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um we're going to get started shortly um we have a lot of modifications that we've done but to make this a successful
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night and hopefully educational for everyone one um we've done some things
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just kind of make sure it's going to be a good night for you so we wanted to make sure everyone had a chance to get something to eat um and make sure that
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all the students are sitting in the chairs if everyone that's a student if they can fill these these seats that's
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going to be perfect for us to um get started on time but for a point of clarification I wanted to make an
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announcement um and I'm going to own this we have members of the um
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organizations that might be up here twice it's not an equity thing but we wanted to make sure that we had every
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seat fill um and represented from all the members of the D9 Divine n and so we
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might have more than two members of that organization set up here tonight so that's the only reason that that that
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has occurred so um but you're going to have a lot of information shared we we
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want you to ask some questions uh as make sure you have a good understanding of what divine n is um what Greek
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organizations are and what they stand for so maybe if you make that decision or if you don't make that decision when
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you see them you have a better idea of what um members of these organizations actually stand for and what they do in their communities uh we do have one
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other modification is Councilman Mitchell um who is also supposed to be a moderator tonight will not be in
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attendance um he's not had a chance to get something to eat please do so um again um if you are a student please
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have a seat at the in the front and we're going to um have our moderators come up shortly but right now our chair
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Madam chair Karen Gibson if you would like to say a few words come on up and get everybody
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started thank you Terry good evening good evening I hope everyone is well my
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name is Karen Gibson and so I have the pleasure of serving as the chair over this event but I also serve on the
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community Relations Committee for Charlotte mecklinburg and we are excited to host this again this is our third
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annual D9 um panel discussion this year the theme for MLK was all around Youth
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and all around women so it was really important this year that we got in front of students so you can learn exactly the
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impact of the divine nine which Martin Luther King Jr was a member of the
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divine nine so that's the correlation of having this type of event we are going to get shorted um started soon we're
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going to have our panelists come up in a minute and um we'll introduce the panelists we've got a couple other
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speakers that will come up and bring some greetings and then we will get right into tonight's um discussion as Terry said if you've not gotten a
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refreshment please do so and again we do want all of our students to be seated um
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in front because this is for you okay we'll be starting shortly if we could have our panelists to start to come up
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right Alpha F Alpha look I got and Alpha Kappa Alpha
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here Alpha and Kappa Alpha Kappa [Music]
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Al so you might have to go down one cuz we have two two kappas hold on one
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second all right so we've got two kappas and they'll be sitting here Omega
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Delta if we need to get some more seats don't worry about it Sigma the two Zetas sagam row we need one more seat
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Jan we need one more seat Jan we need one more chair oh do we got it we
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actually we have it just slide down perfect perfect there we go testing 1 two
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3 1963 oh wow that's crazy
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[Music] going we'll
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[Music] see oh are too
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please go ahead and get some refreshments if you haven't again we'd ask that all of our students are sitting up in
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front all right excellent let's go ahead and get started we're excited again
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we're going to have a very impactful and informative panel with our D9 Divine n
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members um before we get started first we want to thank our sponsors which is Atrium health and Food Lion and we will
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pause um when they do enter they are on their way we also want to make sure that
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we acknowledge councilman Brown you would W this is her District thank you so much for being
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here at this time I'd also like to ask the chair of the community relations
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committee to just come forward
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Sam good evening everyone good evening everyone should be excited to be here um
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thank you Karen uh my name is Sam Smith Jr I have the honor of lead leading the
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Charlotte uh Community Relations Committee which is the committee um that's part of the planning committee
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for this event this evening um first I want to say it's amazing to see um so many young people in this space I think
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it's important that you all are heing this conversation um I think it's important that you all are engaged um
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from a lot of different level civically in your community and how you show up as a student so thank you all for being
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here thank you uh YMCA um for putting this for allowing us to be in your space and helping us to
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put this event together but most importantly I want to thank each of our panelists here all of whom are students
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and with their respected organizations they're here to lend their voice to you and I hope you do take something from
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this conversation today back with you into your community into your schools so again thank you all for being here we
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look forward to a great conversation thank you Sam I would also
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like to make sure we take time to publicly thank jamarian young you would wave he's the executive director here
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for the straford YMCA along with his team who is in the back and who has set a lot of things up um this evening so to
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get us started I'm going to introduce our facilitators Chad huitt who is a member of alpha alpha
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Fraternity Incorporated and Daryl bonapart who is a member of Iota Theta Fraternity Incorporated and they will be
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moderating this evening's discussion gentlemen hey we want to thank everybody
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for coming out today can you guys hear me sir yall hear us okay all right okay we're going to be hyped today we want to
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have some great energy because it's going to come from here and we want it to come from you as well absolutely absolutely so I think we should start
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off something like this with the panelists introducing themselves their organizations their school and their
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chapter the chapter is the the specific iteration of that organization at that school so your name organization school
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and chapter hello everybody my name is Taj Raleigh I am a spring 23 initiate of
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the mutal chapter at UNC Charlotte uh I've graduated and I'm currently a part of the beta new Lambda chapter at uh in
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Charlotte hi everyone my name is Kendall Reagan and I'm a senior at John St Smith University and I'm a fall 23 initiate
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into the Gamma Delta chapter of alpha Capa Alpha sty Incorporated how's everybody doing my
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name is Anthony Carter I'm a spring 23 initiate of The Zeta Delta chapter of cap Alpha attorney Incorporated I'm a
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recent graduate from UNCC Charlotte and I'm currently an analyst at Bank of America uh good evening everyone my name
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is kenth corth I attend the John C C Smith University I am also a spring 23
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initial of the alpha Upson chapter of c alha s attorney Incorporated how y'all doing my name is
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D Carlos spring 23 initiate a road chapter at Johnson C Smith
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University working oh good evening everyone my name is ranessa Gopi I currently a spring 24 initiate of the
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ioto chapter of D already Incorporated um and I am a junior at UNCC
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Charlotte how y'all doing um my name is Justin Nixon I am a fall 23 initiate of
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the Alpha Epsilon chapter of f Beta Sigma for turn Incorporated and I am currently a senior political science
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major at Johnson C Smith good evening everyone my name is
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Mara Taylor I am a spring 24 initiate of the illustrious Capa chapter of Z to 5
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SCH Incorporated and I attend John C Smith um good evening my name is Tannis
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James and I'm a fall 23 initiate of Zeta 5 beta soor already Incorporated and I'm
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a part of the sigma Upsilon chapter at Queens University of
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Charlotte hey y'all um my name is adir Abdula and I am a spring 21 initiated of
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the neuro Chapter of Sigma garos award Incorporated at UNCC Charlotte and I'm a recent graduate so I'm now a part of the
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beta Omron Sigma chapter of Charlotte good
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evening my name is Eric cutson Jr I am a spring 22 initiate of Iota data
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Fraternity Incorporated as stated chapter I have graduated and now I'm a member of the Iota Omega alumni chapter
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of Iota FL Fraternity Incorporated all right I want to thank our panelists for being here
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today we're just going to take a pause for one moment and he'll probably look at me like oh my goodness but we have a
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representative here from one of our sponsors Atrium health so Matt if you could just wave or if you
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would like like to come up and say a few words we'll give you that
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opportunity he's he's choosing not to but um we want to thank Atrium H for all that they have been doing to make sure
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that these events go off awesome so want to thank all the panelists for taking time out of their
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day today to do this and I guess we can Dive Right In yeah let's do it
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so during the march on Washington on August 28th 1963 during his I Have a
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Dream speech Dr King said out of a mountain of Despair a stone of hope it
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symbolizes resilience optimism and the potential for Progress even in the face of overwhelming challenges right now we
