engineering. of 2009. Brother Richardson’s retirement is to Also, Morgan has achieved the doctoral become effective on December 31, 2009, markuniversity research status under Dr. Richardson’s ing 25 years that he will have served as president leadership and is one of only four public instituof the University, located in Baltimore, Maryland, tions in the state of Maryland to do so. Morgan and 39 years of service as a state employee.

State University was founded in 1867 and is a Following his retirement, Dr. Richardson Carnegie classified Doctoral Research Institution will maintain an office at the school and serve as offering more than 70 academic programs leadPresident Emeritus while teaching a couple of ing to Bachelor’s degrees as well as programs at graduate courses a year there. the Master’s and doctoral levels.

Brother Richardson was appointed as the Dr. Richardson also is very active in civic 11th President of Morgan State University in 1984. and community organizations. He serves as Dr. Earl S. Richardson During his tenure, Morgan experienced unpreceChair of the President’s Board of Advisors on dented growth and development in its programs, HBCUs (1998–Present); as a member of the expansion of physical facilities on the campus and improvements in LifeBridge; the National Institute of Health/The Department of enrollment numbers, as well as in the quality of students admitted.

Health and Human Services (DHHS) Working Group; the A native of Maryland’s Eastern Shore, Brother Richardson is a Baltimore Vision 2030 Committee; the Baltimore/Washington graduate of what was then Maryland State College’s baccalaureate 2012 Coalition; the American Council on Education’s (ACE) program in social sciences and he earned Master of Science and Commission on International Education; the Goldseker Doctor of Education degrees from the University of Pennsylvania, Foundation; Maryland Education Coalition Advisory Board; an graduating at the head of his class.

Honorary Board member of Baltimore Neighborhoods, Inc. Over the years, Brother Richardson developed a personal (BNI); Partnership for Learning (PFL); the Board of understanding of the challenges faced by historically black colleges Educational Testing Service (ETS); the Board for Quality and universities and became known during his career as a chamEducation for Minorities (QEM) Network; the Board of Trustees pion for the enhancement of Maryland’s HBCUs. Baltimore Museum of Art (BMA); Board of Directors of the Before coming to Morgan, Brother Richardson served in variNational Black College Alumni Hall of Fame Foundation (1994); ous leadership roles, including Assistant to the President of the former Chairman and present Secretary of the Board of University System of Maryland; Executive Assistant to the Chancellor Directors for the National Association for Equal Opportunity in at University of Maryland Eastern Shore; Director of Career Higher Education (NAFEO).

Planning and Placement; and Acting Director of Admissions and He also has served as a member of the Boards of the Baltimore Registration at the University of Maryland Eastern Shore. He also Symphony Orchestra; the Greater Baltimore Committee; the taught at the undergraduate level.

Committee of 100 for the Science Center; the Alvin Ailey Dance Under Dr. Richardson’s leadership, Morgan State University Theater Foundation of Maryland; the National Board of the Fund has seen a tremendous transformation, resulting in a campus with for the Improvement of Postsecondary Education (1992); and the more state of the art facilities and numerous infrastructure Board of the Maryland Business Roundtable for Education. enhancements. The school is Maryland’s leader in producing Brother Richardson is married to the former Sheila Bunting of African American degree recipients at the baccalaureate level and Oklahoma City. Dr. and Mrs. Richardson have a son, Eric.

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SECRETARY OF STATE CONDOLEEZZA RICE WELCOMES HOWARD UNIVERSITY FELLOWS AND SCHOLARS INTO FOREIGN SERVICE

U

nited States Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice met with the 17 students enrolled in Howard University’s Summer Enrichment Program in International Affairs in the elegant rotunda of her suite of offices at the State Department in July 2008.

Secretary Rice also participated in closing exercises for the students at the Ralph Johnson Bunche Center where Brother Dr. Horace G. Dawson, Jr. is the Director. Brother Dawson also is founder and director of the International Affairs Center.

The University’s 20 Charles B. Rangel Fellows serving in the Congressional offices on Capitol Hill came to meet and take photos with the International Affairs Summer Enrichment Program students and the Secretary of State. Ambassador Ruth A. Davis, who was influential and instrumental in the development of Howard University’s Rangel Program, also joined the Rangel Fellows, Summer Enrichment Program students and University staff in the photo op.

Secretary Rice, who helped double the Howard University Rangel Program this year from ten to 20 participants, congratulated the Fellows and Scholars for their successful participation. She also welcomed those already identified for Foreign Service entry and offered words of advice concerning their future careers in

diplomacy. “Do not take mentorship lightly,” she stated, “as all of us owe our progress in part to others who offered advice and encouraged us along the way.”

The Rangel Scholars come from 12 different universities across the country, with eight of them coming from Historically Brother Ambassador Horace Black Colleges and Dawson and Secretary of State Universities. They come Condoleezza Rice. from eight different states, including Maryland, California, Texas, Tennessee, Alabama, New York, Florida and Georgia. Among them are, for the first time, two Serrano Scholars—individuals who are studying at Columbia University under a special program honoring Congressman Jose Serrano and designed to encourage and prepare college students from diverse ethnic backgrounds to enter careers in international affairs and security.

Following their internship stints on Capitol Hill, the 20 Rangel Fellows were scheduled to begin their studies this fall toward Master’s degrees in International Affairs at institutions such as Columbia, Johns Hopkins, Georgetown, Denver, George Washington, Harvard, Tufts and the University of Texas-Austin. Based on the quality of the candidates, most of the institutions are “topping off” tuition costs received by the Fellows under the Rangel Program, which is headed by Ms. Dr. Horace Dawson and Secretary Condoleezza Rice (seated center) are pictured with Patricia H. Scroggs, a former Howard University’s Charles B. Rangel Fellows.

Foreign Service Officer.

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NPHC ORGANIZATIONS VOICE CONCERN ABOUT COMMUNITY ISSUES DURING UNITY MARCH IN WASHINGTON

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eneral President Darryl R. Matthews, Sr., who also serves as chairman of the NPHC organizations’ Council of Presidents, (above) presents a resolution to U.S. Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi on behalf of the nine member organizations, expressing their concerns about issues affecting our communities at the Unity March, held July 17, 2008 during the Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority’s Centennial Celebration in Washington, D.C. Others pictured are (l-r) Paul L. Griffin, Jr., International President of Phi Beta Sigma Fraternity; Louise A. Rice, National President Delta Sigma Theta Sorority; AKA Soror and U.S. Congresswoman Sheila Jackson-Lee (D-TX); Barbara A. McKenzie, International President of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority; Brother Matthews; Speaker Pelosi; AKA Soror U.S. Congresswoman Diane Watson (D-CA); AKA Soror U.S. Congresswoman Eddie Bernice Jackson (D-TX); Dwayne M. Murray, Grand Polemarch of Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity; and Larry Frasier,

Grand Polaris of Iota Phi Theta Fraternity. Earlier, heads and members of the nine NPHC organizations—along with National Council of Negro Women Chairman/President Emeritus Dr. Dorothy Height, Chairman of the D.C. Council Vincent Gray and other leaders— marched down Pennsylvania Avenue from the NCNW headquarters to the U.S. Capitol where the resolution was presented. The Unity March demonstrated the need for action in areas of health, education, environment, economics and politics. The Council of Presidents governs the National Pan Hellenic Council, a collaborative body of nine Greek-lettered organizations with a collective membership in excess of two million, college-educated members residing primarily in the United States. The member organizations are strong supporters of protecting the health and well-being of all Americans, especially children, and are committed to working with elected officials in finding meaningful solutions to issues.

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ALPHA PHI ALPHA BROTHERS WITHIN THE FBI

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hile there are more than 30 Alpha Phi Alpha Brothers who are employed by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and share a common fraternal bond, the Fraternity members come from diverse backgrounds and work in various capacities within the agency. Several of the Brothers had prior careers before being employed by the FBI and their reasons for choosing the agency are as varied as their skill sets.

Similar to the Brothers currently employed by the agency, the FBI continues to seek individuals with backgrounds and degrees in Information Technology, Intelligence, Physical/Applied Science, Linguistics, Accounting, Law, Engineering, Business, Tactical Operations/Special Forces, and Law Enforcement for both their Special Agent and Professional Support positions.

A number of the Alpha Phi Alpha Brothers who are employed with the FBI are profiled on the following pages.

BROTHER RAYMOND OGLESBY Special Agent B.A. Economics B.S. Finance MBA Finance and International Banking

rently the Special Agent Recruiter for the Houston Division and is tasked with promoting the various career opportunities in the FBI. He also serves as the Internship and Fitness coordinator for the Houston Division.

BROTHER JAMES WALDEN Brother Oglesby was initiated in 1983 through Iota Zeta Chapter (University of Maryland). He received an athletic scholarship in track and field from the University of Maryland at College Park and graduated with a B.A. degree in Economics and a B.S. degree in Finance. After graduation, he worked for the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia (FRB) as a Bank Examiner. During his time at the FRB, he attended graduate school at St. Joseph University where he received an MBA in Finance and International Banking. Brother Oglesby began his career with the Federal Bureau of Investigation in 1991 and after graduating from the FBI Academy, he was assigned to the Houston Division as a Special Agent. His assignments have included numerous Federal violations including mortgage loan fraud, identity theft and corporate fraud. His largest investigation to date was a $40 million dollar bank fraud case during the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta, Georgia. Brother Oglesby is cur-

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Supervisory Special Agent B.S. Political Science Law Degree Brother James Walden was initiated through Zeta Omicron Lambda Chapter (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania) in 1992.

He graduated in 1991 from Rutgers College (now Rutgers University) with a degree in Political Science.

Upon graduation, Brother Walden entered Rutgers School of Law at Camden. While attending law school, he was hired by the Camden City Attorney’s Office as a Legal Intern. Upon graduation in 1994, Brother Walden was hired by the Baltimore City (Maryland) Police Department. In 1996, Brother Walden began his career with the Federal Bureau of Investigation and upon graduating from the FBI Academy was assigned to the Washington Field Office as a Special

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ALPHA PHI ALPHA BROTHERS WITHIN THE FBI Agent. He investigated Civil Rights, Violent Crimes /Major Offenders (FBI Fugitive Task Force) and served on the divisions Hazardous Materials Response Team. In 2005, Brother Walden was promoted to Supervisory Special Agent and transferred to FBI Headquarters in the Office of Professional Responsibility. In 2007, he transferred to the Inspection Division where he was responsible for investigating allegations of employee misconduct and conducted routine inspections of FBI Divisions. Additionally, he provided instruction to FBI New Agents and Intelligence Analysts during their respective training.

In 2008, Brother Walden was selected for the FBI’s International Program where he will be transferred to Dakar, Senegal as an Assistant Legal Attaché. Brother Walden will be an accredited U.S. Diplomat in multiple West African countries. In addition, he will have overall responsibility for counter terrorism and criminal matters.

