The Wall Street Alpha Report, Winter 2017, Vol 7 No 2

Winter 2017

Volume 7, Issue 2

THE WALL ST. ALPHA REPORT The official Wall Street Alpha Newsletter, Kappa Xi Lambda Chapter, NYC

I N S I D E T H I S I S S U E :

Chapter Leadership

2

Community Service

3-5

Alpha G.E.N.T.S.

6

Founders Day

7

Stocking Exchange

8

College Brothers Affairs

9

Book Review

10-11

U P C O M I N G E V E N T S :

March for Babies

4/30

Chapter Elections

5/9

AIDS Walk

5/21

SIP

6/2

June Chapter Meeting

6/9

Men’s Health Forum

6/17

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CHAPTER LEADERSHIP Kappa Xi Lambda Executive Board: President: Vice President: Recording Secretary: Corresponding Secretary: Treasurer: Financial Secretary: Chaplain: Historian: Coordinator of Intake: Sergeant-at-Arms: Parliamentarian: Dir. of Educational Activities: Associate Editor to the Sphinx:

Brother Dr. Ted Ingram Brother Tony Thompson Brother Walter Lindsey Jr. Brother James T. Turner Brother Willieneil French Brother Dr. G. Anthony “Tony” Bell Brother Dr. Eric Turner Brother Jaron Dawson Brother Antonio Johnson Brother Johnny Williams Brother Chadwick Roberson Brother Martavius Leonard Brother David Williams Jr.

Kappa Xi Lambda Committee Chairs: Committee on Scholarship and Education: Committee on Elections: Committee on Audit: Committee on Constitution and By-Laws: Committee on Membership, Standards & Initiation: Committee on Entertainment: Committee on Finance and Planning: Committee on Communications: Committee on College Brother Affairs: Committee on Mentoring: Committee on Strategic Planning: Committee on Community Service:

Brother Martavius Leonard Brother Richard Bates Brother Brandon Richardson Brother David Ford Brother Antonio Johnson Brother Walter Lindsey Brother Dr. G. Anthony "Tony" Bell Brother James Turner Brother Jaron Dawson Brother Martavius Leonard Brother Tony Thompson Brother Kwabena “Q” Adom & Brother Jodan Gilles

Kappa Xi Lambda Newsletter Committee: Editor-in-Chief: Assistant Editor-in-Chief: Committee Member: Committee Member: Committee Member:

Brother David Williams Jr Brother Tony Thompson Brother Martavius Leonard Brother George Smith Brother Curtis Outlaw

Wall Street Alphas Charitable Foundation Board of Directors: President & Chairman: Secretary: Treasurer: Board Member: Board Member:

Brother Roy A. Williams Brother Tony Johnson Brother Shawn A. Curwen Brother Jioha Amatokwu Brother Lael Chappell 2

BROVEMBER BRO. KWABENA “Q” ADOM In recent years, “Movember” and “No-Shave November” have taken off as a way to support mens’ health through facial hair growth. We took that a step further with the introduction of BROvember, a new chapter initiative which took place in the month of November. Brothers were encouraged to participate in as many of the below as possible.

Fitness Challenge - 7 in total with the goal of getting physically, mentally, & spiritually stronger in a month.

Challenge 1 - Eat at least 7 servings of fruit daily Challenge 2 - Sleep at least 7 hours each evening Challenge 3 - Re-read “The History of Alpha Phi Alpha A Development In College Life” or a book of your choosing Challenge 4 - Pull-ups - Perform the same number as the day (ex, 11 pull-ups on 11/11) daily Challenge 5 - Pushups - Perform the same number as the day (ex,12 pushups on 11/12) daily Challenge 6 - Sit-ups - 30 sit-ups daily Challenge 7 - Cardio - 30 minutes daily In addition to the Fitness Challenge, we capped off BROvember with participation in Small Business Saturday, a day dedicated to supporting small businesses across the country. It is celebrated each year on the Saturday after Thanksgiving. At our first stop, the Harlem Branch of City National Bank, Brothers opened individual bank accounts. City National Bank is a regional bank headquartered in Newark, New Jersey with four branches in the New York metropolitan area.

According to the June 2011 issue of Black Enterprise magazine, it is the seventh largest AfricanAmerican owned and operated commercial bank in the United States. We then joined the NYC-Metropolitan Alumnae chapters of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc. for their annual Black-Owned Small Business Crawl. Stops along the way included Flamekeepers Hat Club, Hoodwinked Escape, Harlem Haberdashery, Carol’s Daughter, SneakerPawnUSA, and several other venues.

The Brothers of KXL reaffirmed their commitment to serving our communities by providing examples of physical, mental, and financial strength.