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are faced with challenges that are quite overwhelming but I know we shall overcome with that said our first
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question which will be answered initially by the representative from alpha alpha Fraternity Incorporated will
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be what aspects of Dr King Legacy resonate most with you and why thank you
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so I must say um the aspects that resonate most with me would have to be nonviolence and a peaceful protest uh so
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Dr King's commitment to nonviolence and his approach to social change is honestly a Timeless model for addressing
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Injustice without perpetuating harm I must also say that I admire his uh fight
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for equality and justice as uh it continues to inspire efforts to
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challenge systemic racism and it promotes fairness in society today so
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that's um so I'd say the part of Dr King's Legacy that resonates the most
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with me uh would probably be his initiative to drive change um the fact
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that at that time there weren't many people you know trying to step out of the comfort zone and be you know
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that sorry I was finding the word uh be that pillar for change um and I really
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admire that about him um of course there were other leaders at that time but it was like he was the face of the Civil
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Rights Movement at that time so he really had to take that on his shoulders and the fact that he was able to do that
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really I feel like resonates with me and like drives you know my ideal for like
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change um cuz I'm big on advocacy um sorry this is not important but the president of NAACP on my campus so it's
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like that's something really big and important to me so I really admire that about
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him yeah I'll go on my point I think something big about Dr King's Legacy was
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his fight for treating everybody the same I think that's something that we kind of Overlook especially in today's
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society I think we forget that at the end of the day we're all human and I think there's this big thing where you
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know especially with social media we put other people on pedestals depending on like their external or
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maybe their social status and I think it can kind of put us off track with kind of like
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what we're here for as humans and I think his fight was to kind of kind of going off with Tasha that fight for
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equality it's it's big because I think as young adults um it's something that I
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think we can kind of forget that you know there's somebody on social media who may be doing something that we're not but I think we just have to treat
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people Fair um and kind of see it for what it is that face value not kind of go off what we see um and I think that's
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something big that he fought for um kind of treating people the same and I think I resonate with that a
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lot um one aspect that I would say resonates with me the most is his
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ability to bring thousands um if not Millions people of people together for a
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peaceful protest and understanding that you know violence isn't always the answer and especially back then um
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violence kind of resulted in like a harsh punishment especially on people of
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color so and he understood that at a larger scale and really brought everyone
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together to say at the end of the day we don't need violence right now we just need peace and bringing everyone
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together just really resonates with me um I just like Kenny said um his abil
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his ability to unite thousands of people um and the persevere through all the
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violent acts that was happening to him such such as his house getting burnt down um the dogs the
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hoses um every day he was able to continue to fight and motivate without
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retaliating violently um something about his legacy
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that resonated with me would be his leadership and his advocacy um I would
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say that he truly knew what he wanted and he he worked for it and he on business like he knew what he was
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fighting for and he encouraged people to stand up to and that really meant a lot and even his name speaks volumes you
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know like everybody knows who he is what he stood for and I think that is very
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powerful yeah I kind of reiterate a little a lot of what everybody said I just really appreciated his ability to
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tell the story of people who couldn't speak for themselves um he was really pivotal on being able to show some of
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the you know damage that been done to the black community and other groups who didn't have the power to fight for
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themselves so I really appreciate it just his ability to communicate and tell the story of people who couldn't you
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know themselves um I agree as well something
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that resonated with me would be his courage to stand up for what's right and
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his commitment to nonviolence and he showed
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how he showed how hope and love can bring us together in difficult
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times yeah what stuck out for me was his desire for Unity and I think wanting
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everyone to come together towards a common goal and I think that really strikes a chord with me with all the the
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polarization and division that's kind of happening within communities and in between different
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communities I will say that Dr King's Legacy of resiliency and hope is what sticks out to me he showed us that no
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matter how tough things are whether we're facing racial discrimination or internal conflicts whatever is happening
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in our everyday lives we're still able to persevere and rise above it and push for a better tomorrow I think that his
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belief to be able to transform the World by starting with ourselves and being introspective is something that I carry with myself every day so it's this idea
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of turning obstacles and things that are difficult in our lives whether that be a bad test grade or a fight with someone
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else and turning that into an opportunity for growth I think that's something that my parents have taught me in that deeply instilled and it's
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reflected in his work too uh to Echo some of the sentiments
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that at the table I think one of the more important things in his fight was
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the community that he was able to build in order to be able to have this fight like he couldn't fight alone right he
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had to inspire the change he had to encourage people to come out he had to build the community craft the community
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to be able to inspire those that he may not be as close to or as far from so I
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think the community that he was able to establish in order to inspire that change really pushed the narrative
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forward and I think that's what stuck out to me W very awesome thank you so much for
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your responses on this initial question so many people um might not even
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understand the the correlation between Dr King and these Divine n organizations
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what I wanted to to share real quick with everyone is that Dr King was a member of alfy alha
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Fraternity Incorporated right and we always call them they they they the beginning and and at the end there was
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the first not the last right they were they were the beginning of everything that has to deal with African-Americans
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not being allowed to have education you had to go and establish your own education you couldn't get into
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to predominant white institutions so a lot of historically back college and universities were established as a
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result of that and these organizations are are are reason are the reason for that my
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organization Iota which started as a result of and during the highest part of
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of civil rights in 1963 right after the I Have a Dream speech that was done in Washington DC for example but prior to
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Dr King these phenomenal organizations were established to make sure that
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African-Americans and had the opportunity and see through example
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about how important education is and what can can be done and how strong of we are as part as this country and the
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legacy of this country and many women from these organizations have been the pillars of things that have been created
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the invented things that we enjoy the cell phones that you use the the the television that we watch the red lights
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that we stop at the gas mask that we used when we was in Iraq there are so many things these people these inventors
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and folks came out of HBCU and they came out of these univers out of these organizations so the correlation is Dr
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King was a part of a legacy alpha alpha fraternity being the beginning but you see these great men and women that are
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hit before you and those the millions that are part of the organizations that has called the divine nine and what we
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are here to let you know is also as you will find too A lot of people don't know
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this as well but the divine nine a lot of organization is it's diverse they are predominantly black um fraternities and
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sororities but they do have other ethnicities that are a part of organization that is about the black
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Legacy so Dr was about all of that right that we can be together in unity he was
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about all of that he and those who was with them so the questions and answer that you will here today will be about
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that Unity will be about education will be about you making a decision when you go to college and you those who will be
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going to college you're going to make a decision on what you want to be a part of and it's not just about a Divine n
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organization what in life that you want to be a part of what Legacy are you going to leave what are you going to be
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a part of that's going to change lives in your community what what kind example are you going to be for those that going
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to follow you these are before you now but then it's going to be your turn very soon to be this example to speak to
