Congrats to the men of Alpha Phi Alpha. . .Black Fraternity pulls convention from Phoenix

[wndycty]

Alpha Phi Alpha Removes Convention From Ariz. Due To Immigration Law

In protest of the recently passed immigration law in Arizona that many believe will lead to racial profiling, Alpha Phi Alpha fraternity has moved its annual convention out of the state. The fraternity’s leadership announced this decision through an email to members, saying:

” … the Board of Directors of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity voted unanimously to rescind the location of Phoenix, Arizona as our meeting location of the 104th Anniversary/ 90th General Convention in July, and to denounce the egregious immigration act signed recently by the governor of Arizona. It was the full opinion of the board that we could not host a meeting in a state that has sanctioned a law which we believe will lead to racial profiling and discrimination, and a law that could put the civil rights and the very dignity of our members at risk during their stay in Phoenix Arizona.”
-snip-

http://newsone.com/nation/news-one-staff/alpha-phi-alpha-removes-convention-from-ariz-due-to-immigration-law/

[babylonsister]

1. Yay for them! There's going to be a lot of this, I hope. nt

[blm]

73. +1

.

[saltpoint]

2. Good for them.

Clearly they are operating in the context of justice and ethical clarity.

If Jan Brewer had a lick of sense she'd emulate their model instead of kowtowing to kooks and hate-mongers.

[malaise]

9. Instead of kowtowing to kooks and hate-mongers?

She's a leading member of that group and an unelected Governor to boot.

[grantcart]

23. now now

how can a woman who thinks that she has been appointed by God be a kook and a hate-monger?

[SusanaMontana41]

30. Grantcart has a point ...

:evilgrin:

[saltpoint]

33. She is. And would I ever like to see Goddard defeat her in the upcoming

gubernatorial race.

[UncleTomsEvilBrother]

3. Hey!!!!!

I'm a member of that fraternity! Nice, Brothers! Aaaaaa-Phi!!!!!

[MadMaddie]

21. Fantastic!

[rury]

26. I'm an Alpha Kappa Alpha soror

Skeeee-Phi!!! to my bros for doing the right thing!!

[goclark]

37. Welcome to DU my Soror!

[rury]

38. SkeeWee back to you!

[BumRushDaShow]

48. Another AKA sister here

:hi:

Skeee-weee to you and THANK YOU MY BROTHERS FROM A-PHI-A, Incorporated!!! :woohoo: :hug:

When this crap law was being discussed a couple weeks ago, a number of civil rights radio talk show hosts were calling for the Alphas to do the right thing and pull their convention. I am so proud that they did. :hug:

Give these racist lunatics an inch and they will become despotic rulers over all! We need to show the nation that the teabagger astroturf is nothing but a media-generated non-entity and it's now time for the M$M to start reporting the sentiments of the REAL majority.

[goclark]

51. Speak my Sister, speak!

MLK would be so proud of his Brothers ~ it gives me chills to think about the powerful meaning of the Pull Back from Arizona.

Read my journal post on MLK and AKA.
Soror goclark

[BumRushDaShow]

57. Thanks for heads-up on your MLK/AKA journal post

I always enjoy reading your posts! :hug:

We gotta learn to nip these things in the bud when they surface, and do it right away!

[Aristus]

27. I just sent them an e-mail thanking them for standing up to bigotry and hatred;

And for refusing to enrich the State of Arizona with tourism or commerce dollars.

K&R!

[goclark]

35. AKA Lady here ~

Way to go Alpha Men!:fistbump:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alpha_Phi_Alpha

Wasn't MLK an Alpha too?
Delighted to answer my own question ~ yes he was -- the link will give you so much pride.

Oh Martin Luther King would be so proud of the Alpha's "March Out of Arizona!

:bounce:

[ensho]

4. kick

nt

[IndianaJoe]

5. Kudos to them! We are all brothers! n/t

[UTUSN]

6. K&R #16 n/t

[NV Whino]

7. All right!

[political_Dem]

8. Excellent. I am very glad that they did that. K and R.

Arizona does not deserve the money. However, they need to learn that their racism will not stand in present-day America.

[Ikonoklast]

10. Good on them.

k n r

[mainer]

11. Phoenix in July? Wouldn't have been pleasant, anyway.

I was there during July and whenever I stepped outside, I felt as if my lungs were being seared by the air.

Go someplace cool. Seattle or Maine is pretty nice in July.

[Bette Noir]

43. It's nice from November until about mid-May.

I'll go back for a visit, as soon as this dumb law is overturned.

[femrap]

12. Yet everyone loves

Augusta Golf....no women allowed. And of course that's where Tiger made his little debut.

That means Latinas can't go to Augusta either, ya know.