BROTHER PERRYE K. TURNER Assistant Special Agent in Charge B.S. Mathematics and Statistics Master of Business Administration Brother Perrye Turner was initiated through Eta Kappa Chapter (Louisiana Tech University). He graduated in 1987 from Louisiana Tech University with a Bachelor of Science degree in Mathematics and Statistics. While in college, Brother Turner was a member of the Union Board and President of Eta Kappa. After graduation, he worked for Aetna Casualty and Surety in Shreveport, Louisiana as a Senior Commercial Property Claims Representative. In 1990, Brother Turner became a full-time graduate student at Louisiana Tech University and worked as a graduate assistant in the Mathematics Department. He entered on duty with the FBI in 1991 and after graduating from the FBI Academy was assigned to the Birmingham Division, Huntsville Resident Agency as a Special Agent where he worked criminal investigative matters. In 1994, he was transferred to the New Orleans Division, Monroe RA, where he worked primarily Drug/Gang and Public Corruption investigations. In 1999, Brother Turner was promoted to FBI Headquarters in Washington, D.C. as a supervisor in the Criminal Investigative Division, Drug Section, Mexican/Criminal Syndicates Unit. In July 2001, Brother Turner was transferred to the Jackson Division as Supervisor of the Organized Crime/Drug and Violent Crime Major Offenders squad. Brother Turner was later promoted to the Memphis Field Office as Assistant Special Agent in Charge. In December 2007, he earned an MBA from Belhaven College.

BROTHER DOUGLAS S. SHIPLEY Supervisory Special Agent B.A. Administration of Justice Brother Douglas S. Shipley was initiated through Delta Rho Chapter (the University of Missouri–Kansas City) in 1982. He became a Life Member of the Fraternity in 1985 and is currently a member of Xi Alpha Lambda Chapter in Prince William County, Virginia. Brother Shipley’s initiation completed the Shipley family Alpha tree—he has three older brothers who also are members of Alpha Phi Alpha, including David Shipley, Jr. (Theta – 1978); Darrell Shipley (Alpha Psi – 1979); and Donald Shipley (Alpha Chi – 1980). While in college, Brother Douglas Shipley volunteered as an Auxiliary Police Officer for the Kansas City (Missouri) Police Department. Upon graduation in 1984, he was hired as a KCPD Officer and he served as a Patrol Officer, a Field Training Officer, and later, an Instructor at the Kansas City Regional Police Academy.

Brother Shipley began his career with the Federal Bureau of Investigation in 1989 and was assigned to the FBI's Houston Division as a Special Agent. He investigated White Collar Crime, Civil Rights, Violent Crimes and Major Offenders (FBI Fugitive Task Force), and Foreign Counterintelligence. He also served as an Assistant Team Leader on Houston’s S.W.A.T. team and as a Defensive Tactics Instructor. In 1997, Brother Shipley was promoted to Supervisory Special Agent and transferred to the FBI Academy, Quantico, Virginia, as a Physical Training Instructor. Brother Shipley is only the second African American to ever hold that position at the FBI’s Academy and he was featured in CNN’s 1999 documentary, “The Making of an FBI Agent.” In 1999, Brother Shipley was transferred to the Color of Law Unit (Civil Rights Section) at FBI Headquarters. He was responsible for the oversight of 18 field divisions’ Civil Rights Programs. Additionally, he provided Civil Rights instruction to FBI New Agents and law enforcement professionals attending the FBI’s National Academy during their respective training. Brother Shipley transferred to the FBI’s El Paso Division in 2002 where he was in charge of the Public Corruption/Civil Rights Squad. In 2005, he moved into the FBI’s International Program when he transferred to Bridgetown, Barbados, as an Assistant Legal Attaché. Brother Shipley was an accredited U.S. Diplomat in multiple Caribbean countries. He had overall responsibility for counter terrorism and criminal matters.

In June 2008, Brother Shipley transferred to the International Assistance and Training Unit (ITAU) in Quantico, Virginia. The ITAU

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is responsible for all FBI training initiatives with international law enforcement organizations both overseas and domestically.

Brother Shipley develops and coordinates training initiatives for the continent of Africa.

BROTHER GERALD N. JACKSON Supervisory Special Agent B.S. Business Administration Brother Gerald N. Jackson was initiated through Pi Chapter (Cleveland State, Case Western Reserve in Cleveland, Ohio) in 1979. Brother Jackson is currently a member of Xi Alpha Lambda Chapter in Prince William County, Virginia. He graduated in 1981 from Baldwin-Wallace College in Berea, Ohio with a degree in Business Administration and a minor in communications. Upon graduation, Brother Jackson was employed as a Sales Representative for Bendix Warner and Swasey and later with Pitney Bowes and Ortho Pharmaceutical, a Division of Johnson and Johnson. In 1987, Brother Jackson began his career with the Federal Bureau of Investigation and was assigned to the Washington Field Office as a Special Agent. Brother Jackson worked on a major fraud task force and investigated multiple White Collar Crime violations, including Government, Economic and Health Care Fraud matters. His work assignments have included Civil Rights investigations and numerous other criminal violations. In 2001, Brother Jackson was promoted to Supervisory Special Agent and transferred to FBI Headquarters in the Hate Crimes/Color of Law Unit (Integrity in Government/Civil Rights Section). He was responsible for the oversight of the Civil Rights program of more than 18 field divisions. Additionally, he provided Civil Rights instruction to FBI New Agents at the FBI Academy and to law enforcement professionals attending the FBI National Academy, which provides accredited courses for Law Enforcement Executives. He also provided instruction and training to local and international law enforcement organizations, citizen groups and civil rights organizations. In 2003, Brother Jackson transferred to the Health Care Fraud Unit where he had oversight of the Health Care Fraud program for 12 field divisions. He served as the FBI’s liaison with the Department of Health and Human Services and was the Pharmaceutical Fraud coordinator. Brother Jackson transferred to the FBI’s Training Division in Quantico, Virginia in December 2004 where he currently serves as a Supervisor for New Agent Training classes.

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BROTHER BRIAN N. CYPRIAN Special Agent B.S. Computer Information Systems Master of Business Administration - Finance Brother Brian N. Cyprian was initiated through the Zeta Tau chapter at Texas A&M University-Commerce in Commerce, Texas in fall 2000. He graduated in 2002 with a B.S. degree in Computer Information Systems and worked as a Media Laboratory Specialist and Technology Support Coordinator. While working as the Technology Support Coordinator, Brother Cyprian completed his Master of Business Administration degree with an emphasis in Finance. He received his appointment to the Federal Bureau of Investigation as a Special Agent and was assigned to the Kansas City Division where he worked a myriad of complex investigations.

While in Kansas City, Brother Cyprian was affiliated with the Beta Lambda Chapter. Brother Cyprian is currently assigned to the Chicago Division.

BROTHER KERRY L. DAVIS Supervisory Special Agent B.S. Political Science and History Master of Science – Network Security Brother Kerry L. Davis was initiated through Delta Xi Chapter (Central State University in Wilberforce, Ohio) in 1986. He graduated from Central State University with degrees in Political Science and History while also receiving a Reserved Officers Training Corps commission into the U.S. Army. Brother Davis also has earned a Master of Science degree in Network Security from Capital College in Laurel, Maryland. He received his appointment to the Federal Bureau of Investigation in August 1996 and was assigned to the Jacksonville Field Office where he investigated matters ranging from Violent Crimes to International Terrorism.

His primarily area of investigation has been cyber crimes including computer intrusions, internet fraud and child pornography. Brother Davis was promoted to FBI Headquarters where he served as Program Manager in the Cyber Division, Computer Intrusion Section. Brother Davis had oversight of 18 field divisions Computer Intrusion programs. He currently serves as Program Manager in the Operational Technology Division,

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Remote Operations Unit in Quantico, Virginia. Prior to his appointment as a Special Agent, Brother Davis served six years in the U.S. Army’s Field Artillery and Adjutant Generals Corps, reaching the rank of Captain.

guidance on the utilization of HUMINT resources to the FBI’s 56 field offices. Brother Webster is currently assigned to the Houston Division as supervisor of the Division’s Cyber Program.

BROTHER BRANNON R. TERRY BROTHER MARK N. WEBSTER Supervisory Special Agent B.S. Business Administration/Criminal Justice Brother Mark N. Webster was initiated at Theta Mu Chapter, Sam Houston State University (SHSU) in Huntsville, Texas in 1987. He received his Bachelor’s in Business Administration/Criminal Justice-Military Science from SHSU in August 1990. While attending SHSU, Brother Webster began his military career as a cadet via SHSU’s ROTC Program. In 1989, he was commissioned as a Second lieutenant in the U.S. Army National Guard. He served in a wide variety of leadership positions, including Executive Officer and Company Commander for an Armor Tank Company. In 1992, Brother Webster was hired by the Dallas Police Department (DPD) as a Patrol Officer. In 1994, he was assigned to the DPD Narcotics Division and detailed to the Dallas Division of the Federal Bureau of Investigation as part of a Federal Task Force investigating violent street gangs. In 1997, Brother Webster began his career with the FBI as a Special Agent and was assigned to the Atlanta Division. He investigated Violent Crimes and Major Offenders, Organized Crime, Drug and Major Theft matters; and was later named the Criminal Informant and Undercover Coordinator for the Atlanta Division. In 2003, Brother Webster was promoted to Supervisory Special Agent and transferred to FBI Headquarters in Washington, D.C. From 2003 to 2007, Brother Webster served in a supervisory capacity in various FBIHQ Divisions, including the Inspection Division; Criminal Investigative Division, Asset/Informant Unit; and the Directorate of Intelligence, Humint Management Unit. While assigned to the Inspection Division as an Assistant Inspector, Brother Webster was responsible for providing support to the Office of Inspections. While assigned to the CID, A/IU, SSA Webster was responsible for program oversight of the FBI’s Criminal Informant Program (CIP), Asset Program (AP), and the Witness Security Program (WSP). While assigned to DI, HIMU, he was responsible for providing program administrative oversight and

Professional Support B.A. Sociology Master of Science in Criminal Justice Brother Brannon Terry was initiated in the fall 2004 through Beta Chi Lambda Chapter in Muskogee, Oklahoma. Brother Terry graduated from Howard University in 2004 with a B.A. in Sociology. He was a member of the Howard University Basketball team. After graduation, he was employed as Assistant Basketball Coach at Conners State College in Warner, Oklahoma. In 2006, Brother Terry earned a Master of Science degree in Criminal Justice from Xavier University in Cincinnati, Ohio. In 2007, he joined the Arlington County Police Department and was later employed with the Arlington County Sheriff’s Department. In 2008, Brother Terry received an appointment to the Federal Bureau of Investigation as a Professional Support employee.

BROTHER HADLEY ETIENNE Special Agent B.S. Computers and information Systems Brother Hadley Etienne was initiated at Mu Sigma Chapter (the University of Rochester, Rochester Institute of Technology – Rochester, New York) in 1994. He obtained a Computers and Information Systems undergraduate degree and is a Masters’ Candidate in Computer Security and Forensics at Rochester Institute of Technology. He has worked for IBM as a System Administrator and with Susquehanna Investment Group as a Systems and Network Analyst. In 2005, Brother Etienne began his career with the Federal Bureau of Investigation and was assigned to the FBI’s Washington Field Office in Washington, D.C. He began by investigating Violent Crimes and Major Offenders (Fugitive/Bank Robbery Task Force). Brother Etienne also was temporarily stationed in New Orleans, Louisiana (post-Katrina), where he investigated Civil Rights violations in the Federal Prison system. In 2008, Brother Etienne was transferred to the Computer Crimes and Internet Fraud Unit.