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young men and women to tell them about why you would do what decision that you made why you chose this organization why
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you go the direction you went why did you choose a degree you chose you're going to be that person and they're going to be sitting listening to you
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attentively so as they spill their heart and their experiences be prepared because it's going to be your turn in
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years to come so further that although Dr King was a 1952 initiate of the sigma chapter
29:01
of alpha Alpa at Boston University the torchbearers and architects of the Civil Rights Movement were members of a
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variety of these organizations for example uh Reverend Jesse Jackson was a member of Omega sci-fi uh Ralph David
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ABY was a member of Kappa alpas Sai uh Rosa Parks was a member of Alpha Kappa Alpha so these organizations literally
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further the civil rights movement and continue to carry that torch on into on into and through the 21st century on to
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the day which is why this next question which will be began to be answered by the member of alpaca Alpha also happy
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Founders Day um how can young people today continue Dr King's work in
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advocating for justice and equality so I believe the first step to
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being able to advocate for anything is to stay informed and to make sure that
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you're aware of going of what's going on around you um I know like the news is boring but like watch the news like see
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what's going on around the world and not just like in your space because even though you may not be aware of it it
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still affects you it might not affect you now but it may affect you later on in life um it might affect you in you
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know 20 years who knows um but make sure you stay aware of what's going on to be able to have the knowledge to advocate
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for yourself and then be able to put yourself in a space in a position um to
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meet people to be able to you know further yourself cuz you can't get anywhere or advocate for yourself you
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don't know people you don't know the people around you you don't know who can help you you don't you never know who knows who um so make sure you know
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you're never like closed off it just all goes together like don't close yourself off stay informed um to be able to you
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know make that change and ready yourself to be that
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difference yeah that's a that's a great starting point and to kind of piggy off of that one thing with being informed
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and knowing everything it can kind of be stressful so I think the next step with that is definitely taking what you learn
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and then focusing on what you can control um I think the question you can
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kind of ask yourself or like what are these things that you're seeing in the news that kind of affect you in your daily life and how can you apply that
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change to yourself now um I think it's important to know that you know we're all part of a bigger picture and the
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steps that we take may not feel like they're beneficial but it's the importance of seeing that bigger picture
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seeing kind of where we're at now to one man's you know speech you know you know
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the Legacy that he kind of imposed on you know the society um and I think
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encouraging each other to to take those steps as well you know we have to realize like we're one person one one
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person a part of a bigger team um especially if you want that change um and I think taking control of what you
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control understanding that what you are doing may not feel like it's really doing much but seeing that bigger
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picture seeing the the impact that you're having understanding your why you're doing that um can kind of help
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and it goes a long way um when you kind of have that mindset about you know taking control of like your life for for
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change um I would say more so you know look back at his legacy research his
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legacy understand the things the methods the ideas that he did and how he
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succeeded um and then more so how do I want to say like put it to use in
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today's society and what we're going through now see if you can adapt to it see if you can help others adapt to it
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um go out vote go out uh do an activity or more so be active in your community
32:39
and making sure that equality is still there and really advocating for that because at the end of the day if you
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don't Advocate it's not going to be there anymore and more so people are going to take control
32:51
versus not taking control um I say like nowadays the best
32:59
way to Advocate is um to use social media um Everybody use social media for
33:05
like dancing and stuff but if you use it for like to be heard people are going to
33:11
hear you thousands of people internationally listen and watch people every day on Instagram Tik Tok Twitter
33:18
so make that your best friend do your research know what you're talking about and use social
33:24
media um I would say two things um one thing is to truly believe that
33:31
you can make change everybody can make change you can make change and it's a difference between thinking about it and
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saying and actually believing it um and I would say the second thing is to really educate yourselves you can only
33:43
do better when you know better and so if you don't know what you're working towards or what you're fighting for
33:49
you're really not going to make any progress so I would say educate yourself because that's what really
33:55
matters yeah I agree um just use your use your mind and use your mouth so or
34:01
use you know use your words so um one thing that like really works is making sure that you stay informed um and you
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know the different uh avenues for collecting information so you have social media sorry you have social media
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um you have the news you have different Outlets that you know share information so making sure that you're you know
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collecting that and learning more and then also sharing the information and insights that you learn with your peers
34:25
and also in the different spaces that you move in cuz you have spaces that you're in now and you're going you're going to have space that you move into
34:32
you know what I'm saying as you go along and get older so um I agree I think that the youth can
34:42
stay informed about social issues and speaking out against injustices and organizing peaceful
34:49
protests and using their voices on social media as well and in order to do
34:54
that it's very important that we listen learn and work together for a positive
35:00
change yeah I would say don't don't shy away from healthy conflict um a lot of
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the times I know I personally don't like confrontation um but when you're not talking to people who don't disagree
35:13
from you who don't have a different experience from you you get kind of Trapped in just like a bubble of
35:19
everyone that shares the same opinion and has the same experience so make sure that you are talking to people who
35:25
disagree with you even if you know you might get upset set they may say something that kind of devalues an experience you
35:31
have but use it as a a learning opportunity like my peer said to stay
35:37
inform I want to heavily emphasize that you all have a very powerful tool at
35:43
your finger tips and I know you're thinking it's your phones or social media but really it's your voice Dr
35:49
King's work wasn't just about big speeches but it was about action it was about having a thought an idea and
35:55
putting the steps on paper and putting it into action and doing the work that's necessary for it I think we have to be
36:01
able to amplify our voices and speak up for those whose voices aren't being heard and ensuring that they have the
36:06
proper platform to elevate their own voice as well I think you can do that by standing up for what's right in your school and again using social media
36:14
which was emphasized earlier but also again to reiterate what Tannis has said Simply Having open conversations with
36:20
people that have a difference in opinions of you because that gets people thinking and it gets people to listen to your side but also listening is
36:27
important to understanding their side that's what healthy conversation is I think whether you're fighting for
36:33
justice that can be Racial equality gender rights or standing up for someone who can't speak up for themselves but
36:39
that's what creates change Dr King said I'm going to quote him don't ask me where it's from I don't know but Dr King
36:45
said Injustice anywhere is a threat to Justice everywhere so keep that same energy and make sure that you're
36:51
creating change because you have the ability to do so I want to back up a second to what
36:57
Kendall was saying earlier about research and I even want to go a step back even more I think the the way to be
37:03
a great leader is to be a good follower for example you have mentors you have people that you look up to look up to
37:10
them communicate with them be a part of have them be a part of their lives I'm sure it'll be helpful to to help you out
37:18
learn their lessons don't make the same mistakes they did learn from them be able to to create your own mistakes I
37:26
guess in that way and then that way once you get to the Forefront you'll be able to be more effective than even they were
37:33
the only way we can uh we can really make waves with this gradual fight as if
37:39
we have one generation after another after another the only way we can hope to make any progress is through um
37:46
improving on the ones that came before you so I think the way to really improve upon what we have now is to um listen to
37:54
your F listen follow follow your leaders and then once you get up there you'll be able to do
38:00
better than they did yeah so I'm just going to piggyback off of what he was saying it's important that uh you first
38:07
educate yourself um you can't advocate for something you don't know about so after fully educating yourself I would
38:15
say secondly raise awareness by supporting grassroot movements uh push
38:20
for policy changes in your community um on The Daily just realize the problems
38:26
that are at hand and your society and see what you can do about them and then lastly I just say participate um
38:32
peaceful protests Community Service events I know there will be a lot going on this weekend so if you're not doing
38:38
anything just go out um and yeah holiday events just go out and be there
38:45
sometimes that's all it takes great answers for all of you uh we're going to switch it up just a
38:51
little bit um we want to ask you guys to keep the responses to uh 60 seconds or less but this next question is only for
38:59
the sororities we going to do uh some questions only for the sororities and some questions only for the fraternities
39:04
okay we going to try to keep this thing rolling um so this one will be we'll begin with doua we'll begin with you uh
39:12
what do you think Dr King would say about the progress Society has made since the Civil Rights
39:18
Movement um I think he would say that we made powerful strides since back then
39:26
but it's still a lot of work to be done um the fight is never over and it's over it's always something to fight for and
39:33
something to change and as someone with color or people of color
39:39
we're always at a disadvantage and so even as a black woman even more at a
39:44
disadvantage it's always something to fight for and always something to improve because Society is against us
39:51
period and that's just facts so I would say you know the work is never done that's what I think he would say
39:59
[Applause]
40:07
um I would say the progress made from Dr King would be um as legal changes and
40:13
more awareness um but he should also challenge us to address ongoing issues
40:19
like racial inequality and poty and the lack of opportunity that still affects
40:26
many communities yeah I think he'd have he'd be proud of
40:31
us for where how far we've come and he'd want us to continue striving but I do think that he would be proud of the way
40:37
that black and African-Americans show up for other people's struggles and that we continue to use our voice not only to
40:44
raise us up but to lift up others as well um yeah I think that's what he' be proud of to keep from being repetitive I
40:52