Oh...forgot. What is that Chinese saying? 'Grass is like women...made to be trod upon.'

[olegramps]

47. This was my response to Mike Kiszla at the Denver Post.

He printed my response in the paper in regard to the Master's history of outright racial bigotry:

I very much agree with you that the Payne in speaking for the Masters is nothing more than a sanctimonious hypocrite in view of the Masters history of discrimination against Blacks and women. It should not be forgotten that because of its history of discrimination that Lee Travino boycotted the tournament for a number of years. Augusta's heritage is one to be ashamed of rather than being held up as the an example to be admired and imitated.

Jerry, Lakewood, CO

[femrap]

61. I'm amazed they printed

your letter.

There's never a bad word about Augusta anymore. Of course, the MSM is Corporately Controlled by a few rich, ugly white dudes.

Isn't Murdoch ever going to die? I think that damn David Rockefeller is still living as well...he has got to be going on 100.

[political_Dem]

62. Thank you for writing this message. I'm glad that it made the printed comments.

n/t

[BlooInBloo]

13. Good, but need white folks to do it...

Since we've set the rules for the game as being "anyone who isn't white is probably an oversensitive reverse racist", and can be ignored".

But good job, APA.

[Raineyb]

16. Point taken Bloo. But considering the number of people looking to

try to dissuade anyone from boycotting I'll be pleasantly surprised if it happens. But I shan't hold my breath.

[BlooInBloo]

18. Yup.

[Bluebear]

14. Congratulations, gentlemen!

Walking the walk.

[Raineyb]

15. Good on them! Excellent! This is the type of thing I expect to see.

:thumbsup:

[underpants]

17. Good for them. Impressive number of members/alums

http://www.alpha-phi-alpha.com/

Members of Alpha Phi Alpha include Jamaican Prime Minister Norman Manley, Nobel Prize winner Martin Luther King, Jr., U.S. Vice President Hubert Humphrey, Olympian Jesse Owens, Justice Thurgood Marshall, United Nations Ambassador Andrew Young, and Atlanta Mayor Maynard Jackson.

[druidity33]

20. i did a doubletake

when i saw Hubert Humphrey there. Very white guy. I guess he was made an honorary member for including strong Civil Rights language at the 1948 Democratic Convention, while helping to write the Dem Party platform. A good speech...

"To those who say, my friends, to those who say, that we are rushing this issue of civil rights, I say to them we are 172 years too late! To those who say, this civil rights program is an infringement on states' rights, I say this: the time has arrived in America for the Democratic Party to get out of the shadow of states' rights and walk forthrightly into the bright sunshine of human rights!"


:)

[Coexist]

19. hearty knr

[tekisui]

22. KNR! Way to go, Alpha Phi Alpha!

[mzteris]

24. now if they can just

get behind equal rights for glbt. . .

[marmar]

28. Where did that come from?

[Raineyb]

29. The usual place n/t

[Number23]

31. lol And the DU Gods said... "let no opportunity to lecture black/brown folks go unmissed.

No matter how utterly bizarre or completely unnecessary it may be."

Congrats to the brothers of APhiA. I hope that more black organizations and orgs in general follow suit.

[political_Dem]

45. +10000 n/t

[Fire1]

50. Probably why that poster is on "ignore," n/t

[mzteris]

54. no, you don't like my stand on education -

which is centered a whole damn lot around providing a free and accessible and appropriate education for ALL - including non-white, non-rich kids, non-NT, non-"average", non-round-hole, etc . . .

:eyes:

[mzteris]

36. just reading about

dadt and doma...

and having a conversation about misogyny and racism and homophobia . . . how they're all intertwined. How - if you want to be for "equal rights" - you must be for equal rights for ALL. Period.

Sorry, didn't mean to rain on the well-wishing parade. I think it's great. Especially in light of the racial tension between AA's and Hispanics. But being a leading AA organization, I'd really like to see them come out in favor of glbt rights as well.

guess I shouldn't have been thinking out loud or sumpin', eh?

Oh - and ANYone who knows anything about me here on DU, knows I am very solidly in the African American camp. . . . (and the glbt camp and the feminist camp and the kids-first camp and the education camp and the . . . ) Sorry, folks, but NO one gets a pass for endorsing discrimination (even tacitly) of any kind.

[marmar]

41. Did Alpha Phi Alpha endorse discrimination? .... I guess I don't like the underlying assumption....

in your statement.

[mzteris]

52. the underlying assumption is

the AA community is still very much not in the glbt-equal-rights camp. If APA has endorsed gay rights, I've missed it. Have they?

There needs to be some bold moves/statements in support of equal rights for all people. You can't pick and choose who you want to be "equal", you know. . .