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BROTHER KENNETH B. IVY

BROTHER CHRISTOPHER A. JONES

Supervisory Special Agent B.S. Business Management

Special Agent B.S. Political Science and Economics Master of Science in Management and Information Systems

Brother Kenneth Ivy was initiated at Xi Sigma Chapter (Indiana University of Pennsylvania) in 1982. Brother Ivy attended Grover Cleveland High School in Buffalo, New York where he excelled in football, basketball and track while obtaining All City, All Western New York recognition and was nominated for All State and All American honors. In 1985, Brother Ivy graduated from Clarion University of Pennsylvania with a Bachelor of Science degree in Business Management and a minor in Real Estate. While at Clarion, Brother Ivy was a four-year letterman in football and was on the winning NCAA Division II, Pennsylvania State Conference Championship team. Brother Ivy earned All Conference honors and was nominated for All American recognition. In 2007, he was inducted into Buffalo, New York’s Harvard Cup Football Hall of Fame. After several National Football tryouts, Brother Ivy joined the Montgomery County Police Department, Montgomery County Maryland where he worked in patrol and as a Narcotics Detective.

In 1991, Brother Ivy began his career in the Federal Bureau of Investigation as a Special Agent and was assigned to the Miami Division where he addressed significant Caribbean Drug Trafficking and Money Laundering Organizations. In 2000, he was promoted to Supervisory Special Agent at FBI Headquarters where he provided direct managerial oversight of the Bureau’s nationwide Undercover Program. In 2003, Brother Ivy was promoted to Supervisor of the Houston Division’s Violent Gang and Violent Crime Squad. While in Houston, he provided direct leadership towards the disruption and dismantlement of numerous violent Criminal Enterprise Organizations that operated both domestically and internationally. Currently, Brother Ivy functions as the Houston Division’s Criminal Program Coordinator where he provides managerial oversight of the division’s Civil Rights, Public Corruption, White Collar Crime, Organized Crime, Violent Gangs, Violent Crimes and Drug Programs. Additionally, Brother Ivy is a soughtafter public speaker where he routinely provides training to law enforcement personnel all over the world. In 2007, he was recognized by the FBI as a Master Police Instructor.

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Brother Christopher A. Jones was initiated through Mu Delta Lambda (University of Illinois–Springfield) in 2000. He graduated from the University of Illinois in Champaign-Urbana with a double major in Political Science and Economics. He also received a Master of Science degree from the University of Illinois–Springfield in Management Information Systems. In 2005, Brother Jones began his career with the FBI and was assigned to the Kansas City Division. Brother Jones investigated International Terrorism, Cyber Crime, White Collar Crime, and Violent Crimes and Major Offenders. He also served on the Joint Terrorism Task Force. In 2006, Brother Jones was assigned to the Kansas City Division’s Field Intelligence Group and served as the representative for the Missouri Resident Agencies under the Kansas City Division. In 2008, he was reassigned to the Chicago Division.

BROTHER DANIEL LINDSTROM Special Agent B.A. Government/Political Science Master of Science in Business Management, Law Degree Brother Daniel Lindstrom was initiated into Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity at Delta Chi Lambda Chapter in Milwaukee, Wisconsin in the spring 1998. He currently is pursuing his Master of Science in Strategic Intelligence at the National Defense Intelligence College and currently holds a Law Degree from the University of Wisconsin, a Master of Science in Business Management from Cardinal Stritch University, a Bachelor of Arts in Government/Political Science form the College of William and Mary and an Associate in Arts from New Mexico Military Institute. Brother Lindstrom became an FBI Special Agent in 2004 and was later designed as a Special Agent Attorney. He currently is assigned to the Washington, D.C. Field Office. Brother Lindstrom has investigated Counterintelligence, International Terrorism and Violent Crimes.

These investigations have taken him all over the world, including Latvia, Iraq, Kuwait, Kenya and Cuba. He currently serves as the principal Relief Supervisor for his squad and is responsible for management of the squad during the supervisor’s absence. Prior to joining the FBI, Brother Lindstrom worked in the human resources departments of both HarleyDavidson Motor Company and the Martin Petersen Company, Inc. Brother Lindstrom is licensed to practice law in both Wisconsin and the Federal Courts.

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THE FBI CELEBRATES THE MEN IN BLACK & GOLD. We are unique individuals.

We are a tight-knit team.

We are independent thinkers.

We share a common mission: to fight crime, to protect America’s security, to contribute to the nation’s Intelligence community, and to make our world better.

There is no other career, like an FBI career.

Become an FBI Special Agent.

Or join us in one of our Professional Staff positions.

We are currently seeking Special Agent candidates in the following critical skill areas: • Intelligence experience • Computer Science or IT • Engineering • Physical Science • Accounting/Finance • Law • Law Enforcement or other Investigative experience • Military experience • or Foreign Language (Arabic, Chinese – all dialects, Korean, Urdu, Farsi, Dari, Russian, Albanian, Indonesian, Hebrew, Swahili, Spanish, Punjabi, Tamil, Pashto, Hindi, and Turkish) • and many other disciplines.

Our Professional Staff possess a myriad of specialized experience including the collection and dissemination of intelligence information as well as analyzing and deciphering communications in order to keep our nation safe.

Explore our variety of opportunities from entry level to senior management in the following areas: • IT/Computer Science • Intelligence • Engineering • Budget/Finance • Management • Human Resources • Trade & Maintenance • and many more.

To qualify for the position of FBI Special Agent, you must possess a four-year college degree plus three years of professional work experience; be available for assignment anywhere in the FBI’s jurisdiction; be between the ages of 23 and 36; and be in excellent physical condition with the ability to pass a rigorous physical fitness test.

Please visit our Web site for complete details. Positions are added daily.

Apply online today at: www.FBIjobs.gov You must be a U.S. citizen and consent to a complete background investigation, drug test, and polygraph as a prerequisite for employment. Only those candidates determined to be best qualified will be contacted to proceed in the selection process.

The FBI is an equal opportunity employer.

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NOBLE:

THE CONSCIENCE OF LAW ENFORCEMENT Alpha Brothers Head Organization and Comprise Large Segment of Membership

T

hirty-two years ago, 60 top-ranking black law enforcement executives from across the nation gathered in Washington, D.C. at a symposium to discuss ways to address crime in urban, low-income areas. From the meeting came something that far surpassed crime-fighting tactics. They also learned that there were African American executives in law enforcement throughout the nation; and they needed to solidify the bond they shared so that they could learn from each other, support each other, and mentor others seeking executive positions.

From the meeting, held in September 1976, the National Organization of Black Law Enforcement Executives (NOBLE) was born. The executives in attendance—who came from 24 states and 55 major cities—discussed the high rate of crime in urban communities, fairness in the administration of justice, police-community relations, hiring, and promotion of African American black police officers and the unique problems of the black police executive. Thirty-two years later, NOBLE still focuses on these issues—as well as many more matters facing black law enforcement executives and the African American community as a whole.

Today, NOBLE is a non-profit organization with more than 3,500 members across the United States, Caribbean and United Kingdom.

The organization’s members include Chiefs of Police in major cities, high-ranking federal officials, and other law enforcement executives and personnel.

NOBLE’s mission is to ensure equity in the administration of justice in the provision of public service to all communities, and to serve as the conscience of law enforcement by being committed to justice by action. The organization accomplishes its mission by advocating diversity in hiring, providing training opportunities and mentoring future black law enforcement executives. Over the years, NOBLE has provided countless training and mentorship opportunities that prepare black law enforcement personnel for leadership positions. In addition, NOBLE is an outspoken voice on matters surrounding domestic violence, racial profiling, excessive force, offender re-entry, youth violence and other matters facing law enforcement. The organization and its members are acknowledged experts law enforcement issues that face the African American community.

By embodying the mantra of “justice by action,” NOBLE has been able to remain a steadfast voice for black law enforcement executives. NOBLE has cultivated relationships with like-minded organizations to effectively further causes that impact the community. The organization also uses its influence to leverage relationships with government agencies and policy makers to ensure that the voice of law enforcement is considered.

NOBLE and the Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity share a commitment to providing service and advocacy to the African American community, so it is no surprise that law enforcement organization’s membership includes numerous Alpha Brothers. NOBLE’s National President, 2nd Vice President and Executive Director are all members of Alpha Phi Alpha and more than 40 members of the organization are also Alpha Brothers.

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ALPHA PHI ALPHA BROTHERS WITH NOBLE McMillan also is a graduate of the Federal Executive Institute and the Air War College non-resident program.

JOSEPH A. MCMILLAN Assistant Inspector General for Investigations Nuclear Regulatory Commission Office of the Inspector General Rockville, MD

PATRICK R. MELVIN Public Safety Director City of Maricopa, AZ

Brother Joseph A. McMillan was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and attended Central High School. He entered active duty upon completion of high school and was initially assigned as a law enforcement specialist in October 1976 to Clark AB, RP. While on active duty, Brother McMillan attended Wilmington College in Wilmington, Delaware where he received a Bachelor of Science degree in Criminal Justice in 1981. Special Agent (SA) McMillan attended the United States Air Force Office of Special Investigations Academy at Bolling AFB, D.C. and was credentialed as a Special Agent in November 1982.

He completed the requisite course work and received his Master of Arts degree in Crime in Commerce from the George Washington University in May 1986. Upon his release from active duty, Brother McMillan transitioned into the AFOSI Reserve Program and ultimately retired in 2000. In September 1987, Brother McMillan began employment with the Defense Criminal Investigative Service (DCIS). During his employment with DCIS, he conducted and managed several high-profile major white-collar fraud, corruption and technology transfer investigations. Following several DCIS Headquarters assignments, Brother McMillan was selected to assume responsibilities as the Special Agent in Charge, for DCIS Mid-Atlantic Field Office. In this capacity, he managed all DCIS investigations conducted in Washington, D.C., Virginia, Maryland, Southwest Asia, the European and Middle East theaters.

In September 2006, SA McMillan was selected into the Senior Executive Service and was appointed as the Assistant Inspector General for Investigations for the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Office of the Inspector General.

Brother McMillan is the National President for the National Organization of Black Law Enforcement Executives, a member of the International Association of Chiefs of Police, the Hispanic Command Police Officers Association, the National Association of Blacks in Criminal Justice, ASIS International, and Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Incorporated; and he volunteers as a mentor with Big Brothers Big Sisters of America. He is married with two daughters. In 2007, Brother McMillan graduated from the National Defense Intelligence College with a Master of Science degree in Strategic Intelligence. SA

Brother Patrick Melvin is currently the Public Safety Director, responsible for police and fire services for the City of Maricopa, Arizona, a progressive community 20 miles south of Phoenix.

The City of Maricopa became incorporated in 2003 and began forming its own police department in 2006.