would just say that I wholeheartedly agree with the comments that have been made I would like to emphas that Dr
40:57
King's dream wasn't just about racial equality I know that's a common misconception but it was ALS it was also about full Justice for each and every
41:05
group it was for all people today we have leaders who represent us in ways that we are unfamiliar with and we're
41:11
not used to them but we still see inequality and struggles and that's an issue I think we he would challenge us
41:16
to keep working keep pushing and stop settling for good enough because what's good enough for you is not good enough
41:22
for the next person I think you remind us that the time is always right to do what's right
41:31
um so I'd probably say the same thing as everyone else that he'd be proud of where we are and you know he would tell
41:38
us to keep keep fighting the good fight you know and keep putting ourselves out there to be that change in the world um
41:46
and um yeah and never settle don't just settle for less you know or like you
41:51
said good enough um but he would definitely be proud of how far we come so you just said be the changer you want
41:57
to see in the world that's a paraphrase of Gandhi's phrase that says you know be the change you want to see in the world and that goes right into our next
42:03
question which is for the fraternities we're going to start with cap alaide with this question um Dr King's Civil
42:10
Rights Movement strategies were influenced by Gandhi's strategies of nonviolence in India Dr King emphasized
42:16
nonviolence as a strategy for change how do you see nonviolence being practiced today or challenged
42:25
today yeah it's a great question um I say I'll start off I think things like
42:33
this like conversations like this while they're not really a I wouldn't say it's really like we're really talking about
42:39
anything but I think playing the seed and having conversations like this is an aspect I think of nonviolence where
42:44
we're speaking to things that are important hopefully playing the seed in others to kind of go out and make that
42:49
fight for themselves um I think social influence social media influence has a large role in that as well I think you
42:55
can see just like within recent news over the years you know there's these large Gathering that are able to kind of
43:01
happen because of social media like we see these things happening in front of us I think kind of dating back like
43:07
George Floyd all the things that have kind of happened under Society there have been these healthy protests that
43:12
kind of come together to kind of advocate for the wrongdoings in our world with the hope of it not being
43:21
violent but you know things can happen but I think it's it's challenged in many ways um I kind of part is speak to off
43:27
the top of my head but I think yeah um I'll say this probably looking
43:36
within today's society there's more so it's not that we
43:41
can't have a peaceful protest I think it's more so that social media can
43:47
sometimes influence those to have a more aggressive tactic than a more peaceful
43:52
one and I think realistically like we need to get away from that because is
43:57
like we all anyone has heard before violence doesn't bring anything good realistically it just brings nothing but
44:04
bad so realizing that and you know getting through that I think that's
44:09
where it's mainly challenged and really do especially in today Society really
44:15
due to social media because you have a lot of how do I want to say a lot of brains thinking thinking multiple stuff
44:22
at the same time and then trying there's people who want to find a peaceful tactic and then there's those who want
44:27
to find a more aggressive tactic so we have to get past that aggressive tactic first once we get past that that's when
44:33
I feel like peace Will Rain regardless of anything um like Kenny just said um I
44:42
feel like there's more violent protests going on um such as with the George
44:49
Floyd rebal um people were breaking in stores and stuff um but I think think
44:57
all of that has to come to an end I think we need to look back at MLK like
45:02
Kenny just said and continue the peace because uproar brings more uproar it'll
45:09
never bring peace like that yeah I agree for the most part I mean and with the black lives M of uh
45:16
protest from a few years ago and that still kind of go on to different degrees that's a perfect display on the more
45:23
positive side of like of nonviolent demonstration um of course there was
45:28
like you know some destruction and some some riots that occurred um that might not have been the most um positive like
45:35
depiction of the movement but I think it's also something to not necessarily
45:41
um support but also to understand why that might occur um because it it's a
45:46
it's a display of the the feelings of not being heard or being understood or
45:51
supported um by people in the most destructive way so um it's not necessarily the best way to handle it
45:58
but it is something to still pay attention to to see how much anger and how much frustration that people actually have so it it happens in in in
46:06
both ways um currently so many ways you can answer
46:12
this question um I'm think I'm going to go with um the different forms of nonviolent protests that have been um
46:19
Rising um ever since um his speech and all the nonviolent protests that he was
46:25
doing um I outside of social media we can look at the rise of um a lot of
46:30
black uh small IND uh businesses that have been risen within the community to try to keep economically keep the money
46:37
within the community and try to grow it as well um between the black businesses
46:42
are a lot of black artists are separating from the big Mongol uh labels and and trying to push their way and
46:48
start stuff start start um their their side of the industry um to speak on black the black
46:56
POS POS movements um I think a lot of what's going on in
47:03
terms of the black community and how disconnected it feels at times I think that's a perfect example of one of the
47:10
things that Dr King probably wouldn't like and I think that we need to come together a little bit better a little bit more especially with the use of
47:17
social media and be able to really figure out how we're going to fight for our fight fight for our uh justice as
47:24
well yeah so I would say ways that is challenged is when peaceful protests are
47:31
accomplished but the media and news outlets kind of make it seem like it was a violent occurrence um the media can
47:38
mix up things um so I just say an eye for an eye will leave everybody blind uh
47:44
we must not fight fire with fire but still stand up for ourselves peacefully uh and that shows growth amongst us as a
47:51
people uh just got to have one love for everybody thanks for those answer ansers
47:57
we have to remember that Dr King actually balanced his desire for nonviolence with an understanding of
48:03
some of the more radical elements when he said a riot is the language of the unheard let's remember that 98% of those
48:10
George Floyd protests were deemed peaceful by the FBI and I think the last time we saw a violent protest in this
48:17
country was 2021 on January six oh wait sorry anyway
48:23
um so do you guys in the audience have any questions for these D9 members I'm sure you guys got some questions come on
48:29
now please do I want to we going to come I'm going to come on this side and not only you have a question if you have a
48:34
statement got one right now all right this is for anybody so what
48:41
influenced you to get into your organization what influence chose um
48:46
made you choose your organization I go first so I mean I think it perfectly wraps up into the
48:52
whole them of this this this panel so um Mar organization fa Sig Fraternity
48:58
Incorporated we have a long history and Legacy rooted in social action and uh social justice um movement so we didn't
49:06
have you know members involved in the Civil Rights Movement um and different displays of political advocacy and just
49:12
Community engagement overall um we have youth mentorship groups that um help
49:17
develop the the leadership and personal development of young men um social action programs that focus on advocacy
49:25
um political engagement our communities and then we also um we provide scholarships and academic support for
49:31
students um that are pursuing education and then we also um have an element that
49:36
focuses on like economic empowerment in the black community so for me it was looking at the Legacy and the impact
49:43
that that could potentially um do you know what I'm saying because when you join the organization as we all know
49:49
it's a lifelong commitment and there is a life in college that you get the experience but there's also work and the
49:55
experience that you get after college and Greek life so um for me I was looking at it as a whole and what I
50:01
could do you know for the rest of my life that align with my purpose and what I wanted to um be able to
50:08
impact jump in guys I'll share why I joined my um
50:13
organization um growing up um my dad is a part of Iota F Fraternity Incorporated
50:22
um one of the things that he uh he uh wrote re raised me to be was part of the core
50:31
uh part of the core stars of the our fraternity um
50:38
including scholarship and I thought that was very um thought that was very thing
50:43
a thing for me because education is always something that's going to be close to my heart because if we're going
50:49
to fight for social justice if we're going to fight for to make a change in this country we have to start by at least knowing how we're going to fight
50:56
it's always not not trying to Brute Force things maybe you have to think about it tactically and and getting the
51:01
education to be able to understand some of the concepts that we need to be able to fight back in this country is one of
51:07
the things that um inspired me to be able to join the Frat join uh my fraternity specifically especially
51:14
considering a lot of the founders of our organization um like U my brother said
51:20
he we were founded um right after um right after or right during the Civil
51:25
Rights Movement in 1960 1963 and so a lot of the things that we
51:31
were founded on and some of the things a lot of things that resonated with me and that's why I
51:37
joined give me three more answers I need three more people at least come on now I I know all y'all got answers man come on
51:43
um you had to answer this question at some point during your journey I'm just going to be honest with you okay so I can go um so growing up I
51:51
was always you know surrounded by women of alpha Capa Alpha you know my mom is an AKA my aunts um everyone who is
52:00
around me and the women that I look up to are members and I feel I felt as though you know as I went into college
52:07
and I you know became was growing into myself and coming into my own uh that
52:12
becoming the woman that I want to be and you know I want to be like those women that were that were around me um and you
52:20
know like I said my mom is literally like my hero in this world uh she is
52:25
everything that I hope to be and that she is an alpha woman and I was like okay I want to be her too so
52:34
mhm keep it moving keep it moving oh so for me my story is kind of similar to
52:41
Keno's um my father he's also a member of cap office opportunity Incorporated
52:46
um throughout the years of me growing up uh when we lived in Ohio I would go to
52:52
chapter meetings with him all the time as a little kid um actually my go father he's a member as well so really sitting
53:00
there understanding um not really understanding but like just sitting there in a room full of men Great Men
53:07
cabin men at the same time and really looking at them and then even going to high school being a part of cap leag and
53:15
going through that I always saw cin like that's the male role model I always saw
53:22
like that was always the figure I always saw so realizing that coming college and
53:27
getting the chance to be a part of this or and join this or it really let me know like at the end of the day like all
53:33
that work I did for Capital coming in and knowing certain things having a
53:39
sense of like I'm sorry not a sense um having the ability to do community service like I love community service
53:46
like I love doing it I just love giving back to the community at the end of the day being a part of the or now mind you
53:51
I'm not saying like no other or does community service we all do great community service at the end of the day
53:56
but just seeing the work that Kappa did I wanted to be a part of that and I wanted to build my own legacy and
54:02
continue a legacy keep it moving guys got one more
54:09
can answer I I could go next um so my story is a lot different um my family's
54:15
from Trinidad um they came to America they met in New York and that's where I was born um I'm a first generation
54:22
student so they didn't go to college they don't know anything about Greek life um not going to lie they thought it
54:27
was demonic they like they was not going for it at all um but I came to college
54:33
and I was under impression of you know the stereotypes of white Greek life and
54:39
other things like that that the media shows and I did my own research and I saw that you know D9 Greeks they they
54:46
put in the work they put in the time the energy and they really work towards what
54:51
they want to do and what they are fighting for and what they advocate for and I would say that the ladies of
54:57
deltaa you know they really resonated with me and I love what they stood for and the work that they do and you know I
55:05
work towards it and I'm here and I would say that you don't want to make your or your life you want to really think about
55:13
what you can bring and what you can do for the organization as well and yeah like it comes with coming into with
55:21
leadership um and everything that you can to align with what your orc stands
55:27
for and so yeah nice any more questions out there
55:33
yeah anyone question comment oh let me get over right over
55:39
here my name is Faith Triggs and uh AKA Alpha uh Omega T Omega and Fort Mill um
55:46