I think it's great that they've stood up for the rights of immigrants, now let's stand up some more!! I was not meaning to denigrate what they did, again, I probably should have kept my thinking out loud to myself. It was a confluence of events - what I was reading/talking/thinking about when I opened this thread.

[Number23]

63. Yep. As has been already noted, your ASSumptions come from the usual place

the underlying assumption is the AA community is still very much not in the glbt-equal-rights camp. If APA has endorsed gay rights, I've missed it. Have they?

I didn't realize that every black person and black organization, including prestigious, 100 year old ones with nothing to prove to anyone, had to run around screaming that they "endorse gay rights." And thanks for educating me that "the AA community is still very much not in the glbt-equal-rights camp." Now I know and I'm black my damned self! :eyes:

Do you put these requirements and stipulations of "endorsing gay rights" on non-Negro organizations as well or is it only the black ones that require such scrutiny?? Silly me! As if I don't already know the answer.

[mzteris]

69. oh good lord...

. . .

You mean you didn't know that the AA community "over all" is not solidly with the gay-rights movement? Where have you been?

And - why yes, yes I do put "these requirements" of "endorsing gay rights" on non-Negro organizations. I expect them from ALL organizations. Especially organizations who have experienced first hand what discrimation is like. I expect it from all DU'ers and all Democrats and all Feminists and anyone who has Ever been the victim of any kind of discrimination and oppression. I expect from those who have the privilege of NOT being a victim of discrimination and oppression. I expect people to support GLBT rights in the same damn way I expect people to support AFRICAN AMERICAN rights and WOMEN's RIGHTS, and HISPANIC RIGHTS and DISABILITY RIGHTS, and . . . Don't you?

Again, equal rights are for ALL. And we ALL need to stand up for equal rights for ALL. Regardless or race, creed, color, gender, or sexual-orientation. If you pick and choose, then you're not for equal rights. You're for YOUR rights and that's not "equal".

I can't believe you're trying to make ME out to be some kind of racist when I'm the one sitting here screaming that we must have equal rights for EVERYONE! It was understanding that I couldn't just be for "women's rights" (back in the early 80's), that made me start the journey to overcoming my very southern upbringing.

Here - don't like to hear me 'cause I'm too white for you? Read what bell hooks has to say on the matter:

". . .There’s no doubt in my mind that any person who attempts to live openly as a gay person in this culture encounters the fierce assault of homophobia. But what we should know from the situation of gay people of all colours and black people of all sexual preferences is that simply being a victim does not radicalize your consciousness. If that was the case, we would all be fighting the revolution right now together and he fact is we’re not because people want their particular form of victimhood to end with caring about what the implications of that are for other people.

I think that what’s really happening around the gay rights movement in this culture has become profoundly conservative. Pro-family values. We want to be just like you. We want to get married and have our nice homes. We have to move past the idea that our sexual preferences will radicalize our consciousness. Essentialized identity, whether it is race or sex, sexuality, etc. and the notion that just being the victim of something will enlighten you is also the big lie now.

When I said to white women that I didn’t have any f*****g sympathy for Anita Hill’s inability to stand up and defend herself, because she could have been taking feminist courses at Yale, I was told she wasn’t to blame. It’s not a question of blame. We can hold her responsible for not choosing to educate herself because it was not in her class interest to do so. She wanted to enter the mainstream ruling upper class in this culture and her silence was not the silence of someone who had not had access to knowledge. Her silence was the silence of complicity.

Reformist gender equality brought us to a space where people are more mired in liberal individualism than they are in anything else. And you cannot have revolutionary struggle in that space. What saved radical Vietnam was not liberal individualism but people’s capacity to engage in collective struggle. The thing that most weakened radical political movements in this country was the investment in liberal individualism. That’s why racial integration was essential for the continued colonization of black people because racial integration was really a code word for the indoctrination of black people into the ideology of liberal individualism. . ." http://www.kersplebedeb.com/mystuff/books/reviews/nvrevoti.html

(paras added for readability)

[Number23]

75. Keep your bell hooks quotes and your feigned outrage

You are ridiculous.

And I'm not making you out to "be a racist" because you are "screaming for equal rights for all." I'm questioning you because you see a black organization doing the right thing re: Arizona's immigration bill and AUTOMATICALLY assume that they are against gay rights without any damned basis or evidence to back it up, just your "gut feeling" based on the skin color of the majority of the group's members. I'm sure that there is a name for folks like you that make pre-conceived (and dead wrong) assessments based on a person's color. Just can't remember it right now... :eyes: And since several posters have called you out on it, all of a sudden you're trying to turn it around and make out to be the victim. Classic.

And as for YOU telling ME what my community is about and what we believe, you can keep that too.