After a nationwide search, Chief Patrick Melvin was selected and was appointed in September 2006 as the city’s first-ever police officer to serve as the Chief of Police. In October of 2006, Brother Melvin retired from the City of Phoenix Police Department as a police commander after 21 years of dedicated service and began Chief of Police duties in Maricopa the very next day. Chief Melvin was tasked with building, designing and forming a police department from the ground up.

Fourteen months after his appointment, the Maricopa PD began around the clock (24 hours/7 days-a-week) operations serving a population of approximately 38,000 residents living within almost 60 square miles. In February 2008, Brother Melvin was elevated to the position of Public Safety Director where he is responsible for both the police and fire departments and over 130 public safety professionals.

Brother Melvin is a member of the Executive Board of the National Organization of Black Law Enforcement Executives, serving as the group’s 2nd National Vice President, and is also a board member of the Arizona Chief’s of Police Association, serving as its 3rd Vice President.

Chief Melvin was the 2003 NOBLE recipient of a year-long Executive Fellowship with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration in Washington, D.C. A national subject matter expert on Traffic Safety Issues, Brother Melvin travels the country presenting on the topic. In 2004, he was the recipient of the LULAC (League of United Latin American Citizens) Community Service Award for his involvement in traffic safety, child safety seat and seat belt issues in our communities; and the 2006 NOBLE Outstanding Leadership Award recipient for the Arizona Chapter of NOBLE. In 2007, Chief Melvin was appointed a commissioner on the Arizona

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Commission on African American Affairs (ACAAA) by Arizona Governor Janet Napolitano and was also named the “2007 City of Maricopa Man of the Year.”

Brother Melvin received a Bachelor of Science degree in Criminal Justice from Arizona State University, a Master of Education degree with distinction from Northern Arizona University, and the Certified Public Manager Designation from Arizona State University’s College of Public Programs. Brother Melvin states that his view of community-based policing includes “officers spending time within our community, for our community. Interaction with the members of our community, business owners, and even our students, is essential for our department to be responsive to our community needs.”

JESSIE LEE, JR. Executive Director National Organization of Black Law Enforcement Executives Brother Jessie Lee is the Executive Director of the National Organization of Black Law Enforcement Executives (NOBLE). He was appointed Executive Director in October 2003 after serving one year as the Acting Executive Director. Overseeing the day-to-day operations of the national office, he manages an annual operating budget of $2 million as well as $5.3 million of funding from grants received between 2002 and 2005. Brother Lee also served as Director for the Consortium Management Team of the Community Policing Consortium.

As Executive Director, Brother Lee has increased membership by 18 percent as well as external financial support. He has developed and negotiated strategic partnerships with corporate and government organizations such as Motorola, Altria, Target, and the United States Department of Justice. Under his direction, NOBLE has become a fiscally strong organization serving as a resource to its members and external agencies on issues including civil rights, non-profit management, fund raising, event management and strategic planning.

Brother Lee is a diversity change agent who works closely with government and law enforcement agencies throughout the country to develop solutions in order to bridge the gap of employment and procurement opportunities for minorities. He also serves as counsel to numerous organizations on issues ranging from compliance to strategic planning to program development.

Before becoming NOBLE Executive Director, Brother Lee had a distinguished law enforcement career, which began in 1981 with

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the Delaware River Port Authority Police Department. His accomplishments include recognition from the Governor of New Jersey for his leadership skills. During his tenure in law enforcement, Brother Lee managed an operating budget of $2.5 million and was responsible for the allocation of police personnel. He chaired and served on numerous boards, including the Disciplinary Hearings Board, Public Safety Committee on Management & Labor, Contract Negotiation Team, and the Transportation and Communication Committee for the Republican Convention. He also served as a liaison officer for the Camden County Prosecutor’s Office where he was responsible for updating the standard operating procedures for the Camden City Police Department and served as a facilitator for the State of New Jersey Audit Team. As a mentor, Brother Lee encourages his officers to pursue higher education in order to capitalize on promotion opportunities.

He holds a Master of Science degree in Non-profit Management, a Bachelor of Arts degree in Management; and an Associate of Arts degree in Criminal Justice. He is currently working on his Doctorate Degree in Public Policy and Administration.

He is a graduate of the 195th Session of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) National Academy.

As an advocate for community involvement, Brother Lee serves on the board of directors for the Commission on Accreditation for Law Enforcement Agencies (CALEA), the National Law Enforcement Memorial, National Board Adviser for Missing and Exploited Children, Image and Attitude Board of Director, Faith In Action Board of Directors, Minority Law Enforcement Recruiter’s Association. He also serves as a national board adviser for Mothers Against Drunk Driving. Brother Lee also coaches youth basketball, football and assists the United Way and South Jersey Baptist Association with various youth initiatives

SYLVESTER JONES Assistant Director Witness Security Division United States Marshals Service Brother Sylvester Jones began his law enforcement career as a police officer with the Markham Police Department in Markham, Illinois. He served in the capacity for four years before joining the United States Marshals Service as a Deputy U.S. Marshal in 1987.

He worked in the Chicago office of the Northern District of Illinois.

Brother Jones has worked in various Marshals Service field offices throughout the country. He worked in the District

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of the Virgin Islands from 1993-1994 and as a Supervisory Deputy in the District of Puerto Rico from 1994-1996. In 1996, he became Chief Inspector in the Prisoner Services Division. In April 1998, he was promoted to national program manager for the Court Security Program. One year later, he was selected as the Acting Assistant Director for the Judicial Security Division.

In December 1999, Brother Jones was assigned as the Chief Deputy U.S. Marshal for the Northern District of Georgia. In November 2000, he returned to headquarters as the Assistant Director for the Judicial Security Division. In June 2004, he was selected as the Assistant Director for the Prisoner Services Division—since renamed the Witness Security and Prisoner Operations Division and now the Witness Security Division— and that is his current position.

Brother Jones was officially promoted to the Senior Executive Staff on August 21, 2001. The appointment made him the first African American law enforcement officer in Marshal Service’s history to be promoted from within the ranks to the Senior Executive Service tier.

Brother Jones was born in Chicago. He graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree from Chicago State University. He completed his Master of Science degree in human resources at the University of Maryland–University College in August 2004.

Brother Jones is a retired member of the U.S. Armed Forces, retiring as a seasoned Lieutenant Colonel from the Army National Guard with 25 years of total service. He has served in both active and reserve duty. He is a Desert Shield/Desert Storm veteran with many decorations.

Brother Jones has received recognition and numerous awards during his Marshals Service and Army careers. He is a member of the Fraternal Order of Police, National Organization of Black Law Enforcement Executives, Federal Law Enforcement Officers Association, International Association of Chiefs of Police, Police Executive Research Forum, National Sheriffs Association, American Society for Industrial Security, and the Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc.

102 YEARS STRONG

ANTHONY Q. SARTIN U.S. Department of Transportation Office of the Inspector General Chicago Regional Office Brother Anthony Q. Sartin has worked with the U.S. Department of Transportation, Office of Inspector General, Chicago Regional Office for the past 10 years. Previously, Brother Sartin was a Special Agent with the Federal Aviation Administration and the U.S. Customs Service.

He graduated from Tennessee State University in Nashville, Tennessee with a B.B.A in Accounting and Business Law. Brother Sartin was initiated into the Fraternity through the Iota Delta Lambda Chapter in September 1993. In addition to his NOBLE membership, he is a member of the Federal Law Enforcement Officers Association and the Fraternal Order of Police. Brother Sartin is married with two children.

CLARENCE EDWARDS Assistant Commissioner (Retired) Federal Protective Service Brother Clarence Edwards is a veteran law enforcement and security official with experience at the federal, county and bi-county levels. He began his law enforcement career with the United States Park Police in 1963 and retired from that agency in 1984 after 21 years of service, holding the rank of major. He subsequently served as commander of the Montgomery County Division of the Maryland–National Capital Park Police from 1985 until 1991 when he was appointed Chief of Police for Montgomery County, Maryland.

Montgomery County is the state’s most populous and racially diverse county. He was Maryland’s first African American county police chief. Brother Edwards served as chief of police in Montgomery County until 1994.

In 1997, Chief Edwards was selected to be a member of the federal government’s Senior Executive Service and served as the first African American Assistant Commissioner of the Federal Protective Service. As Assistant Commissioner of the Federal Protective Service he was responsible for and directed the General Services Administration’s National Law Enforcement

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and Security Program. He was GSA’s primary representative on the Interagency Security Committee, a working group comprised of representatives from the FBI, CIA, DIA, DOJ and other federal government agencies with responsibility for gathering, analyzing and disseminating sensitive criminal intelligence information to federal government officials to counter acts of terrorism against federal government personnel and facilities.

Brother Edwards retired from GSA in 2003 and is currently an independent law enforcement and security consultant.

His international presentations have included presentations before top security officials in Cape Town, Republic of South Africa and command law enforcement officials in Nassau, Bahamas. He also has taught criminal investigation courses as a guest instructor at the International Law Enforcement Academy in Gaborone, Botswana. Johns Hopkins University has used his expertise on facility security matters as a guest lecturer for that university’s graduate program for senior U.S. Secret Service officials.

His professional affiliations include being past president of NOBLE; life member of the International Association of Chiefs of Police; life member of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc.; life member of the NAACP; member of the American Society of Industrial Security; commissioner of the National African American Drug Policy Coalition; and Alumni Council member of the Johns Hopkins University Alumni Association.

His more noteworthy awards include a Governor’s Citation from former Maryland Governor William Donald Schaefer, a commendation from former President William J. Clinton, a commendation from former President Jimmy Carter and a commendation from former Washington Catholic Diocese Archbishop William Cardinal Baum.

Brother Edwards holds a Master of Science degree in Applied Psychology from Johns Hopkins University and a Bachelor of Science degree in the Administration of Justice from American University. He is a graduate of the Federal Executive Institute, FBI National Executive Institute and FBI National Academy.

ROBERT HASSELL Director of Public Safety Fairmont, NC Brother Robert Hassell, a native of Williamston, North Carolina, is the Director of Public Safety for the town of Fairmont, North Carolina. In this role, he oversees daily operations of the emergency support services (911 center/records/investigations), police and fire divisions. Brother Hassell has been a police officer for nearly 13 years and a certified firefighter for five. He started his law enforcement career on December 18, 1995 with the Kinston Police Department and became a certified firefighter when the police and fire departments merged to form the Kinston Department of Public Safety in 2003. He began with the Town of Fairmont on June 15, 2005 and was appointed to the Director’s position of the newly formed Public Safety Department. His philosophy is that “fighting crime, preventing fires is a community effort, and together we can make a difference.”

In December 2007, Brother Hassell received his Master of Science degree in Public Administration from Central Michigan University. He is currently working on a doctorate in Organizational Management and Leadership through the University of Phoenix. He is involved in the community and active with professional organizations such as NOBLE and the International Police Chief Association, which continues to improve the public safety profession. In addition, he is a member of King David Lodge #24 under the jurisdiction of the North Carolina Prince Hall Grand Lodge, Inc. and Nu Iota Lambda Chapter of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc. He became a member of King David Lodge #24 in March 1997 and after receiving his undergraduate degree from Mount Olive College, he was able to fulfill his dream in the Spring 2005 by becoming a member of Alpha Phi Alpha.