my question to each of you is as a young leader what is what are one or two
55:53
issues over the next decade that the black community should be concerned with
55:59
and fighting for that's a great question everyone heard that good question
56:06
okay um I can speak on this um an issue that I truly am passionate about is
56:12
domestic violence and I think there's a stigma on domestic violence that it only happens to women and I truly I truly
56:19
want the the people of color in this world to to break past that stigma and
56:25
understand that it is okay to ask for help it's important to lean on the people that you love and that you trust
56:30
and to make sure that you have a support system um so that if something does happen you know you're talking to people
56:36
and to believe them when they're telling you hey I think maybe you need to kind
56:41
of reevaluate the situation that you're in because unfortunately domestic violence um impacts people of color at a
56:49
highly disproportionate rate and it it's not going to stop until you know as
56:55
individuals we take the time to learn about ourselves and continue to speak up
57:01
against it when we see it happening to those that we care about um I would say that a big a couple
57:09
of big issues in the black community probably like one um over policing in
57:14
the black community I feel like that's a really big issue that we have to deal with now and in the coming years I also
57:20
feel like um even in especially in North Carolina like recent voter ID laws and
57:26
the changes that are going to be made um as well as like redistricting laws like all of those are forms like voter
57:32
suppression and people trying to stop you guys for making your voice heard um so if you guys don't know about those
57:38
and the changes that have been going on look that up cuz yeah it's people are trying to suppress your voice and make
57:45
it so it's harder for us to vote and make those changes and advocate for ourselves um so I think those like three
57:52
really big issues in society yeah
57:57
yeah any other responses um I think
58:03
one thing we need to look out for especially with the boom of social media a lot of people have a lot of voices
58:10
there's a lot of voices out there that are speaking different things um in an effort to help out uh the black
58:15
community as a whole I think we need to be careful about um not coming together and
58:23
creating separate sections of the black community that are looking for the same thing I think we all need to use um
58:29
those voices that we have to really come together collaborate um be as far as much as we
58:36
want to be heard we have to uh come together and make that voice as loud as possible so I think that's one thing
58:42
that we definitely need to look out for in terms of coming together um I say one thing we need to
58:50
get out of is um the mindset that we can't make a change um um just cuz you
58:56
was born into poverty doesn't mean that you have to stay in poverty um you can
59:02
go to school if your parents didn't go to school you can still go to school they didn't graduate you can still
59:07
graduate um if you grew up in a single parent household doesn't mean that your parent that your kids have to grow like
59:14
that um we got to get out of that mindset cuz that's the biggest thing that's killing us in my
59:20
opinion I would say to add to that would be going off mindset is challenging
59:25
stereotyp types one of the things that I majored in in college was actually Africana studies and I conducted several
59:32
studies and did the research and interviewed individuals and often times going back to asking for help it was
59:37
because they were stuck in this mindset of this is how Society labeled me so this is who I think I am and I want to
59:43
tell you that's not true you are who you say you are I heavily want to emphasize
59:48
that in one of the classes that I took was a movie class and we actually watched films from different decades and we saw how people of color are being
59:55
portrayed and looking at how students today say okay well this is how they're portrayed the media so this must be how
1:00:00
people view me so this is how I am and that's not true challenge those stereotypes you know what you're capable of so go out and do that you're able to
1:00:07
create that change um I have something I think one
1:00:13
of the biggest issues is black- onblack crime um I see too often that we're
1:00:18
killing each other and then we expect
1:00:24
um it's just not okay okay uh people's moms are crying and I feel like we've
1:00:30
came way too far as a people people the people that we've been talking about Dr Dr King um he pushed for things and
1:00:39
we're just going back on him uh so moving forward I just feel like we have
1:00:44
to understand the value of a life and that once a life is taken you can't get it back so I feel like that's a big
1:00:51
issue moving forward that we have to take care of
1:00:57
I want to this this is a panel and I want to thank you for that question as well and I'm going to come right to you
1:01:04
she has a question I wanted to say to you all as well to keep in mind the audience we have a generation there's a
1:01:11
generation gap obviously as you can tell I don't think anybody in that middle section has this going on right so my
1:01:18
parents used to to say things to me as well because of the music that we listen to right and there is a m there's a
1:01:27
there's a movement to put music into your life to not promote positivity and
1:01:33
I know we love our music what have you say they always good whatever you know they call it Mumble rap and all this
1:01:38
other stuff like that and I'm speaking of what's coming what I think is still going to be an issue is going even
1:01:44
further is the issue of that type of music that is in our community and it is
1:01:49
promoting nothing literally but negativity but you my parents are saying
1:01:54
the same thing about our music either not but we had from the 80s and ' 90s that music you know when we started
1:02:00
getting the the west coast rap it went it went South and it was it was giving us a whole another vibe about violence
1:02:06
and what it was about and and so we had those those Industries starting to promote that they're promoting it now
1:02:11
and it's been going on for years so she was saying in the next decade that's still going on and I'm I'm seeing a
1:02:18
trend where they're not trying to change and they're trying to bring positivity and let them sing to us and make music
1:02:23
to us to make you start thinking make you start each other they're not doing that music or they're not promoting that
1:02:28
so the Independent Artists are doing it but you don't get to hear them so that thing is a real problem because that
1:02:34
music gets into your soul and a lot of people become the music that they're listening to so the violence and the
1:02:40
drug addiction and all the things that are going on and promoting being a single mother and it's okay I don't need a man and and the men don't care and
1:02:46
don't respect that's not a good thing but it's promoted in the music and I hear young men and women okay with it
1:02:52
and that's going on and it seem like it's going to be going on for a long time unless our leaders that are that they're promoting it to change it and
1:03:00
wait before we get to that next question I think Justin you want to say something my bad I'm sorry um so I think one thing
1:03:06
like I think sometimes we maybe place a little too much emphasis on like okay
1:03:12
every individual has to do this thing better like you have to do this better you have to do this better you're
1:03:17
failing at this thing right here now we don't take enough time to think about to think about what is the overarching
1:03:23
thing that's causing us to think like this or act like this because we not just killing each other for no reason
1:03:29
often times we live in environments that are just filled with despair or lack of opportunity like poverty you're not
1:03:35
necessarily A groups of people are not just poor just because everybody is making bad decisions or they're not
1:03:40
smart enough or they're not good enough to be able to make it out so I think sometimes we need to make it make sure
1:03:45
that we're educating ourselves on what is causing the issues as opposed to just like the issue is there it's something
1:03:52
wrong with you you need to fix it and it's your problem to the to a degree it is you know aspects that you could maybe
1:03:58
improve upon individually but if you got millions of people that's having the same experience we got to think about
1:04:04
what systemically or what as a whole is causing these issues because it's common issues affecting tens of millions of
1:04:10
people at the same time so poverty and violence are directly correlated and education and poverty are also directly
1:04:17
correlated that's kind of what you're saying here brother Chad you got a question he had one and he and he has
1:04:22
one behind her right here in the yes I believe hello my name is tanayia Kennedy and it was more of a statement to what
1:04:28
we were just talking about um I feel as though that the society we as a society we have to be
1:04:34
comfortable with getting uncomfortable because I feel like it's a stigma that like we just stuck in one
1:04:46
mindset uh good evening my name is Miles Gilliam um I also wanted to agree but I
1:04:51
feel like being young you would want you you have to have uh change for yourself
1:04:57
you know um you have to look for and read about books for changing yourself I
1:05:03
mean if you going to listen to getting killed I mean what do you expect you know what I'm saying the community is not going to change unless you change
1:05:09
within yourself cuz a lot of people now are hypocrits you feel me we still going to go back to the car and bump 21 Savage
1:05:15
in them you feel me and we just told y'all change the world you know what I'm saying but another question is um when
1:05:22
y'all did join y Greek life how did it affect y'all as a college student like when y'all first entered was it hard
1:05:29
like could y'all manage your time management how was it we have a question over here hold on
1:05:35
let let them answer this question first it said once you joined your organization uh how did it affect you as
1:05:40
a regular college student with your time management and I would like to say social skills as well uh I'll answer
1:05:48
this one so if you're already somebody who lacks time management skills management skills in general you're
1:05:54
going to struggle a lot in Greek life um when I came in personally um I was in a lot of roles outside of uh Greek life
1:06:01
before and I took on I think three eboard roles in my fraternity at the time it's definitely not easy but I
1:06:09
think the biggest thing is when you do join I think a lot of the time you hear you're going to put in more than what
1:06:15
you get out of it so having that mindset and wanting better for yourself I think is you know it's a challenge and I think
1:06:21
when you're young you want to challenge yourself and put yourself to the table if you do see yourself to be a leader
1:06:26
um and it's definitely you you learned a lot but it it's definitely challenging and I would say I think the second point
1:06:31
to your question was uh like I forget it was how did it change your uh life from
1:06:37
a time management and I said social skills aspect yeah it definitely improved my social skills and time management skills it's time management I
1:06:43
think is something everybody works on throughout their life it's not something you kind of get I I say for myself social skills you know you get to put
1:06:50
into positions like this just you know to practice um when you're in your meetings with your brothers or sisters
1:06:56
you can practice those as well when you're speaking to the Campus Community those are tons to practice so you
1:07:01
definitely get a lot of practice to really hone your skills um if you really wanted to put that work in to become a
1:07:07
leader other responses um so for me I feel like when
1:07:12
I came into college I was already having to deal with like my time management cuz um I play tennis and so like I'm a
1:07:19
student athlete I do a little bit of everything on campus like I'm president of NAACP and I also find time for for
1:07:28
AKA because it it does take a a good amount of time um especially being that
1:07:33
I'm in like a smaller chapter so we do have to take on more roles I can't really like fall into the pack you know
1:07:39
um so it's you make time for the things that you care about and the things that you want um and since like you know AKA
1:07:46
is something that I I love and I care about I make time for it and you know you just got to have you just got to
1:07:52
know how to make a schedule and keep a schedule and know how to say no no cuz even though I care about AK sometimes I
1:07:58
got to tell them no cuz I don't have time for it but you know like you said you make time like I make time for this
1:08:04
it's my Founder's Day so I mean oh it's okay you going get out any
1:08:10
other any other respons later I can answer um I think the best way to explain it is to think about it as a job
1:08:18
um yes you apply and you know you get in blah blah blah the work officially
1:08:23
starts when you get in and it's a lot of work to be done it's always something to be done um I would say that
1:08:30
responsibility prioritizing and of course time management is super
1:08:35
important um and I would say that you got to truly think about it as you're not only you anymore it's a bigger
1:08:42
picture and you don't only like stand for yourself you represent your organization as well so it's a
1:08:47
reputation that you have to uphold in an image because you know you're not only you anymore you're part of something
1:08:53
bigger you're L be prepared and I know it's hard to say that um but you won't
1:08:59
like truly understand it until like you know you're in it but it does mean you
1:09:04
know a lot let's let's we going to jump to the next question but what I will say is that I can't speak for everybody else but I know um during my um membership
1:09:12
intake process way back when they had creative ways of teaching me to manage my time and I still use those to this
