ACTION & SOLIDARITY
The Brothers of Beta Alpha Chapter of Phi Beta Sigma Fraternity, Inc. live by our Fraternity Motto of “Culture for Service, Service for Humanity.” We will rise up against those who deny our humanity. In active response, over the coming weeks and months, the Brothers of Beta Alpha Chapter will begin rolling out opportunities for all of us to serve. Organizing forums for members of our collegiate and local communities to find safe harbor from the racism that threatens our physical and mental health; forums that will enlighten and embolden us about our rights and how to assert them; and provide a myriad of programming to strengthen us in the areas of health, wealth and brotherliness.
The Brothers of Phi Beta Sigma Fraternity Inc., Beta Alpha Chapter, join the national organizations constituting the National Pan-Hellenic Council whose May 27, 2020, statement condemned the unlawful killing of George Floyd by officers within the Minneapolis, MN, Police Department (statement provided at the end of this document for reference). Specifically:
➢ The Brothers of Beta Alpha Chapter condemn police brutality in all forms against all victims. For an unreasonable and condemning amount of time these officers knelt on this handcuffed and non-resisting brother, deaf to his anguish, deaf to his pleas to be allowed to breathe, deaf to the witnesses vocalizing fear, compassion and pleas to let George Floyd live.
➢ The Brothers of Beta Alpha Chapter recognize that there is strength in our collective numbers and are organizing now to amplify the voices of students and our communities in protest of the unjust and unconstitutional treatment of Black and Brown people. As our Honorable Fraternity Brother James Weldon Johnson taught us in the Black National Anthem, we will “Lift Every Voice…” against these injustices.
➢ The Brothers of Beta Alpha Chapter will muster the spirit of its great civil rights leaders and warriors, such as the Honorable Big Brothers Rep. John Lewis, A. Phillip Randolph, Huey P. Newton, President Kwame Nkrumah and President Benjamin Nnamdi Azikiwe, to push an agenda that respects the humanity of Black and Brown people everywhere.
➢ The Brothers of Beta Alpha Chapter HAVE HAD ENOUGH. We agree with the NPHC that “this must end now” and are actively organizing to bring the change we seek. Only as united people—whether citizens or other—committed to demand that the protections of The Constitution of The United States covers all of us, can we fight a system that serially deprives us of our life, liberty and pursuit of happiness.
Like all of the member organizations of the NPHC more than one hundred years ago, we realize that we have to organize to survive; to help our communities at home strive to overcome the wretchedness of an existence that requires us to deal with the remnants of the American apartheid system. Our work is not finished. The call-to-action is renewed.
In Solidarity,
Beta Alpha Chapter of Phi Beta Sigma Fraternity, Inc.
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