ALPHA PHI ALPHA FRATERNITY, INC. DEVELOPS LEADERS, PROMOTES BROTHERHOOD AND ACADEMIC EXCELLENCE, WHILE PROVIDING SERVICE AND ADVOCACY FOR OUR COMMUNITIES.

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CARY L. THORNTON, JR.

HENRY L. MOSLEY, JR.

Federal Bureau of Investigation (Retired)

Special Agent Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms

Brother Cary L. Thornton, Jr. was born and educated in St. Louis, Missouri. As a product of the St. Louis Public School System, he realized early in life that education was the key to escaping poverty and despair. He received a B.S. degree from the University of Missouri in Administration of Justice and Economics. He continued graduate work in Economics and Business at St. Louis University and Southern Illinois University and later received a Master’s degree in Management from Webster University.

He entered the Federal Bureau of Investigation in 1979 and was assigned to St. Louis (two separate assignments), Detroit, and San Juan, Puerto Rico. His many assignments included undercover narcotics and public corruption, undercover technical operations, special operations supervisor, white collar crime management, and personnel.

Brother Thornton retired from the FBI in 2001 and joined AT&T as a manager in Corporate Security. His primary responsibility included employee and financial misconduct. He left AT&T and published his first book, entitled Oath of Office, which details his life growing up in a poor environment but emphasizing parental obedience and education. It further highlights many dangerous but successful undercover operations he was assigned to over his 22year career with the FBI. He now spends a great amount of time speaking to students about the value of education and the consequences of bad choices.

Among the many organizations with which he holds membership are the FBI National Academy Associates, NOBLE, Life Member of the NAACP, Precinct Chair for Fort Bend Precinct 3083, and he was most recently selected as a Texas State Delegate for the Democratic Party.

Many are called, but few are chosen.

A cliché phrase; however, it’s very applicable when referring to an individual employed or associated with a first responders’ agency or unit.

Brother Henry Mosely realized he had been chosen to be an ATF agent immediately after he stepped off a plane at Reagan National Airport and onto the turf surrounding the nation’s capital.

Brother Mosley’s work in Washington, D.C. culminated with his acceptance of three prestigious awards from the Bureau, including The Special Action Award, The Hostile Action Award, and the Medal of Valor, which are awarded to ATF agents for life-saving activities and when an agent comes under fire.

Born in Honolulu, Hawaii, Brother Mosley is the son of a retired Army officer and special education teacher. After graduating from Prairie View A&M University with a Bachelor of Science degree in Justice Studies, he embarked on his law enforcement career with the Arlington (TX) Police Department where he had been recruited while a student at PVU. He recognized a higher calling than that of a patrol officer and applied to The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives. In 2001, he was hired and assigned to the Austin Field Office.

After a two-year tenure, Brother Mosley transferred to the Houston Field Division where he began a new challenge as an agent and began moving toward community service and cultural/social empowerment within the NOBLE arena.

Special Agent Mosley is currently the architect for two critical programs as the Federal Liaison to the President of NOBLE. The first program is the Houston Weed and Seed of America Project.

Through NOBLE, he has initiated efforts to obtain federal funding to aid the Third Ward District of Houston. Monies obtained will be used to fund programs, which will be conducted in partnership with various federal and state agencies, along with educational and non-profit institutions. Activities conducted under the direction of the Weed and Seed project will include job preparation and job training; trips to the theatre for cultural development related to the fine arts; and visits to a black-owned youth ranch, owned and operated by a high-ranking federal law enforcement officials stationed in Houston, in order to learn about nature and agriculture. A second component of the Weed and Seed project involves addressing

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re-entry of ex-felons into the 3rd Ward. SA Mosely has partnered with the Houston Police Department to assist in the allocation of resources—specifically, overtime resources, which will go toward the cleaning and maintenance of specific drop-off points in an effort to reduce overall crime.

The second program on the horizon is the National Historically Black Colleges and Universities Outreach program, which will attempt to send students majoring in Criminal Justice to the annual NOBLE Training Conference and Exhibition where they will receive instruction and guidance on how to prepare an application for federal employment, interview preparation, preparing for entrance into the Federal Law Enforcement Training Academy, and maintaining a job as a federal law enforcement officer.

of the Georgia Association of Chief of Police. He will assume the presidency of the organization in July of 2010, which will make him the first African American to become president of the group.

Also Brother Blue is a member of Milledgeville Kiwanis Club and a Deacon at Union Baptist Church. He is a member of Central Georgia Technical College Criminal Justice Advisory Committee where he also serves as an adjutant Professor of Criminal Justice.

Governor Purdue appointed him to the Private Detective and Security Board on June 24, 2003. In addition, he is a member of the Baldwin County Department of Family and Children Services Board of Directors. He is married to the former Elese Lane of Naylor, Georgia. They have two children, Woodrow III, age 23; and Kimberly age 15.

He was initiated into the Fraternity through Mu Omicron Chapter in Spring 1979. Mu Omicron Chapter is located at Valdosta State University in Valdosta, Georgia.

WOODROW W. BLUE, JR. Chief of Police Milledgeville, GA

CORNELIUS RAPHAEL BROWN Brother Woodrow W. Blue, Jr. was born September 2, 1956 at Moody AFB, located in Lowndes County, Georgia and was raised in Hahira, Georgia. He began his law enforcement career on March 31, 1979 with the Hahira Police Department. He was appointed Chief of Police in January 1982 at the age of 26. He retired from the Hahira Police Department on September 18, 2000.

Chief Blue joined the Milledgeville Police Department on September 21, 2000 as Deputy Chief of Police under former Chief Fred Hayes. He assumed the role as Chief of Police for the department January 1, 2002.

In 1983, he was named the TOP Gentleman in Lowndes County. In March 1985, he received the Pioneer in Law Enforcement Award from the Georgia Chapter of NOBLE. In 1993, he was the recipient of the Outstanding Community Service award for Hahira. He received the Law Enforcement Award from the Georgia Chapter of NOBLE in 2007 for leadership and contribution to the field of law enforcement.

Brother Blue has a B.S. degree from Valdosta State University in the field of Criminal Justice. He received his Master of Public Administration degree from Columbus State University. He is a member of the Georgia Association of Chiefs of Police, International Association of Chiefs of Police, NOBLE and the Peace Officers Association of Georgia. Also, he is the 2nd Vice President

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Sergeant City of Chicago Police Department Brother Cornelius Raphael Brown currently manages and directs field operations for the Chicago Police Department, which relate to the investigation of criminal and/or violent incidents. He ascertains staffing level needs and deploys staff accordingly; determines the appropriate use of overtime service; and identifies suitable resource utilization for the identification and apprehension of wanted persons. He believes not only in empowering his employees but also in enabling them to succeed. Employees are encouraged to share their ideas, think outside the box, and seek the support they need to thrive.

Sergeant Brown was born and raised on Chicago’s Southside, and graduated from Brother Rice High School. He attended Aurora University where he received a Bachelor of Science degree in Criminal Justice Management; Lewis University where he received a Master of Science degree in Public Safety Administration; and St. Xavier University where he received a Master of Business Administration degree in Training and Performance Management and a Master of Science degree in Financial Fraud Examination and Management. He currently attends Benedictine University where he is pursuing a Doctor of Philosophy degree in Organizational Development.

Brother Brown mentors minority college students on career opportunities in law enforcement. The efforts are done through

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emphasizing the importance of completing college, as well as giving back to the community. He was initiated into the Fraternity through Nu Delta Chapter at Chicago State University. He is a life member of Theta Mu Lambda Chapter in Chicago Heights, Illinois.

His research interests include organizational culture, organization development in the law enforcement and organizational ethics.

WILLIAM J. WALKER Deputy Assistant Administrator Deputy Chief Office of Special Intelligence Drug Enforcement Administration United States Department of Justice Brother William J. Walker was appointed a Special Agent of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) in 1983 at the Chicago Field Division. He transferred to the New York Field Division in 1984 where he initiated and directed complex conspiracy investigations targeting the hierarchy of criminal organizations involved in the importation and distribution of multi-kilogram quantities of heroin. He routinely served in an undercover capacity and orchestrated the seizures of millions of dollars in U.S. currency and assets as well as commercial quantities of heroin. From 1988 to 1991, he served in a diplomatic capacity as an Assistant Narcotics Attaché assigned to the U.S. Embassy, Nassau, Bahamas.

In 1991, Brother Walker was elevated to Resident Agent in Charge, Freeport Bahamas and was responsible for coordinating U.S. Military, Royal Bahamas Police Force and DEA efforts to detect, interdict, deny or disrupt the transshipment of multi-hundred kilogram quantities of illicit drugs transiting the Northern Bahamas. In 1995, he was promoted to Group Supervisor, Caribbean Field Division in San Juan, Puerto Rico where he was responsible for directing investigations targeting the highest echelon of drug violators in the region. From 1998 to 1999, he served as Assistant Special Agent in Charge of the Caribbean Division. In 1999, he transferred to Headquarters and served in the Operations Division and in the Office of Inspections.

In 2000, Brother Walker was promoted to liaison officer at the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy. Following the September 2001 terrorist attacks on the U.S., Brother Walker was ordered to active military duty in the U.S. Army where he served as an Operations Officer in the Pentagon until November 2002. He was promoted to the Senior Executive Service in 2003 and served

as Associate Special Agent in Charge of the New York Field Division where he was second in command of DEA’s largest office. In 2004, he was appointed Deputy Assistant Administrator of the Office of Diversion Control and directed the global efforts to prevent diversion of controlled pharmaceutical drugs and regulated chemicals into the illicit drug market. In 2006, he was appointed to his current position in the Intelligence Division.

Brother earned degrees from the University of Illinois (B.A.), Chicago State University (M.S.), the National Defense Intelligence College (M.S.) and American University (M.A.). He is a Colonel, Military Intelligence Corps, U.S. Army National Guard and serves as the Deputy J-2 for the National Guard Bureau. His military education includes the Inter-American Defense (War) College, the National Security Course, the Defense Strategy Course and the Army Command and General Staff College. He completed the National Security Program at Harvard University and the National Security Managers Program at George Washington University. Brother Walker is a life member of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity and NOBLE.

CHARLES L. THOMPSON Assistant Chief of Police Commanding Officer of the Administrative Services Bureau Brother Charles Thompson joined the Lakeland (FL) Police Department in February 2004. Previously, he had joined the Miami-Dade Police Department (MDPD) in 1978 after having worked for the Florida Department of Corrections as a Probation Officer for three years.

He was promoted through the ranks with the police department as Sergeant, Master Sergeant, Lieutenant, and First Lieutenant. In 1993, he was appointed as Police Bureau Commander for the Warrants Bureau. In 1994, he was appointed to the position of Police Major from which he commanded the Northside, Cutler Ridge Districts, as well as the police operations and police administrative bureaus.