1:09:19
day and I think some of y'all can like really understand what I'm saying here all right let's uh move on to the next
1:09:25
question and she had a little voice issue so she wants me to read it out for her how does
1:09:31
your organization help the black community and how can young people keep that work going great
1:09:41
question um my organization helps the black community um we go over
1:09:48
to I can't think of what it's called but every Thursday we go over to a middle school um over off of all
1:09:56
I think that's how you say Alamar yeah yeah and um we go over there and we'll
1:10:01
go outside we'll play kickball play baseball send some time with them then we'll go inside help them with their
1:10:07
homework um then we got people in our chapter such as me um I coach a
1:10:14
basketball team I coach a football team over at the Y the YMCA
1:10:21
um we do Coke drives we do food drives we do a lot of stuff um I know the
1:10:29
kappas at our school do it the AKA at our school Do It um a lot of drives and
1:10:35
stuff like that a lot of the me U members around
1:10:41
North Carolina I know for sure I kind of travel back and forth between uh AMT and
1:10:46
uh and Charlotte and so one of the things that U my organization does really well is they like they like to
1:10:51
focus on scholarship and scholarship and so that's even for uh our college kids
1:10:57
in school and the kids that have already graduated and one of the things we really do we I really like about our
1:11:03
organization is we have um business business uh events in terms
1:11:09
of working on resumés working on interview skills working on um working
1:11:14
on job applications and making sure that um you're advancing not only in Iota but
1:11:20
also in your career and and making sure that you're on top of your game and so you're able to be able to give
1:11:28
back any other responses um so oh no you bet hav been
1:11:33
talking a lot I would say I go to UNC Charlotte so it's a pwi so a lot of the things that we do on campus is Outreach
1:11:40
to the black community to get them involved um when you go to a school like that where there's I think it's like
1:11:47
there's like 8,000 black students out of 40,000 students is definitely intimidating especially when you want to
1:11:52
get involved but you don't know how to so a lot of our programs are to you know get to the broader Community to let them
1:11:57
know like yeah like we're here like we can have fun and make some change around the campus
1:12:04
yeah all right we're up for the next question who next question is right
1:12:11
here um how did Greek life change y'all like within yourselves like how did
1:12:16
y'all notice y s change or difference or similarities that y'all have before y'all joined y fraternity or
1:12:23
sity um I'll go first I feel like I don't want to say it sounds bad
1:12:30
but I feel like I've always been like very I've always been very altruistic like I've always done like community
1:12:36
service I've always been very talkative and social not want to say like AKA
1:12:41
hasn't changed who I am um like it's a part of me um I feel like it has helped
1:12:47
my like conflict resolution skills and being able to deal with different
1:12:53
personalities but as a person I feel like I've always been this type of person um and AKA didn't change that for
1:13:01
me um but it has taught me new skills to be able to take into the real world but like my personality and me I feel like
1:13:07
it didn't change me you know uh I'm going to be real um in my circumstance I
1:13:14
used to be a shy person especially back in high school I used to stay in the crib I never really left um I really
1:13:22
started going out probably like towards like right before covid that's probably
1:13:27
when I started going out more but coming to college during this or it really taught me confidence and really more so
1:13:35
being out there like this like this today I would not do this normally I'm going to be honest I I don't like being
1:13:42
in front of people but also I like to challenge myself at the same time and I think that's what it also taught me is
1:13:48
to challenge myself whenever I feel like I can't do something and it's like well you know you can you just don't want to
1:13:53
and I'm like okay well let me challenge myself and also looking at it um you make the
1:13:59
letters you don't ever let the letters make you and every Greek knows that in
1:14:05
here you don't ever let the Frat or story you don't ever let the letters the three letters across your chest you
1:14:11
don't ever let it change you you change them
1:14:17
realistically um I agree with Kenny um I would say
1:14:22
that nothing has really changed it has has made me like more structured but just like right now like
1:14:29
taking the opportunities to come and speak to y'all is something that has
1:14:36
helped me within my organization I will say that being a
1:14:41
part of Greek life has deepened my commitment to Civic and social engagement for sure and being more involved in my community I also say that
1:14:48
I have a very unique perspective with Greek life what I mean by that is yeah I had local positions where I was a
1:14:54
chapter president for years but I also had the privilege of having a regional position being the highest ranking undergraduate in my region and now and
1:15:00
while as an undergraduate I currently am the second Vice National president for nphc and so I'm heavily involved within
1:15:08
Greek life but it also helped me find my voice and being able to vocalize my thoughts and my commitment to something
1:15:13
much greater than myself and being able to work with youth being able to develop those connections and network with so many amazing organizations each of the
1:15:20
ones that are sitting up here today so I will confidently say it helped me find my voice as a leader
1:15:28
um it my joining Iota 5 Fraternity Incorporated helped me broaden my
1:15:35
perspective look at the world a little bit differently especially when it comes to the impact your fraternity has even
1:15:41
though you're not connected to some of those people that are making those changes actually being knowing about
1:15:47
their change kind of inspires you to be well I'm a part of that fraternity which means I can do it too um with that
1:15:54
perspect with that opening and that broadening of the perspective it kind of helped me see the world a little bit
1:15:59
differently um especially joining the fraternity I've joined it kind of opened myself up to a lot of things that aren't
1:16:06
really talked about like men's mental health and a lot of things that just men's mental health specifically for me
1:16:11
kind of was like a uh opened my eyes to cuz it's not something that's normally
1:16:17
talked about and so constantly um doing more research being uh spreading more
1:16:23
awareness about that definitely definitely um changed changed my perspective on a lot of
1:16:30
stuff all right so next
1:16:37
question I've have heard can y hear me okay I've heard like
1:16:43
a lot of personal experience and stories on what it's like to join Greek life and I especially like with my fraternities
1:16:49
and I know we talked a lot about today about how we need to like overcome systematic barriers and bad habits as a
1:16:55
people so do you feel like it's changed or like has it gotten any better and if not what can be challenged to make it
1:17:03
better does that make sense ask that question one more time please yeah yall
1:17:08
want me to start from the beginning or okay so I've heard like a lot of personal experiences of what it's like
1:17:14
to join Greek life especially like in my fraternities like the challenges
1:17:19
like you know but um I just want to know has it gotten any better and if not like
1:17:24
what can be challenge to make the process easier or like just easier
1:17:30
to yeah yeah she's referring before we get started let me say that pledging has
1:17:35
been banned by the nphc since 1999 excuse me since 1990 and Alpha 5or
1:17:41
corporated is a non- hazing organization as are all the other we all are non
1:17:46
organizations all nine yes I'm going let y'all answer the rest of the question go from there um I think to
1:17:54
speak on that even looking at what's happening now all the organizations are taking steps to make sure that nothing
1:18:01
is happening to those who are wanting to become members I know Zeta specifically you know we have our finer women don't
1:18:07
hay initiative that we've had since 2016 and towards the end of last year
1:18:12
beginning of this year we started partnering with the anti-hazing network so there are resources out there in our
1:18:19
organizations are using them to make sure that we are attracting people
1:18:25
instead of kind of pushing them away and making them not want to be a part of this because it is a lifelong commitment and you know I know my journey into this
1:18:32
me and my line sister it was beautiful and we got to get to know each other get to know our advisers and get to know
1:18:37
ourselves a little bit better I can I can go next um to answer
1:18:47
I would say that on your end um each chapter is different like of course each
1:18:54
organization is unique in itself but each chapter is
1:18:59
also unique in different different in its own way and I would say that it's up to you to learn and do your research to
1:19:07
know what you stand for and what you want to involve yourself in um and yeah
1:19:15
you just got to know what you want first and know what your opportunities
1:19:22
are I think one of the things things that's helped that over the years is the spread of is social media just itself um
1:19:30
the specifically with my fraternity um the spread of social media kind of
1:19:35
helped the awareness of um just uh putting more emphasis on the the
1:19:42
scholarship and the knowledge the knowledgeable the history of our organization and that that would help uh
1:19:49
pave the way for pave the way for future Generations one of our models is
1:19:54
building a tradition not resting upon one in that sense we are always pushing always striving always looking to make a
1:20:00
change uh on campuses and in the communities any other
1:20:08
responses okay before we get back to the audience questions want to get back to uh Dr King's Legacy so uh we going to
1:20:16
start with the member of omegafi for this question how do Dr King's teachings such as nonviolence equality and justice
1:20:23
for all apply to addressing modern issues such as Climate Change lgbtq Plus
1:20:28
Community rights or economic equality
1:20:34
um Dr King's teachings on equality and interconnectedness are relevant to
1:20:40
Modern issues um because as for his fights for equal rights that still today
1:20:47
is going with the LGBT um Community as you've seen since like 2015 2016 has
1:20:53
been growing and now we got stuff such as um
1:21:00
uh um climate change lgbtq rights and economic inequality now we got things
1:21:06
going such as like different genders and stuff um and king would want us to
1:21:11
accept that um L the king would want us to accept that
1:21:17
um I'm done it's a it's a wide range of of
1:21:24
issues what how do just all the modern issues how would his teachings apply to Modern issues
1:21:29
today um I would say that one of his teachings is well I would say is having
1:21:37
your voice and making sure that you're heard um I know that he stood for certain things and he didn't matter who
1:21:44
was listening he just knew that somebody out there was listening and that it can influence one person 100 people or a
1:21:51
thousand people and that's all that matters um and I would say that um IT
1:21:57
addresses modern day issues because it takes more than one person to
1:22:02
make change and power comes with numbers and so yeah that's my answer are we
1:22:08
going in order no all right U yeah I'll go
1:22:14
um I want to address uh start with this I have I have a dream speech um where
1:22:20
you for first to I have a dream that all people are treated equally and so that kind of hits on the
1:22:26
lgbtq uh Community as well in terms of just because you're different doesn't
1:22:31
mean you're not human doesn't mean I need to treat you any other way than than like like a regular human would and
1:22:37
so I also want to also harp on the economic um the economic uh Improvement
1:22:44
that we've made since since uh since his time and how we've really we've really
1:22:50
grown in uh We've really grown as a community in terms of starting black businesses and trying to put an emphasis
1:22:57
on shopping at black businesses buying from black businesses and the growth of black businesses overall and being able
1:23:04
to really to really um just grow grow the economic status of uh of black of
1:23:12
the black community especially if you look at Maryland one of the richest black communities in
1:23:17
America PG County um so I would say that
1:23:25
his teachings apply to Modern issues because I feel like with the rise like social media um like I feel like our
1:23:32
generation and I'm pretty sure y'all are in the same generation as us um that
1:23:38
like we're able to rally and large numbers um like a little farther than
1:23:45
they would have been able to so like even when people are like boycotting corporations or um you know protest like
1:23:53
they send out a protest and they can get that to so many more people than like Dr King was able to and I feel like just
1:24:00
being able to like his teachers being able to Rally people for a cause um I feel like like our generation does a
1:24:06
really good job of being able to like get people in numbers and like make a cause well known and to make I mean make
1:24:14
a pretty good impact cuz I know when people were like boycotting Starbucks and thing like that made it made it be
1:24:21
it if like you guys were boycotting Starbucks like it was making a difference in like their their like
1:24:27
money like their sales and like it was being seen um so I really think like those teachings are like it shows in how
1:24:36
people deal with modern issues um were you about to go adir
1:24:42
sorry was you go ahead are you sure got it okay I was just going to say that
1:24:47