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PROJECT HOMELESS BRO. JODAN GILLES

Project Homeless is always a great time for brothers and the community to join together and engage in aiding those less fortunate. It is a great way to live up to our motto of being servants of all. It is also a great time to put in perspective what power we possess in making someone's life that much easier before we eat abundantly with our loved ones at home. I always have at least one conversation with someone in need that brings me down to earth. One lady who just lost her financial assistance from the government happened to just be passing by our station on 41st street and 9th avenue. She told me she was extremely grateful for us brothers to have this event because it was extremely difficult for her to afford food with such little family left in New York City. I thought to myself how great this meal would be for her but it would pale in importance in the long run. I then forwarded her to the homeless shelter where we donate the excess food to and her gratitude made my year as I was glad to know my beloved fraternity may have saved a life this year.

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MLK DAY OF SERVICE BRO. KWABENA “Q� ADOM "Life's most persistent and urgent question is: 'What are you doing for others?'".

On Saturday, January 14th, 2017, we answered and honored our Brother in Alpha, Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., with a day of service. Each year, Americans across the nation answer that question as well by coming together on the King Holiday to serve their neighbors and communities. The MLK Day of Service is a part of United We Serve, President Obama's national call to service initiative. It calls for Americans from all walks of life to work together to provide solutions to our most pressing national problems.

We partnered with KEEN (Kids Enjoy Exercise Now), a 501(c)(3) whose mission is to provide free recreational opportunities to children and young adults with disabilities. The Brothers of KXL enjoyed an afternoon of fun non-competitive sports activities and helped kids discover just how much they can do. Joined by fellow caring New Yorkers at the East 54th Street Recreation Center, we were able to immerse ourselves in meaningful service. It was definitely a rewarding and enjoyable experience for all in attendance.

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ALPHA G.E.N.T.S. BRO. MARTAVIUS LEONARD The December Alpha G.E.N.T.S. session focused on technology and its real world applications. The session entitled Color Coded, facilitated by Kappa Xi Lambda Spring 2016 initiate and software developer at Bloomberg L.P. Bro. Shann Bernard, provided an overview of coding and concluded with the G.E.N.T.S. creating personal profiles using coding techniques.

The focus of the January G.E.N.T.S session was focused on the pillar of mental and physical health. Facilitated by New York Sports Club, the G.E.N.T.S received a crash course in how physical activity and healthy habits can contribute to overall wellness.

With the assistance of New York Sports Club site manager Michael Bloomfield, G.E.N.T.S and brothers were able to engage in an exciting and interactive day of circuit training and group exercises.

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FOUNDERS DAY BRO. DR. TED N. INGRAM

Under the leadership of Kappa Upsilon Lambda chapter, brothers from the NYACOA region assembled on the campus of United States Military Academy in West Point, NY for the fraternity’s annual founders day celebration. On Sunday, December 4, 2016, areas 5, 6, 7, and 8 came together in pride to celebrate what occurred on that “Ice Cold Tuesday” 110 years ago, when our illustrious founders at Cornell University voted that their literary society should move forward and become Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity. This meaningful occasion is presented in remembrance of our beloved jewels who had the foresight and determination to embark on an experience that would impact an entire race. Program chair and Vice President of Kappa Upsilon Lambda, Brother Credle designed the program to be anything but ordinary.

After several weeks of planning, conference calling, financial investing and preparing, brothers took the stage for a once in a lifetime performance. The undergraduate brothers, with the assistance of Bro Spy, recited signature poems (House of Alpha, If, There goes an Alpha Man, Invictus) that are consistent with the information learned among millions of rising Alpha men. Key representatives from the Alumni chapters assumed the identity of the visionaries of the fraternity” as they provided history, insight, and personal accomplishments of the Jewels. Audience members marveled as brothers worked the room and engaged attendees with their rhetoric. Committed to their own chapter’s founders day event, the leadership team composed of Eastern Region Vice President Brother Mills, General President Brother Ward, and then-President Brother Tillman sent their messages of encouragement. Keynote speaker & district directors Brother Chris Ellis’ speech “Mediocre is not on the menu” reinvigorated the brothers to stay committed while striving for excellence.

Undoubtedly this was one of the premier founder’s day observances that I had the pleasure to partake in. As with most Alpha event's there is an expectation that is set forth and this year’s production exceeded the mark. After all, the brothers would not allow anything with the name of Alpha to be less than. A big 1-9-0-6 to all the brothers of the Metro Area chapters who made these ideas and concepts into a reality. Kudos and congratulations to the brothers of Rho Omicron for hosting the brothers as well as celebrating with us. Our fraternity continues to promote brotherhood and excellence and the charge is set forth to the organizers of the 111th celebration of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc.