During his career, Brother Thompson has worked in and commanded units in police services and investigative services, which includes administrative, investigative and police operation aspects of MDPD. His more notable achievements have been response to the 1980 Miami civil disturbance; participation in the Pope’s visit to Miami; planning and on scene commander of the Summit of the Americas; emergency response and recovery after

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Hurricane Andrew; planning and participation in Y2K operations; planning in Miami-Dade County’s 2000 General Election; and most recently, joint command during the Free Trade of the Americas Ministerial.

Brother Thompson has a wide range of both line and staff experience. He holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Criminology from Florida State University and a Master of Arts degree from the University of Phoenix in Organizational Management. He is a graduate of both the Police Executive Research Forum’s Senior Management Institute and the FBI National Academy.

His professional affiliations include the FBI National Academy, International Association of Chiefs of Police, NOBLE, and the Florida Sheriff’s Association. He has received numerous awards during his career for his assistance and support of community, civil, and professional organizations as well as, for his professionalism and dedication to the Miami-Dade Police Department, including the Bronze Medal of Valor.

WAYNE D. HUDSON, I Lieutenant Court Security Operations Director Douglas County Sheriff’s Office Brother Wayne D. Hudson, I currently is the Court Security Operations Director at the Douglas County Sheriff’s Office. In the role, Lieutenant Hudson’s responsibilities include the protection of life and property, for the prevention, detection, and investigation of crimes and for maintaining law and order. He also is responsible for ensuring all personnel under his direct command follow State of Nebraska Criminal Statutes and all rules and regulations of the DCSO. In addition, Lt. Hudson is a Criminal Justice Instructor at Buena Vista University.

He received his Bachelor’s of Science degree in Criminal Justice, Law Enforcement from Wayne State College. He also holds a Master of Public Administration degree from the University of Nebraska at Omaha.

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ZURVOHN A. MALOOF Special Agent Department of Homeland Security Office of Inspector General San Francisco Field Office Brother Zurvohn Maloof has been a member of the Fraternity since 1987 when he was initiated through Epsilon Mu Chapter at San Jose State University (SJSU). He has more than 18 years of law enforcement experience, starting in 1990 at the Santa Clara County Juvenile Probation Department. He then went to the San Mateo County Juvenile Probation Department, and on to the Santa Clara County Sheriff’s department before attending law school.

Brother Maloof graduated from SJSU in 1991 with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Sociology with a concentration in Criminology. He attended graduate school at SJSU and went to law school where he obtained his Jurist Doctor degree in 2000 from New College of California School of Law. He worked at various law firms, including the Alameda County Public Defenders Office, before being hired by the Department of Labor in 2001 and investigating laws pertaining to the compliance of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA). In 2003, he was hired by the DHS OIG as a Special Agent investigating fraud, waste, abuse, and mismanagement in DHS programs and operations.

L. WAYNE JONES Senior Special Agent Dept of Homeland Security Office of Inspector General Oakland, CA Brother L. Wayne Jones has 23 years of federal law enforcement experience, including 14 years with the Naval Criminal Investigative Service; four years with the Federal Emergency Management Agency, Office of the Inspector General; and five years with the Department of Homeland Security, Office of the Inspector General.

He received a Bachelor’s degree from San Francisco State University in Psychology/Black Studies. Brother Jones was initiated in the Fraternity in November 1981. He has been married for 22 years and has six children and two grandchildren.

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LAMONT J. SCOTT

DERRICK A. JORDAN

Special Agent Department of Homeland Security Office of Inspector General Oakland, CA

Assistant to the Special Agent in Charge Chicago Field Office Federal Air Marshal Service

Brother Lamont J. Scott is currently a Special Agent with the Department of Homeland Security, Office of the Inspector General, in Oakland, California. He was initiated into Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity in December 2000. He is a member of the Gamma Chi Lambda Chapter in San Francisco. Brother Scott earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1999 with a Major in Sociology and a Minor in Criminal Justice. He served in the U.S. Air Force from 1993 to 1997.

Brother Derrick A. Jordan has been employed in federal law enforcement for eight years. He began his law enforcement career as an uniformed officer with the United States Secret Service and now he is an Assistant to the Special Agent in Charge (ATSAC)/Supervisor with the Federal Air Marshal Service.

Brother Jordan was initiated into the Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity in the Spring 1995 through Eta Tau Chapter at Illinois State University. He graduated from Illinois Wesleyan University in 1998 with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Sociology.

JULIUS SCOTT GEOFFREY A. JOHNSON

Cook County Sheriff’s Office

Assistant Inspector General for Investigations Peace Corps Brother Geoffrey A. Johnson was initiated into the Fraternity through Delta Zeta Chapter in 1977. He currently is the Assistant Inspector General for Investigations at the Peace Corps. He joined the Peace Corps Office of Inspector General (OIG) in June 2006 after serving as the Team Leader for employee misconduct and contract and procurement fraud at the U.S. Department of the Treasury, OIG. Brother Geoffrey has performed numerous high profile investigations involving senior managers and political officials at the Peace Corps, Treasury, Commerce, the Library of Congress and the U.S. State Department. Prior to becoming a Criminal Investigator, he served as an evaluator and auditor at the U.S. General Accounting Office. Brother Geoffrey is a native Washingtonian, graduating from Bishop McNamara High School. He attained a B.A. degree in Psychology and Master’s degree in Public Administration from Syracuse University. He also was a Ph.D. candidate in the African Studies Department at Howard University from 1984 to 1989.

He joined the Northern Virginia chapter of NOBLE in 1998 and has participated in several NOBLE sponsored youth events and attended the most recent NOBLE conference in New York City.

Brother Julius Scott has been employed with the Cook County Sheriff’s Office since March 1999. He currently resides in Richton Park, Illinois, which is a suburb of Chicago. He received a Bachelor’s degree in Criminal Justice in 1998 and became a member of the Alpha Phi Sigma National Criminal Justice Honor Society the same year. He has been married for six years and has two children, a son, age 4; and daughter, age 1. His area of concentration is working with juveniles. He was initiated into the Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity in Spring 2007 through Xi Lambda Chapter.

KEITH L. HARRIS Lieutenant City of Omaha Police Department Neighborhood Services Omaha, NE Brother Keith L. Harris received a Bachelor of Science degree in Criminal Justice from the University of Nebraska at Omaha in 1993.

He worked in the field of Loss Prevention and Security from 1986 to 1988 and joined the Omaha Police Department in March 1988.

With the Department, he has experience in various areas of policing, including Patrol, Criminal Investigations, Internal Affairs, Customer Service, Crime Prevention and serving as a D.A.R.E.

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instructor. He was promoted from officer to sergeant in 1997. He was promoted to lieutenant in 2004.

Brother Harris is the former president of Beta Xi Lambda Chapter and current District Director of Nebraska Chapters of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc. He is a charter member of Nebraska NOBLE. He and his wife, LaTricia, have two children, Kristian, age 7, and Lauren, age 5.

also is a member of NOBLE, the Fraternal Order of Police, the Police Association of New Orleans, and many other law enforcement organizations.

He holds Associate degrees in Human Resource Management, Munitions Systems Technology and Criminal Justice; a Bachelor of Science degree in Criminal Justice; and a Master of Arts degree in Criminal Justice.

KENNETH HARRIS, JR.

KEVIN R. JOHNSON

Sergeant Milwaukee Police Department

Sergeant Chicago Police Department

Brother Kenneth Harris, Jr. has been with the Milwaukee Police Department for 15 years. He is currently a Sergeant. He is pursuing a Ph.D. in Leadership Studies at the School of Education at Marian University and is planning to graduate in May 2009. Brother Harris was initiated into Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity through Delta Chi Lambda Chapter in January 1996. He is a member of the Wisconsin Law Enforcement Officers Association, the League of Martin and NOBLE. He is married with two children.

Brother Kevin R. Johnson has 17 years of service in the Chicago Police Department. He received a Bachelor of Science degree from Loyola University of Chicago in 1989. He was initiated into the Fraternity through Theta Chapter in May 1985. Sergeant Johnson is married with two children.

BRETT ALEXANDER Federal Senior Correctional Officer U.S. Department of Justice

BERNELL M. NEVIL, JR. Lieutenant New Orleans Police Department Brother Bernell M. Nevil, Jr. is a talented police professional with more than 20 years of NOPD experience. He is dedicated to carrying out the mission of the department to provide efficient police service and serving with integrity, fairness, professionalism, and commitment to protecting life and property.

Lt. Nevil has experience in law enforcement, internal investigations, employee accountability, criminal investigations, victim witness services, sex crime investigations, field operations, public relations, urban patrol, robbery investigations, supervision of patrol officers, coordination of programs, and personnel training.

He was recruited from the police academy in 1987 and moved through the ranks of the department. He has received numerous awards, including four NOPD Letters of Commendation for Superior Performance.

Brother Nevil has been a member of the U.S. Air Force Reserve since 1983 and served in Operation Desert Shield/Storm. He is a member of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity’s Sigma Lambda Chapter. He

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Brother Brett Alexander is a Federal Senior Correctional Officer with the U.S. Department of Justice, currently working for the Federal Bureau of Prisons. He has been employed with the Bureau of Prisons since 2003. He was initiated into the Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity through Xi Lambda Chapter on April 11, 2004. Brother Alexander attended Mississippi Valley State University and received a Bachelor’s degree in Criminal Justice in May 2002. He currently is in the Master’s degree Criminal Justice program at Kaplan University. He has been married for five years and his wife is a member of the Lambda Alpha Omega Chapter of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc. They are the proud parents of one daughter.

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VERNON S. GILL General Counsel (Retired) Metropolitan Police Department Washington, DC Brother Vernon S. Gill was elected the 36th President of Mu Lambda Chapter of Alpha Phi Alpha in 1985 and served three consecutive one-year terms. Brother Gill is a life member of the organization who was initiated into the Fraternity through Beta Chapter at Howard University on April 30, 1961. For a number of years, Brother Gill was Eastern Regional Legal Counsel, Eastern Region Life Membership Chairman, Grievance and Discipline Committee Chairman and Assistant Chapter Advisor to Omicron Omicron Chapter at the University of the District of Columbia.

Brother Gill received a B.A. degree (cum laude) and a J.D. from Howard University. He also was a Distinguished Military Graduate from Howard’s ROTC program and commissioned as a 2nd Lieutenant in the U.S. Army. Brother Gill served on active duty as one of a few Black Regular U.S. Army Judge Advocate General Corps Officers and Military Judges, and later as the Deputy Staff Judge Advocate of the D.C. National Guard.

He began his civilian legal career as an Assistant General Counsel, U.S. Commission on Civil Rights. In 1970, he joined the Office of the General Counsel of the Metropolitan Police Department and was appointed General Counsel in 1973. In 1985, he was appointed the second Inspector General for the District of

Columbia. Brother Gill retired from government service in 1997 as General Counsel, DC MPD. During his career he was active in legal, professional, civic and charitable organizations and held Adjunct Professorships in Legal Assistant and Business Programs in colleges at the University of the District of Columbia and Georgetown University.

Brother Gill is married to Mary Ann Gill. They have four adult children and two grandchildren.