Do's King teachings are pretty Universal where his message of Love equality and justice can be applied to any fight
1:24:54
I think that take climate change for example a common misconception is that it's just an environmental issue it's
1:25:00
just about pollution which isn't correct who are the ones that are typically affected by this it's the poor
1:25:06
communities or people of color that often make up those poor communities that are affected most by pollution and
1:25:12
climate disasters and then take the lgbtqia Plus for example rights and
1:25:17
economic inequalities are things that we can be fighting for we're one when we're fighting for one group we're fighting
1:25:22
for each and every person we're fighting for all groups and so I think Dr King's philosophy reminds us that Justice Means
1:25:29
fairness it means equity for everyone no matter who they are where they come from how much money they're making or how
1:25:34
they identify or who they choose to love yeah I feel like a lot of Dr King's
1:25:40
philosophy boils down to the golden rule that was instilled in a lot of us treat others how you want to be treated um my
1:25:47
response is more or less for the lgbtq community U situation so I feel like
1:25:53
hurting someone one for their beliefs or reasoning only hurts yourself and the person that you are so to each is their
1:26:00
own um yeah that's my response to that all right thank you for that
1:26:07
response we're going back to the audience uh can you guys raise your hands who had a question I think a couple of y'all had questions at first
1:26:12
okay I'll start um we all know that strength comes
1:26:20
in numbers how can we Inspire those around us who are hesitant to speak up to or make changes out of fear of
1:26:27
judgment wow we know that strength comes in numbers how do we convince those that
1:26:33
around us who may be hesitant to assist in making change how do we convince them to join the
1:26:39
fight I think you I think I think you have to remind them that they're not alone right like
1:26:46
this is not just a fight this is not just them fighting it's though you you may not see the people around you that
1:26:54
could be also fighting for the same your the same cause there are people there around you even if you're right next to
1:27:00
them get grab a friend grab two friends grab three friends grab four build the community one thing I was talking about
1:27:06
earlier build the community so you can remind people that they're not alone there's always especially when it comes
1:27:12
to racial Injustice there's always somebody somewhere fighting for that Justice whether you can remind them that
1:27:19
they're not alone I think is the most important part um I think my response to that will
1:27:26
probably be like you have to believe in your cause like strong enough that it
1:27:31
compels people to want to follow you um I believe like people are natural like
1:27:37
followers when they feel like a strong Spirit like when they feel somebody who's passionate about something and you
1:27:43
know you'll be like okay I feel her like I can get behind this you know and so I
1:27:48
feel like just feel passionate about whatever whatever you're passionate about just feel so deeply about that that people like gravitate towards you
1:27:55
and they start to you know hear you and see you and see your cause um but I
1:28:00
think that's the best way to be able to you know get out your comfort zone and be able to really like advocate for
1:28:06
whatever you believe in and your your cause were there any more
1:28:14
responses okay it was a question was it a gentleman was yeah right here right in
1:28:19
front of you okay let me get to her right quick and then I'll come to you
1:28:26
hello um my question is for the people on the panel who goes to a pwi what are
1:28:32
some words of encouragement would you give children or teenagers my age to get their voices
1:28:38
heard so this is for the question for people in that go to pwi on the panel or
1:28:43
went to pwi like myself um what are some what is some advice you would give to
1:28:49
have your voices heard on campus is that kind of question okay yeah what was some advices that you put some would have to
1:28:55
help people get their voice heard on campus um I would say join your organizations you know a lot of pwi have
1:29:01
a black student union NAACP there's a lot of organizations on campus who are already kind of fighting that fight of
1:29:08
making sure that their voice is getting out there so I would say definitely going to whatever all student work
1:29:15
office on campus and being on the lookout for Flyers about these interest meetings about these organizations
1:29:21
because there's definitely people in the room who have the same thoughts as you who are more than willing to kind of
1:29:26
help you out and kind of lead you to the right path of making sure your voice is being heard on campus so I think anybody
1:29:33
at a pwi can agree to that just join organizations that's the best thing you can do for yourself yeah and I'll picky
1:29:40
back off what aunt said if there aren't organizations for you to join start one
1:29:45
um get your group start small and then you never um I would also say um I would
1:29:53
also also say no matter what you got to be open and you got to
1:30:00
speak your truth um closed mouths don't get fed nobody knows what you're going through nobody knows how you're feeling
1:30:06
what you want and essentially nobody cares you have to care so I would say open your mouth like you got to you got
1:30:13
to speak and you got to talk to people and you have to make people want to care that's my advice speak the truth
1:30:21
even if your voice shakes here's the next question right here what were your mindsets going
1:30:28
through the process to get into your
1:30:35
organization can you repeat can you repeat it say what was your mindset when you were going through the process of
1:30:40
joining your organization I personally was recalling
1:30:46
all my teamwork skills that I've learned throughout the years my intake process I
1:30:52
uh joined with two other uh brother s um and I grew up with two sisters so it's a
1:30:57
bit different for me and so one of the things that um that helped me throughout my process was um it's not just me it's
1:31:06
it's a group of us and so being able to um that was one of the things where I had to start my communication skills
1:31:12
process off trying to improve that because again it's not just me I have to work as a group I have to uh it's a
1:31:18
teamwork thing and so you have to just keep keep communicating keep making sure that everybody is on track keep making
1:31:24
sure that everybody's on the same page so that would be my answer to that
1:31:30
question yeah I would say when you're joining these orgs you're joining with a goal in mind um you're not just joining
1:31:36
it because why not there's definitely a reason why you're wanting to be in there so I think one of the biggest things
1:31:41
that were kind of reiterated to me um is remember your why don't forget it don't forget who you are before um because
1:31:48
it's definitely you're open to a lot of experiences where you can you know you might forget who you are and I think
1:31:54
that's the worst thing that you can possibly do when you are joining these organizations because it's something that is very noticeable on the outside
1:32:00
looking in so I think remembering your why not forgetting who you are as a person because when you graduate it's kind of like All The Things They Don't
1:32:08
Really they don't forget but it's like you don't want to leave out of college and like dang I changed because of
1:32:16
forgetting who you were as a person sponsor yeah I can go next um I
1:32:24
would say my mindset was um like darkness and storms don't last
1:32:32
forever um and that goes with anything in general like there's always a balance
1:32:37
what what is good comes with bad and vice versa um I would say you can't let
1:32:43
the world change you you have to be who you are deep down inside and out um and
1:32:50
it's going to be people that don't AG agree with your choices it's going to be people that is just praying on your
1:32:56
downfall they don't want to see you win and so if you want it you got to want it bad enough you just got to see it
1:33:02
through you got to see it through because that's what you want for you good answer good answer got uh we
1:33:09
got about 10 more minutes left guys so we going to get these questions in hold um my question
1:33:15
was my question was was um what makes your frat not your
1:33:21
frat but your fraternity and your sorority you from what makes your fraternity or
1:33:29
sorority unique from the others well I can go
1:33:36
first how did we know cuz my sorority was founded first we're the first black
1:33:43
Greek sorority um and you know my Founders saw something and they wanted
1:33:48
to make a change um so yeah that's what makes us unique and and you know mhm
1:33:56
well I could go next um really I would
1:34:01
say I see um I would say that you know my Founders you know when you know
1:34:08
better you do better and so if you no shade no tea who asked this
1:34:15
question they trying to start a war um you going to say that say no shade no teeth it's actually my time to it's it's
1:34:22
the truth I'm sorry to say I read my letters um but yeah I would say my
1:34:28
organization is unique because you know we stand on business
1:34:36
and that's just what it is sorry I'm going I'm going to go next um one of the
1:34:41
things that make my that makes my organization unique is that Although our found like I said before our Founders we
1:34:48
were we were founded during the Civil Rights Movement one thing that a lot of people don't know is that our Founders
1:34:54
weren't traditional students undergrad students a lot of them were graduate students trying to balance jobs RC one
1:35:01
of was a math major um and doing Roc um a lot of a lot of our Founders
1:35:08
were not traditional students like I said before they were doing different things had families um had wives that
1:35:16
they were trying to take care of working jobs especially around that time period was a hard thing for everybody to go
1:35:22
through and so the ability to be able to the ability to be able to start an organization as Against the Grain as it
1:35:29
was is something that makes my organization very unique and I will jump in I will say there are a lot of things
1:35:36
that make my organization unique for instance my Founders were all Educators um I will also say that we are the only
1:35:43
sorority founded at a pwi and during that time it was a ton of racial
1:35:48
discrimination as you know but we were actually building our sority right beside the KKK house and so it's
1:35:54
incredibly difficult and I'm sure you can imagine the struggles that my Founders had faced that's what makes us unique and that's where we get that
1:36:00
resiliency within our sority um something that stands out from
1:36:08
the rest of the sororities with my organization is that and something that Drew me to my
1:36:14
organization is that I feel like it applied to my the principles
1:36:20
that we have which is scholarship Services hood and fining Womanhood it resonated with my
1:36:25
personality and I felt like we were down to earth that's something that Drew me to them
1:36:33
and we are the first and only sorority to be constitutionally bound to our frat
1:36:38
brothers 5 Beta Sigma fraternity
1:36:45
Incorporated um I would just say um as a cman I think our model is achieving every human endeavor um there's I feel
1:36:53
like that kind of speaks for it itself there's never I feel like when you walk into a room you have an expectation and
1:36:59
I think you know that expectation and I think you have to kind of Exel you have to kind of push yourself to the next level as a c man right cuz there's
1:37:06
people always looking at you there's that expectation you have for yourself and like I said there's it's bigger than
1:37:12
you when you're in these fraternities and you have to represent your or right and I think that's a big thing with my
1:37:18
fraternity that we have to stand out in that way at all times um um for us I'll say two things
1:37:26
um our motto first off is friendship is essential to the soul so it's a fraternity built on friendship um
1:37:33
everybody comes together like brothers um will'll help each other out in any type of need whether it's 2:00 a.m. 3:00
1:37:39
a.m. um if your family is struggling we'll help you out and our other thing
1:37:45
is our Cardinal principles we our first Cal principle is man um man scholarship
1:37:50
perseverance uplift so as far as manhood goes um you you already have to have
1:37:57
manhood in order to come in the fraternity but it'll teach you things like um not being shy speaking up for
1:38:05
yourself if you don't do that already um
1:38:14
yeah any other stat I'll go I'll go sorry our ends are mainly Deeds
1:38:20
scholarship and Love For All Mankind U I feel feel like what's different about us is just the way that we carry ourselves
1:38:28
uh it's a very prestiged fraternity um to be a part of um and you can just some
1:38:33
notable members of alpha F Alpha thiro Marshall obviously Dr King steuart Scott
1:38:40
Governor West Morland uh just the stuff we pride ourselves on scholarship and
1:38:46
just making a change in the community we pride ourselves on voting um and just always making a
1:38:54
change in in our community so
1:39:00
yeah brother Chad all right next question right
1:39:08
here being in these fraternities like what is like some of the community service that you guys
1:39:16
do um what's some of the community service that you guys do um as far as us
1:39:22
we do blood driv every year um I'm not sure if y'all know this but Charles R Drew started blood transfusion and he
1:39:29
was a member of Omega SFI um like I said we do give backs one of
1:39:35
my Pro fights he does a a toy drive every December he's been doing it for six years now it's pretty successful um
1:39:44
we have mandated programs that we do so we have talent hunt programs um so we give out scholarships
1:39:53
so for high schoolers we do a th word essay every year it's usually do around
1:40:00
February and we pick out certain people give them scholarship money that they're going to college um and stuff like that