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STOCK-ING EXCHANGE BROS. JARON DAWSON AND WILLIENEIL FRENCH Regardless of one’s beliefs, the month of December is one of the most joyous times of the year.

The Wall Street Alphas have an annual event which should always be part of anyone’s December social calendar. The festive occasion combines family, friends, lights, gifts, spirits, music, and fun.

While the brothers are known for their annual SIP event, we should also be known for beginning the holiday season with our annual Stock-ing Exchange Holiday Party and Toy Drive.

The event began as a holiday party but has morphed into a community gathering of close associates. The brothers returned to Pera Soho restaurant in lower Manhattan for the signature fundraiser, holiday party, and community event. Attendees were asked to donate an unwrapped toy or a $10 donation for admittance. Many guests had big hearts as they donated both a toy and a monetary gift yielding the largest amount toys collected since the event’s inception. Toys collected were donated to an area shelter to be distributed to families in need of bringing holiday joy to their children. The venue was filled with the latest and greatest tunes by DJ Sara as patrons enjoyed signature cocktails named the Gold Fashion and The Black and Old Gold which were created by Bro. Jaron Dawson and the staff of Pera Soho.

Fraters and Sorors from the divine nine and members of other minority Greek organizations were present. The attendee list included community leaders from NYC who came to celebrate the season and to give back. Although this event was intended to be a community event, it also proved to be a great reclamation event. Three brothers reactivated their chapter membership with the Wall Street Alphas after attending Stock-ing Exchange. Goodwill is the monarch of the house and the brothers of Kappa Xi Lambda did an extraordinary job of providing a great start to the holiday season.

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UPSILON UPSILON BROS. ROMEL WILLIAMS & KWAME ASSOKU The college brothers at NYU successfully hosted our first Alpha Week. To start off the week we hosted an Alpha Mixer to bring everyone together for some refreshments, music, games, and engaging conversation. The idea of this event was to formally introduce Upsilon Upsilon to the campus and to set the tone for the kind of events the campus could expect from us. On Tuesday, we hosted a professional development workshop to give people the opportunity to improve both their resume and cover letter writing skills as well as receive a free professional headshot. Wednesday evening we hosted our very first Alpha Informational to provide more information about the organization to interested men on the campus. Thursday, we hosted a toy and postcard drive to both raise awareness about terminal diseases effecting children while also getting notes and toys together to present to them for the holidays. Lastly, Upsilon Upsilon participated in MGC’s (Multicultural Greek Council) Fusion Yard Show where we had our yard debut and performed a set consisting of strolls and steps.

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BOOK REVIEW BRO. R. EMANUEL SCOTT, JR. They Stay Mad In the wake of the shocking election of Donald Trump as the 45th President of the United States, seldom does a nonfictional book resonate with our current state of affairs as does “White Rage: The unspoken truth of our racial divide” – by Emory University Professor, Carol Anderson, Ph.D. The book starts with her recount of the murder of an innocent and unarmed vendor, Amadou Diallo, in the doorway of his Bronx apartment building by a barrage of forty-one bullets fired at him by officers employed by the New York Police Department on February 4, 1999. Dr. Anderson effectively connects the dots from the 1700’s to the present, between the countless acts of documented state-sanctioned oppression and violence across the country directed at Native Americans, black, brown, and other oppressed people in response to any instance of forward movement, progress, or achievement by people of color.

When it comes to stories of black people fighting racial oppression in the courts, many Americans were taught roughly three important civil rightsrelated cases before graduating high school: The Dred Scott Decision (Dred Scott v. John F.A. Sandford), Plessy vs. Ferguson (Homer A. Plessy v. John H. Ferguson) and Brown vs. Board of Education (Oliver Brown, et. al. v. Board of Education of Topeka, et. al.). In “White Rage” Dr. Anderson evidences the numerous, nonstop, and continued efforts of enslaved and formerly enslaved black people to resist in the fields, streets and courtrooms against slavery, racism, xenophobia, and bigotry in all its forms from the moment Europeans first stepped foot in the thirteen colonies.

Dr. Anderson takes us through slavery, the Slave Codes, the Homestead Acts (land was taken from Native Americans), the Black Codes, abolitionists, draft riots, emancipation, reconstruction, lynching, Jim Crow laws, race riots and government-sanctioned oppression (e.g., FBI harassment via communist propaganda campaigns, COINTELPRO, the prison industrial complex, mandatory minimum drug sentences, three strikes, redistricting, voter IDs) that occurred from the Lyndon Administration through the Obama Administration in areas like public accommodations, housing, education, law enforcement and employment to name a few.

Examples of white rage are everywhere according to Dr. Anderson. During her November 2016 appearance on “Politics, Race, and Rage” at Harlem’s Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, Dr. Anderson needed only to cite as evidence the unprecedented September 2009 outburst by South Carolina Representative Joe Wilson during an internationally televised joint session of Congress when he interrupted a speech by the 44th U.S. President Barack Obama by shouting “You lie!” two times before a Capitol gallery full of shocked supreme court justices, cabinet members, legislators and guests.

A present day example of white rage is the first-time ever refusal by U.S. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell to conduct Senate Judiciary Committee hearings to consider or vote on President Obama’s March 2016 nomination of centrist judge Merrick Garland (Chief of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia) to fill the vacancy on the U.S. Supreme Court after the sudden death of Justice Antonin Scalia in February 2016, citing President Obama’s “lame duck” status with almost an entire year left in his second term.

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BOOK REVIEW BRO. R. EMANUEL SCOTT, JR. In an August 2016 speech in Kentucky, Sen. McConnell said, "One of my proudest moments was when I looked Barack Obama in the eye and I said, 'Mr. President, you will not fill the Supreme Court vacancy.’” President Trump, capitalizing on the gigantic slight of President Obama by Sen. McConnell, recently nominated conservative (e.g., Hobby Lobby Stores v. Sebelius) Appellate Judge Neil Gorsuch to fill the vacancy.

Dr. Anderson may very well be onto something through her writings. It seems a cruel stroke of serendipity that Stephen K. Bannon (the former Executive Chairman of Breitbart News website and Sirius XM channel and an accused anti-Semite, who is identified as a white nationalist and member of the “altright” movement by the Southern Poverty Law Center) has been appointed by President Trump as his chief adviser. In another surprisingly sad and historic first, the President also appointed Mr. Bannon to the National Security Council (“NSC”). This is remarkable because President Trump first removed both the director of national intelligence, the president’s primary intelligence adviser and the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the nation’s highest-ranking military officer from the NSC in order to make room for Mr. Bannon, who has no experience in national intelligence. Former NYC Mayor Rudy Giuliani (whose blatant contempt for people of color in the aftermath of the Diallo killing is detailed by Dr. Anderson at the beginning of “White Rage,”) has been a mouth piece for President Trump during the fillings of cabinet-level positions in Mr. Trump’s administration. This irony is compounded by the recent nomination by President Trump of Senator Jefferson Beauregard “Jeff” Sessions, III (named after both “Jefferson” Davis and Pierre Gustave Toutant-“Beauregard”, the President and first prominent general of the Confederacy respectively, and an unrepentant bigot with a documented history of racist statements and harsh legal actions toward black people, the NAACP and the American Civil Liberties Union) to be the next United States Attorney General, on the heels of African-American trailblazers Eric Holder and Loretta Lynch. These men complete Mr. Trump’s evil Trinity. Although he lost the popular vote, is the electoral victory of Donald Trump by a large majority of voters who happened to be white (53% of white women and 63% of white men voters) how white rage has manifested itself? I would say, “Yes.” Never has “White Rage” been more relevant than today. While many black and brown Americans (including this writer) spent the past eight years of the President Barack H. Obama in a sort of euphoric haze, a large number of our white brothers and sisters spent this time planning to unleash their rage.

Nonetheless, there is good news: We are “WOKE” now. They cannot kill all black, brown, and other oppressed peoples. History has shown that we always comeback, and stronger! Black Lives Matter, Color of Change, the Womens’ Marches on Washington and around the world, national Muslim Ban Protests, and many other groups have formed to resist and overcome oppression. The question remains: Will Native Americans, Black, Brown and other oppressed people vote and continue voting in local, state and national elections to overcome this backlash? Only time will tell.

Bro. R. Emanuel Scott, Jr. is the President Emeritus of the Gamma Iota Lambda Chapter (“BrooklynLong Island Alphas”) of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc., an Advisory Board Member of the School of Business of the Metropolitan College of New York, and the President Emeritus of the Bernard M. Baruch College Alumni Association, Inc.

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2016-2017 CHAPTER MEETING SCHEDULE General Meetings Location: 120 Wall Street Time: 6:30 PM Dates September 13, 2016 October 11, 2016 November 8, 2016 December 13, 2016 January 10, 2017 February 14, 2017 March 22, 2017 April 11, 2017 (Executive board nominations) May 9, 2017 (Executive board elections) June 13, 2017 ———————————————————————————————————————————————————————–— ————–———————–———————————————————————————————————————————— Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc. Kappa Xi Lambda Chapter P.O. Box 5382 New York, NY 10185-5382 Website: www.wallstreetalphas.com Email: wallstreetalphas@gmail.com Facebook: @WallStreetAlphas Twitter: @WallStAlphas Instagram: @WallStAlphas

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