ERIC M. CARTER Chicago Police Department Organized Crime Division Narcotics Section Brother Carter Eric Carter is a Lieutenant with the Chicago Police Department, Organized Crime Division, Undercover Narcotics Section. He has 16 years of law enforcement experience.

He attended Saint Xavier University in Chicago and earned a Master of Business Administration degree with a graduate certificate in Public and Non-Profit business Management. Lt. Carter is a graduate of the FBI National Academy #227, DEA Academy #62, and the National Organization of Black Law Enforcement Executives (NOBLE). He was initiated into the Fraternity through Xi Lambda Chapter on November 13, 2005. He is married with three children.

THERE GOES AN ALPHA MAN There goes a man of high impulse, of princely mien and grace; There goes a man of humble faith, a credit to his race; There goes a man of conscience vast, with will to reach his goal; There goes a man of lordly rank, of heroes’ stock and soul— There goes a man of noble caste, whom hardship cannot break; There goes a man in merit clad, whom duty won’t forsake; There goes a man in cultured verse, who holds a sportsman’s creed; There goes a man too vigilant to bow to lust or greed; There goes a man whose life is spent in service not in scorn; There goes a man whose majesty shines, like a May time morn.

There goes a man who is a friend, to love and duty truth; There goes a man to help uplift, the lives of wholesome youth; There goes a man with industry and faith at his command; There goes a man, the best man in and out, for he is an Alpha Man.

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Living History

Brought to you by an Alpha Man

apa1906.net

Pictured: Dr. Cornel West

Photo taken by:Brian Velenchenko

BERMUDA BROTHER HONORED FOR SERVICE TO THE CROWN DURING INVESTITURE AT BUCKINGHAM PALACE

B

rother Edwin C. Wilson was a special guest at Buckingham Palace in London, England for his investiture by Her Majesty The Queen as a member of the British Empire.

Brother Wilson, a 45-year veteran of the Bermuda Civil Service, received the honor on June 13, 2007 when he was recognized by Brittan’s Queen Elizabeth for meritorious service to the Crown and the community in Bermuda and made an Officer of the Civilian Division of the British Empire. Twenty-two Investitures are held each year; one at the Palace of Holyroodhouse in Edinburgh, one at Cardiff Castle and the remainder at Buckingham Palace.

A former Commissioner of the Department of Corrections and The Department of Labour, Training and Employment, Brother Wilson continues to serve as an Arbitrator on the Employment Tribunal and the Permanent Arbitration Panel although he is retired.

Brother Wilson grew up in the North Village area of Bermuda and attended Wilberforce University where he was president of all four of his classing, including the 1959 graduating class. He later

attended Michigan State University and completed advance courses at Oxford University for Senior Labour Administration.

He worked as Deputy Principal of Sandy’s Secondary School in Bermuda, Commissioner of Prisons and Director of the Department of Labour, Training and Employment.

He serves as a member of the Bermuda College Board of Governors, Bermuda Housing Corporation, Bermuda Board of Education, Governor’s Scholarship and Awards Committee and Chairman of the Education Appeals Committee.

In addition, he served as vice president of the YMCA in Bermuda; president of the Somers Isle Cricket League; Asst.

Secretary of the Bermuda Cricket Board of Control; president of the Prison Officers Association; president/artistic director of Theatre Associates Bermuda; and vice president of North Village Community Trust.

Brother Wilson was initiated into the Fraternity through Xi Chapter at Wilberforce University in 1956. He currently is an active member of Epsilon Theta Lambda Chapter in Bermuda.

Brother Edwin Wilson receives pin from England’s Queen Elizabeth.

Brother Wilson (center) is pictured with his son, Mark, and daughter-in-law Aderonke Wilson outside of Buckingham Palace.

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GAMMA IOTA LAMBDA CHAPTER RAISES A NEW L.I.G.H.T. FOR MENTORSHIP

I

t was an evening on Broadway that Gamma Iota Lambda’s young mentees would not soon forget. The neon lights were bright on the streets outside the Boothe Theatre in New York City. The audience came dressed in sparkling outfits; and actor Laurence Fishburne gave a performance in the one-man play about U.S. Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall that brought the house down. There was the applause! There were the curtain calls and more applause! And Gamma Iota Lambda’s young mentees who watched from their balcony seats beamed with excitement.

The young mentees were a long way from the tough streets of East New York where the “latte-fair” of renewed gentrification has not yet permeated their neighborhood’s wide city blocks; it is an unlikely place to find the new face of mentorship.

An August 2008 issue of the New York Daily News hailed the

efforts of Big Brothers Big Sisters as “mentoring magic.” Through the collaborative efforts of Big Brothers Big Sisters of New York City, the Gamma Iota Lambda Brooklyn/Long Island Chapter has instituted the Guiding L.I.G.H.T. (Leading and Inspiring young men to Greatness through Humility and Teamwork) program.

Spearheaded by Brother Floyd Mitchell, the mentorship experience enlists boys from 13-to-16 and builds trust, respect and applicable life skills through a rites-of-passage concept.

Through the Guiding L.I.G.H.T., the Chapter aims to assist the young men in discovering their own talents by providing programs on leadership and self empowerment. The program also focuses on providing opportunities for students to recognize their responsibilities in society by assisting them in planning and implementing community-based initiatives; teaching them about self control and humility; and providing them with a brief glance into the key principles of the Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity.

Ultimately, Guiding L.I.G.H.T. hopes to lead the students down the path of academic excellence through tutorial programs in math, science, engineering and language arts; and also exposing them to aspects of college life. Answering the Fraternity General President’s call to register 10,000 mentors to guide the young men of tomorrow, the men of Gamma Iota Lambda plan to grow the initiative and attract even larger numbers of Gamma Iota Lambda Brothers and Guiding L.I.G.H.T. mentees from Spring 2008 program. participants.

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The Guiding L.I.G.H.T. program begins with a series of introductions and trust building exercises (game strategies). The tenants of this restructured mission differ from many programs in terms of its approach. “We build lives and relationships hoping to expose these young men to people and experiences far beyond their dreams,” Brother Mitchell says. The program also stresses process, patience and goals, he says.

Ten Alpha Brothers signed on last year as mentors. The Brothers were paired with ten “littles” with whom they met twice a month. Notwithstanding the apprehension that some of the littles have when initially meeting their mentors, the L.I.G.H.T. program instills a credo that challenges the young men to “ignite the potential that is already inside” and urges them to “become a light... for my friends…for my family…the community and the world.”

The youth in the program come from diverse backgrounds— ranging from a 14-year-old with 17 sisters to a 15-year-old freshman with special needs. The younger members often need a program with structure and excitement to lead them in the direction of smart choices for a smarter future.

Many good mentoring programs exist in part to provide symbols for a youth’s forward development. So, when the initial

FATHER AND SON NAMED ALPHA MAN OF THE YEAR FOR RESPECTIVE CHAPTERS

B

rother Cornelius Williams and his son, Brother Cornelius “Max” Williams II were recognized by their respective Alumni Chapters as Alpha Man of the Year for 2008. The elder Brother Williams is a member of Epsilon Rho Lambda Chapter in Fayetteville, North Carolina and was a 1975 Fraternity initiate at Kappa Iota Lambda Chapter in Willingboro, New Jersey.

His son was a 1986 Fraternity initiate at Mu Sigma Chapter at the Rochester Institute of Technology in Rochester, New York.

The senior Brother Williams is a retired Air Force veteran and retired educator with Pemberton Township Schools in New Jersey.

He remains active in his Chapter and community by working with Project Alpha and the March of Dimes programs as well as The 100 Black Men of The Cape Fear Region in Fayetteville, North Carolina.

Golf also is one of his passions and he has organized numerous golf tournaments and fundraisers.

His son, Max, is a U.S. Army veteran and business owner who is active in real estate investing and sales. Max is the chairperson of Project Alpha for his Chapter and sits on the Board of

process of building familiarity between “bigs” and “littles” is well underway, the Guiding L.I.G.H.T. program takes the extra steps toward moving the participants out of their comfort zones by engaging in activities designed to help shape them for the future.

The activities include sessions on dinner table etiquette, proper interview dress, excursions to movies at Times Square, wilderness excursions, college tours and trips to networking career-oriented luncheons where the boys speak face to face with top executives.

Their experiences also range from: (1) discussions with Chapter President Lawrence Williams, a former manufacturing manager at West Port; (2) to a meeting with the Vice President of HBO; (3) to meetings with teachers and a variety of other professionals. Brother Mitchell insists that this is only the beginning. “These young men need not only hear lip service towards hope; but they need to see the results of it.”

By igniting these young lights throughout our communities, Guiding L.I.G.H.T. strives to become a catalyst for change throughout the nation and the world.

For more information about the Guiding L.I.G.H.T. program or to become a mentor in the program, please contact Brother Floyd Mitchell by phone at: 313-622-6318; or email: floyd.mitchell@gmail.com.

Directors for the Greater Richmond Urban League.

Max says that he is proud to continue the family tradition of service and remembers as a child being exposed to the work of Alpha Phi Alpha. Although he did not fully understand as a child all there is to know about the Fraternity, he knew that some day he also was going to join the Alpha Circle Brothers Cornelius Williams, Sr. and as a Brother and Cornelius Williams II sing the Alpha Hymn as he often watched his father and his Fraternity Brothers do.

His dreams have been multiplied with their both having received Brother of the Year honors at the same time.

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C O M M E N TA RY

Generation Q: It’s Time To Shift to Alpha Activism

By Paul King Editor’s Note: Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc.—through its national programs and special projects, including Big Brothers Big Sisters, Boy Scouts of America, March of Dimes and Project Alpha—mandates that its Brothers and Chapters be involved in one-on-one mentoring [see General President Darryl Matthews’ State of the Fraternity Address beginning on page 76]. Views about group mentoring, which appear in the following article, are those of the commentator and are not shared by the Fraternity.

T

he mainstream media has branded the latest group of young people coming of age with at least three different tag lines: (1) The Echo Boomers; (2) Generation V; and (3) The Millennium Generation.

For those in that age group who are African American—particularly for those in that group who are Alpha men—I'd like to add one more tag line: Generation Q. The “Q” is for quiet. We’re not hearing enough from your generation. There is no outrage, let alone activism from our college Brothers regarding the many assaults on black people.

It’s not supposed to be this way. As an Alpha, you’ve inherited a long and

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Brother Paul King proud legacy to shape a history—not just witness it. The tradition of “Alpha Activism” is the tradition of creating great change for black people. It’s a tradition of taking steps to make sure the generation that follows won’t face the same roadblocks that were there to impede your progress.

Our men overcrowd state and federal prisons. The nuclear family for us is now only experienced by one in four families. Now in our communities, jobs are hard to come by and street corner gatherings are easy to find.

We Cannot Remain Quiet Black America can’t afford to have you remain quiet. You can’t afford it either. The challenges are too enormous, expansive and exhausting for you to just go to your classroom or office, then home to the comfort of your TV or lap top. If that’s all you are into, you are an Alpha fraud.

Can those of you who do not “serve the least of these my brothers” at least monthly look in the mirror and honestly say that by getting a passing grade, having a nice lady, a good job—while separating yourself from the plight of our black people—that you are a real Alpha man?

There is a call for you to

embrace your heritage as an Alpha Activist. Shift from being stuck in the standby mode. For your computersavvy generation, I’ll call the new program: AA 2.06. I’m calling your generation to design new and improved methods of Alpha Activism to take our people to the next level of integration in future America.

While you consider how you’re going to answer my call, allow me to establish the parameters. Activism is tantamount to service because it benefits the larger number of people. It focuses on bringing about change.

As a college Alpha, I was a hotshot.

Back then my mentors were many and great. They included Adam Clayton Powell, Thurgood Marshall, Martin Luther King, Jr., Myles Paige, William Hale, Sternson Broaddus, J. Herbert King, Lionel Newsom, Lewis Caldwell, Dutch Morial, Belford Lawson, Lawrence Young, Sidney Jones and Charles Wesley, among others.

I had a private meeting with both Thurgood Marshall and Adam Clayton Powell. Brother Powell said, “Don’t show me your degrees.” He admonished, “Don’t tell me about the money you’ll make. Don’t show me how many big words you can use. Don’t show me your Brooks Brothers suits.

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Show me how many pickets have you carried in the heat of the day!”

“Damn right!” Brother Marshall said to me when I told him about Brother Powell’s advice.

This was the single most important lesson I learned from Alpha Phi Alpha.

It put all of the ritual, history and sacrifice we had been taught into a clearly defined perspective. Money, celebrity, doctorate degrees and published books mean little or nothing if you haven’t reached out to the least of these.

If you haven’t sought to counsel young brothers and if you haven’t given service to help change the position of black people through activism, what you think you’ve achieved is pure fantasy.

In the Face of Hostility Forty-three years after the emancipation proclamation when Lincoln freed our enslaved ancestors, the Seven Jewels founded Alpha Phi Alpha.

The Jewels’ parents and relatives had firsthand knowledge of slavery. This was not done on a whim. There was great hostility in the land over the fact that blacks were free. The things that our forefathers experienced back then and for decades to come makes the Jena 6 episode look like a house party.

The Ku Klux Klan’s influence reigned

C O M M E N TA RY from Texas to New Jersey. Blacks were being systematically lynched up North in Indiana as well as in the Deep South. South of Cornell University, whites had family picnics while watching lynchings; and New York’s newest immigrants—the Irish—resented unskilled the country-bred, southern blacks for migrating to Manhattan.

What did Henry Arthur Callis and his companions do in this hostile environment? They took action! Rather than beg, protest or petition to enter white fraternal organizations, they formed their own fraternity. These young activists founded Alpha Phi Alpha on the principles of black pride, education, Christian values and exemplary behavior. These black men started an activist tradition that has lasted for more than 100 years. Their rock-solid values and ability to problem-solve laid the foundation for finding remedies for those who needed help. They developed a means of prioritizing, organizing and publicizing, which whites found non-threatening. Their tactics minimized the violent white resistance to these efforts and in some cases inspired some whites to offer support in the movement.

The Jewels established Activism, Service and Excellence as our principles; and one generation of Alphas after the next has passed down their cause. In the 1950s, Thurgood Marshall, whom I’ve already cited as one of my Alpha mentors, was relentless in seeking to get equal education for blacks. His activism led to the Supreme Court’s Brown vs. The Board of Education decision, which ultimately led to the end of legal segregation and paved the way for your generation to go to the best schools and compete for the highest paying jobs.

In the 1960s, another great Alpha

man, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., led the Civil Rights Movement, which culminated in the Voting Rights Act of 1984 and the dynamic political progress that led to groundbreaking political victories such as Harold Washington becoming the mayor of Chicago; Deval Patrick becoming the governor of Massachusetts; and Barack Obama being elected the U.S. Senator from Illinois and the first African American President of the United States of America.

Repairing the Construction Industry In the 1970s, I was an activist using affirmative action as a means of getting blacks in the construction industry. My Alpha Brothers, Rep. Powell and Dr. King, had paved the way by pushing President Lyndon B. Johnson so hard on the race issue that he said in 1965, before signing Executive Order 11246, that it is not enough to just not discriminate but we must take affirmative action to repair the damages of past discrimination.

Construction, one of the largest industries in the U.S., was in need of repair for past and current discrimination. In 1970, one dime out of every dollar spent in the country was spent on the construction of roads, schools, bridges, skyscrapers, airports, and housing—you get the idea. And the black community wasn’t even getting the crumbs. At the time, blacks were 13 percent of Chicago’s population but comprised less than one percent of the members in the construction union. There were no black contractors of size. In addition to not counting all the wealth that was not going into the black community, our movement to dismantle discrimination in the

construction industry was unique because it was the first time a major industry was called into account from top to bottom.

We challenged the industry to hire more blacks and to cut more black contractors in on the action. We were able to do this because Brother Marshall and Brother King’s activism before us made it possible. Their actions changed the paradigm of the federal government and practically all major construction has federal funds involved.

We also took to the streets. With the support of more than 600 community residents, we shut down construction projects with contracts worth more than $60 million. We warned all white workers that “you can work in Chicago but not without us.”

We exported activism to other cities. Alpha man Joe Debro organized the National Association of Minority Contractors (NAMC) in California.

This organization still exists today.

I worked with the late Congressman Parren Mitchell (DMD) and created the first Black Congressional Caucus Business Brain Trust. This Brain Trust led to the first law in history that required the use of black contractors in public construction. As a result of our activism, unions are now 35 percent non-white.

Alpha Activist John Wilks, who was Asst. Secretary of Labor when we were out to change ground rules, quietly but efficiently guided us through the perils of that time. Because he was the head of the Office of Federal Contractors Compliance, his commitment to our struggle was incalculable.

His contribution was so significant that the white contractors tried to move him out of the Department of Labor.

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Although he’s long since retired, the white contractors continue their fight to keep us out. They funded public policies such as Bakke, Defunis and California Proposition 209, which changed college admission procedures in the name of reverse discrimination, and which in turn shut out many blacks.

Today’s Challenges The challenges facing black people today are different but in many ways are as grave as they were during slavery. Back then, the white power structure kept us in bondage, murdered us without remorse, disallowed our learning to read, write and learn arithmetic and separated our families so that our children grew up not knowing who their fathers were.

Today the white structure keeps us in prisons in record numbers while we inflict ourselves with many of the horrors once inflicted on us by whites.

We murder each other without remorse; we fail to get a good education; we don’t bother to marry, or raise or care for our children.

What many of us do, I believe, is your challenge as Alpha men to help undo. You and your generation can help create an understanding as to why our younger brothers are reaching manhood with little vision of what to do next and how to go about doing it. They have no goals and less drive.

They’re paralyzed by hopelessness.

Alpha Activism Jim Montgomery (a great attorney who’s not an Alpha) and I have started a movement called “Toward a School of Public Policy: Lessons from our Leaders.” This is a dialogue between those who have accomplished certain

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C O M M E N TA RY goals in their careers and who are linking themselves to younger brothers and sisters. The idea is to pass the body of knowledge we have along to those younger people who want to know but may not have access to answers. Our dialogues are Q&A style as opposed to lectures.

You and your generation can address the inequities in the criminal justice system and develop an ongoing dialogue on what to do with the 100,000 plus ex-offenders who will return to our neighborhoods, year-in and year-out, once they’ve done their time.

I am working with our Brother Danny Davis on “Operation Second Chance.” This is legislation the U.S. Congressman is sponsoring that will restore voting rights and also allow exoffenders to take jobs they were previously denied. In my own business, I hired five ex-offenders. One came out of prison with drafting skills. He worked three years for me; he was never late and he presented no problems. He also had a counselor who was available to talk with him daily.

I also launched Project Pride. We gave a city college $10,000 to teach our ex-offenders how to enter the work world; how to hear and receive a demanding request without feeling demoralized; how to ask a question and not feel stupid; how to be on time and to call-in when you’re going to he late; and generally how to succeed on the job front.

You and your generation must work to stem the epidemic of black on black crime. It has reached the point of where we can no longer be silent.

We have too many innocent children being killed. We have old women being afraid to identity crooks because they will get their houses burned.

I am meeting with Harold Saffold, co-founder of the African American Patrolman’s league; Gary Slutkin of Cease Fire; founders of Gangs from the 1960s; and police commanders and young men from troubled neighborhoods to find out what can be done to stop this.

I am not asking you to do anything that I and greater Alphas have not done. You know the history and

the heritage. You have much greater chances for success because you can use our victories and mistakes as your roadmap towards making greater change. You know the score. You’ve been schooled in organizational management, team building and the agility of the Internet. You have our knowledge to draw on and your state-of-theart knowledge to wield.

Now it’s time for you to MAN UP! Once committed, I’m sure Generation AA2.06 will take the tradition of Alpha Activism back to the future.

Following are some actions that today’s Alpha Brothers can take. Each chapter, district and region, as well as individual Brothers, should understand these issues and take one or more of the following actions: (1) Mentor young black boys. You and other Brothers can adopt a school.

(2) Monitor and challenge racism in media—through black radio, the black press and online blogs.

(3) Construct bridges between our generations so that there can be knowledge sharing.

(4) Stimulate partnerships between

health institutions so that our young people can prevent the current health crisis in the black community.

(5) Discuss and develop an alternate approach to affirmative action in education, business and jobs.

(6) Develop concepts and programs for returning ex-offenders to the black community in a positive and constructive role.

I am not asking you to do anything I haven’t done.

Brother Paul King is the founder and chairman of UBM, Inc., which in 2004, was Illinois’ largest African American-owned construction firm before closing. Currently, he is a construction consultant and principal industrial and commercial developer.

His work for African Americans in construction earned him the title of “The man who put ‘firm’ in Affirmative Action”, which was given by one major newspaper. Brother King and his Theta line Brothers celebrated their 50th Anniversary on Nov. 17, 2007. He is currently an active member of Xi Lambda Chapter.

Retired University Professor, 90, Receives Fraternity Proclamation from General President-Elect Skip Mason Brother McDonald Williams, a charter member in 1939 of the Omicron Chapter at the University of Pittsburgh, was presented with a proclamation by General President-elect Herman “Skip” Mason on the occasion Brother Williams’ 90th birthday. The presentation was made during a celebration in Atlanta, Georgia that was hosted by his wife, Dr. Jamye Coleman Williams.

The proclamation highlighted Brother Williams’ successful career as a Professor of English at Wilberforce University, Morris Brown College and Tennessee State University where he served for 22 years as the Director of the University Honors Program until his retirement in 1988.

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Pictured during the presentation are: (l-r) Brothers Willie C. Robinson, a 1954 initiate at Beta Epsilon Chapter, North Carolina A&T State University who is President Emeritus, Florida Memorial University, Miami, FL, and current president, W.C. Robinson & Associates in Miami; newly elected 33rd General President Skip Mason; Brother Williams; and Brother Kenneth E. Owens, a 1971 initiate at Eta Pi Chapter, University of Wisconsin and owner of the K.E. Owens Insurance Agency in Chicago, IL.

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