1:40:07
I want I wanted to say this before yall started answering remember as you answer this specific question future members
1:40:14
are listening so as you're answering this question know that you're inspiring future members with what you do in the
1:40:20
community and you all have National programs that you kind of have to
1:40:26
do so for I know well for AKA um we have
1:40:31
National programs that all of our every single one of our events we host on our campus um we have to deal with some of
1:40:37
them um we have advocate for social justice um uplift our local community U
1:40:44
improve our local environment um so a lot of things we do are definitely geared towards those specific things um
1:40:51
I know on my chapter like recently um we made like sandwiches to hand out to the
1:40:57
homeless we did like 150 May yeah 150 um
1:41:03
sandwiches um we have a day of service coming up for MLK day um we host um
1:41:10
workshops when it come well when it was election season we were hosting um workshops when it came to like voting
1:41:17
rights people understanding voting rights um getting people registered to vote um so we really just do a little
1:41:25
bit of everything to be able to give back to our community I mean anything
1:41:30
I'm pretty for pretty sure for all of our our organizations we do about anything to to be able to just give back
1:41:37
um to the community if it's you know blood drives toy drives clothes
1:41:42
drives all that good stuff so yeah I think uh one of one of the things um my
1:41:48
fraternity does very very much yearly is we have um we have a drives in Maryland
1:41:55
I believe um we have cancer cancer drives and um the St Jude Walker like
1:42:00
two the biggest things that we um two of the biggest things that
1:42:05
we that we participate in and lead in terms of in terms of our community
1:42:14
service okay I'll go next um I will say that Sigma gamaro has a lot of amazing National programs and the first two that
1:42:21
come to mind would be operation big book bag which is where we're collecting um well toys but also school supplies and
1:42:28
giving them to a bunch of different schools and ensuring that students are properly equipped with the supplies they need for the upcoming year I also think
1:42:34
of swim 1922 if you know someone in your life that can't swim if you don't I'm one of them I'm trying don't worry about
1:42:41
it but um this program basically allows um it mainly teaches people of color but
1:42:47
teaching them how to swim and it's decreasing the drowning rates that we do see and then you great reminded me um my
1:42:54
sorority we were the only organization to donate a million dollars to St Jude and so helping those or or helping the
1:43:00
hospitals and helping those children that are diagnosed with cancer and ensuring that they're able to get the medical attention that they need is
1:43:06
something that my Wy was able to take part in and it's absolutely amazing to be a part of that all right and another
1:43:12
thing I want to emphasize before we go to this next question is that each one of these organizations actually have uh
1:43:18
a group that mentors teenagers um Alpha I know I'm you mentioned cap League
1:43:23
earlier uh I know the Deltas have del te so that's something that you may want to look into right now if you if you find
1:43:29
yourself interested in something did anybody else have a response yeah I was going to go as well now that you're
1:43:34
speaking on um mentorship and like Youth Development um we have our Sigma beta clubs where we uh Mentor young men age 8
1:43:42
through 18 um and instilling in them the skill sets Ming in um leadership
1:43:47
Athletics um social exposure and cultural awareness I believe if I'm not mistaken um so we work with a lot of
1:43:53
young men in schools across the across the country um I know my high school I didn't know it at the time or really
1:43:58
know much but we have a sigma Beta Club where um they get them actively involved in the community um they also um had
1:44:05
them do voter engagement work um during the 2020 um presidential election so that was good um stuff that they tend to
1:44:12
do with the sigma beta clubs um social action we do a lot of advocacy work um
1:44:17
lobbying um we also do a lot of policy advocacy um both in local communities
1:44:22
also o state and federal um education we do a lot of scholarship uh and academic
1:44:28
support for um students such as yourselves so um we provide a lot of scholarships for students who are going
1:44:34
off the college um and other academic support and then lastly um our bigger and better business program which
1:44:39
focuses on economic empowerment um financial literacy um and just kind of the business um acument for um primarily
1:44:47
black businesses so we do a wide variety of different Services nice before we get to this last question this last question
1:44:53
we going to take from the floor I we want to ask the panelists to stay afterwards as well as the teams that are here we're going to take a photo
1:44:59
afterwards and we going to get to this last question and then we're going to wrap this on up so um since you guys were
1:45:07
like in intake like at pwi do you feel like just having like a smaller like
1:45:13
line group was like better for your togetherness of just feeling like closer to the people that you're with instead
1:45:20
of like the lines that are like with 100 people y know what I mean yeah
1:45:29
okay um well so do you think having a smaller intake group uh was better for
1:45:36
your togetherness uh for those of you that did have a small intake group do you think having a smaller intake group
1:45:41
was better for your togetherness and Brotherhood or Sisterhood than having a larger one and she mentioned specifically a pwi but I know that small
1:45:48
lines happen at HBCU as well yeah I mean in my experience it was
1:45:54
me and one other person we were a line of two and at Queens we actually just had a a solo line come through in the
1:46:00
fall and I think either way you're going to get to know each other but definitely taking
1:46:06
the time we had more opportunities to get to know each other and I think even
1:46:12
our solo Jazzy sitting over there by herself you know she didn't have anyone coming through with her to get to know
1:46:18
but she had equal opportunities to get to know us and to get to know our are graduate advisors and so I think your
1:46:25
journey is what you make of it and if you're intentional about getting to know the people coming in with you then you're going to get to know
1:46:32
them um I would say I I don't go to a pwi but I had a I guess relatively small
1:46:38
I have 14 line sisters and um uh I would
1:46:43
pick back off of her like it really is like what you make of it and if you have the intentions of getting real sisters
1:46:50
out of it then you'll get sisters like I have I'm going to shout out my lion sister she's standing she's sitting
1:46:56
right there um that you know that's my girl you know and so you can find like
1:47:02
real deep Sisterhood if you look for it cuz if you you could have a small line
1:47:09
and you can not like anybody and you could have 50 line sisters and like all of them it really you know it you make
1:47:17
what it you make it what it is um big line small line if you want to know them you'll know them if you don't you
1:47:24
don't yeah she's right yeah I I would say um
1:47:29
from my experience I have nine other lbs um coming into it most of them I
1:47:35
only knew I think if I'm correct I only knew three people but when I first started out of my out of my line of 10
1:47:43
of us so everyone else I really didn't know so it gave me the chance to actually like bond with them and learn
1:47:51
how they move because you also got to think that's nine other brains I got to think about that's nine other egos I got
1:47:57
to think about so it's kind of like sooner or later you're going to end up clashing sometimes and that's fine I
1:48:03
mean you think about you fight with your siblings sometimes at the end of the day you either squash it or you don't most
1:48:09
of most the time you're going to squash it cuz at the end of the day it's all love so it's kind of like looking at
1:48:14
that and looking at my nine other lbs I could be mad at like two of them but I'm still going to squash at the end of day
1:48:20
because those are my LVS we done went through the process together times this
1:48:25
is and that but it's just more so just really depends it's not more so like a
1:48:30
number things just depending on how everyone moves with each other
1:48:36
yeah yeah and I'll just say I I have 11 other line Brothers I love all my brothers to death it's definitely what
1:48:43
you make it right there's definitely those people who you might not even ever talked to that you came in with and
1:48:48
that's just the reality of it all but it's really what you make it and like I said it's and your why like why you're doing this like you're joining it for
1:48:55
that aspect of having that Brotherhood because and Sisterhood because the bond you make is really like for life um with
1:49:02
those people that you're coming in with so it's what you make it like K you said it's not a number thing
1:49:08
it's it's the people thing I think yeah um as for me I got it's seven of us and
1:49:16
going into it day one I knew not one person that never seen a day in my life
1:49:21
at the end of it maybe yeah in towards the middle of it I could tell you everything about them
1:49:27
like I knew them down to the te I knew their siblings names their parents names um after we finished when school was out
1:49:35
they came to Atlanta to come visit me stay with my folks I've been to their City stay with their folks and it's not
1:49:41
even just with your line like um it's other lines it's people that's in the fraternity as a whole um for instance
1:49:49
I'm 23 I'll say my best friend he cross in 22 he's on a whole different line and
1:49:55
me and him are tighter than anybody so it's not just your line it's anybody the
1:50:02
whole frat the whole sorority in general yeah um I can give another perspective I
1:50:08
do go to a pwi but my line was 32 um so that's 31 different
1:50:13
personalities attitudes all all all of that and you got to learn each other um I will say to
1:50:19
remember this is a lifetime commitment so you have your whole life to learn learn each other love each other like
1:50:27
you have the rest of your life to do that you don't want to rush anything you know um I would say that I came into it
1:50:35
not really knowing anybody either um but I would say it's truly beautiful coming
1:50:40
into something and working towards something with strangers and you have
1:50:46
that type of bonding you have that type of connection with them and you really truly learn to love them like your
1:50:53
sister ripheral um so yeah I think that it doesn't matter whether your line is
1:50:59
short or small it matters on your intentions and what you want um and it really matters what work and effort you
1:51:06
put into it because with my line being a lot more in
1:51:11
numbers um it's harder to have everybody come in and connect and you know Bond
1:51:18
because it's so many people um but if you have the effort and you care it like
1:51:25
matters and it works out in like the long run all right I think that's a good
1:51:31
place to stop we want to thank everybody for coming out to the panel
1:51:38
today we want to thank the panelists uh for being here y'all don't go nowhere
1:51:43
cuz we got to take a picture y'all know that we take a lot of pictures in the D9 yeah he all the teenagers as well we
1:51:51
want y'all to stay here so we take a picture with you guys and uh I'll hand it off thank you thank you thank you
1:51:57
let's thank these panelists again you all were amazing you know this is the future
1:52:05
sitting in this room in the audience and across the front here so thank you all so much for your yes um at this time I
1:52:11
want to bring up the chair of the community relations MLK committee Dolores Reed Smith
1:52:23
I was talking so much thank you again to our wonderful panelist I've been very
1:52:30
very proud just sitting listening to you I see Bright Futures for you um as far
1:52:38
as leadership is concerned and to the young people in the audience I was just
1:52:43
amazed at some of your questions and the depth of them so we want to continue
1:52:50
this weekend many of you out see Saturday at the atrium Health Dr Martin
1:52:56
Luther King Jr holiday parade and uh we're inviting everyone to that and also
1:53:03
on Sunday we'll have our national observance and our Charlotte meinberg
1:53:08
school's arts and writing contest and it'll be at far theater on the campus of
1:53:14
central Pont Community College at 3:00 p.m. on Sunday so we're inviting you to
1:53:20
that as well and and then on Saturday we also at an amazing High School in the
1:53:29
City West Charlotte High we'll be hosting a peace basketball
1:53:39
showcase and uh that will start at 10:30 a.m. at West Charlotte so we're inviting
1:53:46
you to all of the remaining activities that that we have
1:53:53
and to all of the participants especially to our sponsors I see Patrick
1:53:59
has come in who also represents Atrium Health are any of our other sponsors
1:54:08
here okay I'm going to introduce you to some amazing people and we're going to go well all members of the Dr Martin
1:54:15
Luther King Jr holiday planning committee wave so that they'll know that you're in the building
1:54:25
now to all of the members of the community relations committee if you'll
1:54:31
wave so that they'll know you're in the
1:54:36
build and finally last but not least to all those members of the community
1:54:44
relations department for the city of Charlotte if your
1:54:51
wave thank thank you all so much for your participation and we look to see you at one of our other
1:54:59
events thank you that does conclude the D9 panel for this year again we would just ask that the teens remain there you
1:55:06
will have a picture with our leadership and if the panel can stay where you're at John wave your hand he's going to get
1:55:13
some photos thank you
1:55:23
[Music]
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