[WolverineDG]

68. And you obviously know better than them what's good for them nt

[mzteris]

71. know better than ....

??? which "thems" would you be referring to, eh?

I KNOW that equal rights for ALL is the only damn point I was trying to make. I KNOW that equal rights for all is GOOD for ALL.

I can't believe what this has turned into. "My victimhood is more important than YOUR victimhood??" or what? Hell, I'm not gay nor black. But I am a woman and it was experiencing pervasive misogyny that made me realize that I needed to stand solidly with all those who are held as "second class citizens" in order to break the chains of the white supremacist (homophobic) patriarchy...

COLLECTIVE action is what is needed... to ensure equal rights for ALL. You do support equal rights for ALL, don't you Wolv...

[WolverineDG]

72. that you know better than African Americans what's good for them

I've seen you in other threads doing the same thing.

dg

[mzteris]

74. No. and no you haven't.

HTH did you get that from what I was posting anyways?

Do you support equal rights for ALL or not Wolv? Will you answer the question?

[jmm]

34. *Sigh*

Some of the same black people in the media who have been the most outspoken against the Arizona bill have also been vocal on their support of equal rights for glbt but hey...let's not let that get in the way of profiling in a thread about speaking out against profiling.

[political_Dem]

44. +10000 From a veteran of being on the recieving end of the prop 8 pogrom against Black folks.

I still remember, despite voicing my opposition to that horrible bill, being called the n-word, a murderer, a whore, an idiot and more unsavory terms during that time. No apologies came.

Unfortunately, it still goes on even two years later whenever the talk of "equal rights" and "second class citizenship" come up. It is ironic really that while the platitudes of being oppressed come forth, that another group of persons continue to be the center point of discrimination. Few folks get this bitter and glaring point.

Notice that even with being an ally in solidarity with fair treatment of all, the underlying derision and minimization of the civil rights movement by Black people.

But I still fight for civil rights for all despite the nastiness. I believe that none of us are free until we all are free.

[mzteris]

53. "I believe that none of us are free until we all are free. "

couldn't have said it better myself.

[political_Dem]

60. Small Correction:

It should read"...the underlying derision and minimization of Black participation in the civil rights movement..."

I'm very sorry. Tired eyes while writing early in morning. :(

[Karenina]

56. Indeed!

:eyes:

[Lilyeye]

65. Great another person who likes to piss on threads. Typical!

[hay rick]

25. Lot of the brothers COULD be from Kenya.

Time to pull out their fake Hawaiian birth certificates...

[Lorien]

32. Love Alpha Phi Alpha. My ferret Ravi Stinkar was a member back during my college years

he went to all the meetings. I never knew what happened at those meetings but he was always returned to me happily worn out from play.

[CLANG]

39. Don't mess with people, AZ! Yeah, Alpha Phi Alpha!!!

[Blue_Tires]

40. k+r

[DesertDiamond]

42. I salute them!!!

[swilton]

46. Hitting them where it hurts

In their back pockets!

[Fire1]

49. OUT FUCKIN STANDING!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Kudos to the men of A Phi A!!

[goclark]

59. Yes!

Someone said that it's better that White people take a stand than for Blacks. I disagree.

WE ALL need to STAND when Civil Rights are involved.

African Americans taught America how to STAND.

[Number23]

64. "African Americans taught America how to STAND."

I simply could not agree more. :fistbump:

[fishwax]

55. excellent!

Way to go Alpha Phi Alpha!

:kick:

[workinclasszero]

58. Congrats to Alpha Phi Alpha!

Thanks for fighting against teabagger apartheid in Arizona!

You struck a blow for FREEDOM!:toast:

[goclark]

66. Alpha's took a STAND that is a dramatic symbol

against Arizona's racist move.

It is fitting that the Memorial for Dorothy Height took place last week. She too would have loved this moment in history.

For those of you not familiar with the role that Black Fraternities and Sororities played in the Civil Rights Struggle, they were a powerful force. They still are today. Dorothy Height was a Delta and MLK was an Alpha and that is extremely meaningful to African Americans -- like me ( I'm AKA.)

Doesn't matter if you are Christian or not, Bebe Winens rendition of "STAND" was the masterpiece of that Memorial.

If you have not seen him sing it with the President sitting in the audience, you have missed a Memory that represents Arizona's situation.

Bebe Winen had tears quietly dripping from the eyes of the President and VP Biden and everyone in the gathering.

When I think about it now, the song "STAND" represents this situation as well.

Alpha's took a STAND at just the right moment!

[WolverineDG]

67. Error: you can only recommend threads which were started in the past 24 hours

Damn! Where has this thread been hiding?

:thumbsup: Alpha Phi Alpha!

dg

[Bobbie Jo]

70. +1000

So....here's another :kick: