Happy 103rd Anniversary AKA!

I couldn't let today pass (and if I ever want to taste my mom's German Chocolate pound cake again in life) without noting that today is the 103rd anniversary of the founding of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc.

It was born on the campus of Howard University in Washington, DC on January 15, 1908 by a group of nine students led by Ethel Hedgeman Lyle.   

From those humble beginnings it has grown into an international organization headquartered in Chicago with over 250,000 college educated women that celebrated its centennial in 2008.

Chances are that if there is a groundbreaking African American woman making the news somewhere or in the history books, she either wore or is wearing salmon pink and apple green.

Skee-wee and Happy 103rd Anniversary to Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc.! 

Which Frat Will Win The Presidential Membership Sweepstakes?

One of the questions asked within the African-American family during the primary and the general election campaign about the Obamas was which 'Divine Nine' frat or sorority would they become a member of.

The 'Divine Nine' is the collective name coined by author Lawrence Ross for the four African-American sororities, Alpha Kappa Alpha, Delta Sigma Theta, Zeta Phi Beta and Sigma Gamma Rho and the five African-American fraternities Alpha Phi Alpha, Omega Psi Phi, Kappa Alpha Psi, Phi Beta Sigma and Iota Phi Theta.

The 'Divine Nine sororities and fraternities have been a historically integral part of African American life, and the membership rolls include people across the Diaspora and non-Blacks as well. Chances are that if you are a high achieving African descended person in a wide range of fields, you're a member of their ranks.

Since neither the president nor the First Lady were members or pledged when they matriculated in college, the competition was keen to get both of them ensconced as members of their organizations.

On the sorority side, it was pretty much a foregone conclusion that the First Lady would probably end up an AKA (and did). Corporate headquarters for Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc (skee-wee) is in Chicago, there are strong alumni groups there and in Washington DC where the sorority was founded 101 years ago last month, and they were wooing her during the AKA's centennial year as well.

As for the prez, the battle is still up in the air between the frats for presidential bragging rights.

Will it be Alpha Phi Alpha, which has the distinction of not only being the first African-American Greek letter fraternal organization, but boasts of having Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall in their ranks in addition to congressmembers Charles Rangel (D-NY) and Al Green (D-TX) to make the A Phi A case?

Will it be Phi Beta Sigma, who not only was founded in Washington DC, counts Harold Washington (the first African-American mayor of Chicago), Black Panther founder Dr. Huey P. Newton, Ghana's Kwame Nkrumah, scientist George Washington Carver and several members of congress in their ranks such as civil rights warrior Rep. John Lewis (D-GA) and Edolphus Towns (D-NY)?

Kappa Alpha Psi can counter with current DC mayor Adrian Fenty, civil rights warrior Ralph Abernathy, astronaut Bernard Harris and congressmembers such as John Conyers (D-MI) and Bennie Thompson (D-MS) that are well placed to lobby 'Brother Prez'.

Will it be Omega Psi Phi, who also has Washington DC roots, fly jock Tom Joyner as a member along with Challenger astronaut Ron McNair, Bill Cosby and congressman Jesse Jackson, Jr (D-IL), but so is Jesse Jackson, Sr?

Or will it be the new kids on the block, Iota Phi Theta? It was founded in 1963 and has grown to 35,000 members including former GMA weatherman Spencer Christian and actor Terrence 'TC' Carson from Living Single. However, Rep. Bobby Rush (D-IL) is a member, and he beat the prez badly during their 2000 congressional race.

Stay tuned peeps. You'll know who wins this sweepstakes because it will be trumpeted all over the Greekosphere and beyond by the winning frat.

Michelle Obama To Become An AKA

The oldest African-American sorority is about to gain a new member.

In an announcement made Monday during this week's Boule running through this Friday that's sure to thrill Alpha Kappa Alpha's over 200,000 members, Michelle Obama will reportedly accept an invitation to join the sorority. At the time she was matriculating on the Princeton campus, an AKA chapter didn't exist and wasn't founded there until 1985.

Ever since it became known that Mrs. Obama wasn't a member of a Divine Nine organization, the jockeying for the honor of inducting her into their ranks has been fierce. But some people felt Alpha Kappa Alpha had the advantage because of the sorority's corporate headquarters being located in Chicago and large AKA alumni groups located there and in Washington DC, where the sorority was founded 100 years ago.

If Senator Obama becomes our next president, she wouldn't be the first AKA First Lady. The late Eleanor Roosevelt holds that distinction, but she joins a long list of prominent members of the sorority that includes astronaut Mae Jemison, Alicia Keys, Coretta Scott King, Rosa Parks, Jada Pinkett Smith and Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf.

Also being honored with induction into AKA is Rutgers women's basketball coach C. Vivian Stringer and Kenyan environmental and political activist Wangari Muta Maathai, the first continental African woman to receive the Nobel Peace Prize.

So don't be surprised if you see Michelle Obama sporting salmon pink and apple green at an event near you.

It's Centennial Boule Time!

Beginning yesterday and continuing through next Friday, the predominant fashion color for more than 20,000 sisters around Washington DC will be salmon pink and apple green.

Those 20,000 women I'm talking about are the sorors of Alpha Kappa Alpha, Inc. the first and the oldest African-American sorority. They will be returning to the city where the organization was born for the Centennial Boule.

AKA was founded on the Howard University campus one hundred years ago on January 15, 1908.

I come from a long line of AKA's. My mom, sister and several cousins are members and may be walking around DC as I write this. When I lived at home, I used to read my mom's Ivy Leaf magazines when she and my sis were done with them. I drove Mom to more than a few of her grad chapter meetings after I acquired my license and even DJed a few of her chapter's Christmas parties before I transitioned. I lived next door to one of the founding members and basileus of my mom's grad chapter and grew up in a neighborhood full of AKA's. The sorority has touched my life and the lives of many people in many ways even if I was the wrong gender at the time for membership.

The Boule is AKA's biennial national convention that moves around so that the nine US AKA regions (the tenth is the international one) get the opportunity to host it. In milestone years such as this one, they return to Washington DC, which hosted the 25th, 50th, and 75th anniversary Boules as well.

In addition to staying true to its mission of service to all mankind, empowering women and uplifting our people, AKA has stood tall for justice as well. AKA members were not only involved in the civil rights movement, but are making trailblazing strides in all areas of our society uncluding the frontiers of space.

Centennial Supreme Basileus Barbara A. McKinzie has not only focused on a economic empowerment message during her tenure, she has spoken out against the disrespectful comments of Don Imus directed at the Rutgers University women's basketball team and the recent racist flavored ads the Tennessee GOP was running against Michelle Obama.

One hundred years later, Alpha Kappa Alpha has grown from its humble beginnings at Miner Hall to an international women's organization with over 200,000 members in various fields.

Mattel has even created an AKA Barbie in honor of the centennial, the first doll its ever done based on any sorority, much less an African-American organization.

Skee-wee and have a memorable week in Washington DC, ladies.

AKA's Steppin'

TransGriot Note: Some clips of my favorite sorority doing their thang at various step shows.

Hey, what did y'all expect with me growing up not only in an AKA household and surrounded by several AKA neighbors? My mom's best friend, some of my sistahfriends, my sister and several cousins pledged the pink and green, and I lived next door to the founder and basileus of a grad chapter.



at Southern University






Alpha Chapter at Howard U showing how it's done.



Of course, I had to show some love to my hometown. The Texas Southern University probate show.

Happy Centennial Anniversary AKA!

Today is the 100th anniversary of the founding of an organization that has almost 200,000 members, is an iconic institution in the African-American community and is a living testament to the power of an idea.

Ethel Hedgeman Lyle came back from her summer vacation in 1907 energized with a revolutionary idea, starting a sorority for Howard's female students.
After the petition to function as a recognized group on the Howard University campus was accepted by the administration, on January 15, 1908 an historic meeting of nine women took place at Miner Hall.

The nine women present that day, Anna Easter Brown, Beulah Elizabeth Burke, Lillie Burke, Marjorie Hill, Margaret Flagg Holmes, Lavinia Norman, Lucy Diggs Slowe (of which Slowe Hall on the Howard campus is named for) and Marie Woolfork Taylor came to be known as The Original Group of founders.

That first meeting led to the adoption of the sorority's motto, 'By Culture and By Merit', the adoption of the sorority's well known salmon pink and apple green colors, and the name of the organization, Alpha Kappa Alpha.

AKA's original group were all seniors with the exception of Lyle. In order to ensure the survival of the organization once the initial group graduated from college, in February 1908 seven sophomore honor students who were part of Howard's Class of 1910 that had expressed interest in joining the fledgling organization were admitted without initiation. The admittance of Norma Elizabeth Boyd, Ethel Jones Mowbray, Alice P. Murray, Sarah Meriweather Nutter, Joanna Mary Berry Shields, Carrie Snowden and Harriet Josephine Terry increased the membership to 16 members, who would become collectively known as the Founders.

AKA conducted its first ritualized initiation of members on February 11, 1909 in its Miner Hall birthplace. New members Ella Albert Brown, Mary Clifford, Lena Jenkins, Mable Gibson, Ruth Gilbert and Nellie Pratt Russell joined the organization and for the next few years it experiences steady growth on the HU campus.

But a crisis loomed on the horizon in the autumn of 1912. At that time AKA existed only on the Howard campus. But a group of seven members wanted to change the name of the organization, colors, and motto. Nellie Quander was horrified at that prospect and believed that these traditions were vital to the long-term success of the organization.

She also visualized the organization as a constant evolving factor in the lives of its members from college through adulthood. Determined to keep AKA on the path the founders set for it, she contacted every member of AKA and won near unanimous approval of her idea to incorporate and expand the organization.

A group of AKA's led by Quander and comprised of Norma Boyd, Julia Brooks, Ethel Jones Mowbray, Nellie Pratt Russell and Minnie Smith formed a committee to take the necessary steps. AKA was legally incorporated in Washington DC on January 29, 1913 and these members became known as The Incorporators.

Quander went on to become the first International President of AKA, while the dissatisfied members withdrew from Alpha Kappa Alpha and went on to found Delta Sigma Theta Sorority. 1913 also saw the awarding of its first honorary membership, the highest award AKA can pay to someone, to Jane Addams, the founder of Chicago's Hull House and a pioneer in professionalizing social work as a field of study.

From those beginnings, Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc. continued to expand, survive and thrive as an organization. By its 25th anniversary in 1933 it was comprised of 104 chapters across the United States and in all regions of the country. These chapters were also being founded on predominately white campuses in addition to HBCU's as well. It had adopted its ivy leaf symbol and started publishing in 1921 the official AKA house magazine Ivy Leaf.

Members were also making their marks on society in various fields, in the world and were even involved in making history as as well. When member Marian Anderson was denied access to the DAR-controlled Constitution Hall, First Lady and future AKA Eleanor Roosevelt organized the concert at the steps of the Lincoln Memorial for her to sing.

By the time of its 50th anniversary in 1958, AKA had established its first international chapter in Monrovia, Liberia, purchased its first corporate headquarters building in Chicago on South Greenwood St and has grown to include almost 9,000 members. World War II and the Korean War had come and gone and AKA involved itself in the Civil Rights Movement as well. Three years earlier future honorary member Rosa Parks' arrest kicks off the Montgomery Bus Boycott. In addition to the NAACP life membership it initially purchased in 1938, it began its tradition of purchasing annual life memberships to the NAACP, the Urban League and supporting the United Negro College Fund. It collects funds to support the Mississippi Freedom Riders. Member Althea Gibson became the first African-American to win Wimbledon.

It was continuing its phenomenal growth by the time I was in college and the organization celebrated its 75th anniversary in 1984. I was even responsible for my mom reactivating her membership. When she asked me on the ride home from campus one day what the status and perception of the AKA's on the UH campus was and I asked her why, she told me she was one. I replied. "Really? I've never seen you in pink and green." A few days later Mom went next door to my neighbor's house, who was active as the basileus of one of the now five AKA graduate chapters in the Houston area and reactivated. Granted, my neighbor and her best friend had been trying to get her to reactivate her membership as well, but I'm still taking credit it for it ;)

AKA members were involved in the civil rights movement, raised the funds to purchase Dr. King's birthplace in Atlanta, which is now a national historic site and was honored by the NAACP in 1974 with the Freedom Award,


Alpha Kappa Alpha has continued its phenomenal growth to cover the dawn of the 21st century. Barbara A. McKinzie is the Centennial International President overseeing an international organization that counts as its members history making women in a wide variety of fields. Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf, the first female head of state of an African continental nation when she was elected to the presidency of Liberia is a member, and so are Dr. Mae Jemison, the first African-American woman in space, authors Toni Morrison and the late Bebe Moore Campbell, Phylicia Rashad, Debbie Allen, Olympians Dr. Debi Thomas and Vonetta Flowers, producer Yvette Lee Bowser, four of the seven African-American Miss Americas (Suzette Charles, Dr. Debbye Turner and Marjorie Judith Vincent), congressmembers, mayors, educators, athletes, actors and professional women encompassing all fields of endeavor including my own mother, my sister and various cousins.

One hundred years later, Alpha Kappa Alpha women are continuing to do their part to not only uplift our race with the use of creative and innovative programs and targeted financial support, but help our people survive and thrive into the 21st century and beyond.

Famous AKA's

TransGriot Note: Chances are if there's an African-American woman who is making histry or trailblazing into new territory for our people, nine times out of ten she's a member of a Divine Nine sorority. These are some of the distinguished members of AKA, which this year celebrates its 100th anniversary. But remember the quote from the movie Stomp The Yard, you make the letters, the letters don't make you.

Famous Members of Alpha Kappa Alpha.

Maya Angelou - first African-American poet to read at a presidential inauguration, Pulitzer Prize winning poet, award winning novelist and honored in Fifty Black Women Who Changed America.

Ella Fitzgerald - Internationally famous classical jazz artist, named outstanding performer of the year for eighteen consecutive years by Downbeat Magazine, the jazz industry bible and honored in Fifty Black Women Who Changed America.

Dr. Mae Jemison first African-American woman astronaut.

Coretta Scott King - activist and director of the Martin Luther King, Jr. Center for Social Change and Civil Rights Activism and founder of The National Political Congress of Black Women, Inc.

Toni Morrison - author of Pulitzer Prize winning Beloved, first African-American to receive a Nobel Prize in Literature and honored in Fifty Black Women Who Changed America.

Jada Pinkett-Smith - accomplished actress whose movies include Set it Off, Menace to Society, and Jason's Lyric.

Alice Walker - Pulitzer Prize winning author of The Color Purple, Civil Rights Activist, poet, and honored in Fifty Black Women Who Changed America Lynn Whitfield, humanitarian and actress staring in The Josephine Baker Story, Thin Line Between Love and Hate, and Eve's Bayou.

Sonia Sanchez - author and poet.

Eleanor Roosevelt - activist and wife of former President Franklin D. Roosevelt.

Jomarie Payton Noble - humanitarian and actress, star of Family Matters.

Leah Tutu - wife of South African activist Bishop Desmond Tutu.

Ethel Hedgeman Lyle
Founder and "The Guiding Light" of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc.

Jane Addams
Founder of Hull House, one of the first homes for wayward girls Chicago, Illinois.

Marian Anderson
First African-American woman to sing at the Metropolitan
Opera.

Yvonne Braithwaite-Burke
Former Congresswoman from California and first woman to chair the Democratic National Convention.

Angie Brookes
The first woman President of the United Nations.

Yvette Lee Bowser
Producer of Hangin' with Mr. Cooper and A Different World, and creator and executive producer of Living Single.

Bebe (Elizabeth) Moore Campbell
Accomplished Author of Brothers and Sisters and Your Blues Aint Like Mine. Many of her writings have been featured in major publications including the New York Times magazine and The Washington Post.

Suzette Charles
Crowned Miss America in 1984, contemporary singer and actress

Olivia Cole
Award-winning actress. Appeared in Roots and the Broadway play The Raisin in the Sun.

Alice Coachman Davis
First African-American woman in the world to win a gold medal and first American female to win a gold medal in track and field.

Annie Elizabeth “Bessie” Delaney
The second African-American female to receive a dentistry license in New York; a Civil Rights Activist

Sarah “Sadie” Delaney
Educator, Businesswoman, and Author; Co-authored the book, Having Our Say: The Delaney Sisters’ First 100 Years

Ella Fitzgerald
Internationally famous jazz singer, known as the "First Lady of Song".

Bettiann Guena Gardner
Co-Chairwoman of Soft Sheen Products.

Zina Garrison-Jackson
Won a gold medal and a bronze medal in 1988 for tennis doubles and singles respectively.

Althea Gibson
A pioneer in amateur tennis and professional golf.

Gwendolyn Goldsby Grant
Advice Columnist for Essence.

Chamique Holdsclaw
Basketball Player for the Washington Mystics and Author of a book that Chronicles her success.

Dr. Marilyn Hughes-Gaston
Assistant Surgeon General.

Shirlee Tailor Haizlip
Author of The Sweeter The Juice.

Carmen de Lavellade Holder
Renowned ballet dancer and theater actress; Performed in A Portrait of Billie, based on the life of Billie Holiday; Professor at Yale University.

Janice Huff
NBC Meteorologist and St Louis Emmy Award Winner.

Catherine Hughes
CEO/owner of Radio One, a multimillion dollar corporation.

Dr. Mae Jemison
Became the first African-American woman astronaut in 1992. She is also a noted physician. She has done medical studies in Cuba, Kenya, and Thailand.

Virginia Johnson
Prima ballerina, one of the original members of the Dance Theatre of Harlem; has made guest appearances in other major ballet companies.

Star Jones
Starlet Jones is a lawyer, former assistant district attorney and former NBC news correspondent; Former 2nd Supreme Basileus of Alpha Kappa Alpha. Also a former legal analyst for Inside Edition, Today, and Nightly News. former co-host of the ABC-TV Show "The View".

Coretta Scott King
Civil Rights Activist, Director of Martin Luther King, Jr. Center for Social Change and Civil Rights Activism.

Gladys Knight Parker
Accomplished singer and actress.

Andrea Lyle-Wilson
Granddaughter of founder Ethel Hedgeman Lyle.

Muriel Lyle-Smith
Granddaughter of founder Ethel Hedgeman Lyle and President of Panache Productions.

Jewell Jackson McCabe
President of the National Coalition of 100 Black Women.

Lt. Col. Anita McMiller
Deputy Legislative Assistant to Chairman of Joint Chief of Staff.

Nichelle Nichols
Actress and Activist for space exploration; star Role as Lt. Uhura of Star Trek.

Jomarie Payton Noble
Humanitarian and actress; star of Family Matters.

Sonia Norwood
Mother and manager of singer/actress Brandy Norwood.

Hazel O'Leary
United States Secretary for the Department of Energy.

Rosa Parks
Considered to be the "Mother of the Civil Rights Movement", for refusing to give up her seat to a white man in 1955. Her actions launched the Montgomery Bus Boycott which lasted for one year.

Suzanne de Passe
Chairman and CEO of de Passe Entertainment.

Septima Poinsette Clark
A Civil Rights activist and trainer of many great civil rights activists.

Phylicia Rashad
Tony award winning Actress on the award-winning Cosby show and the TV series Cosby.

Roxie Roker
One of the first African-American actresses to cross the color lines and play the wife of a White man on the television series “The Jeffersons”; Mother of rock star Lenny Kravitz.

Eleanor Roosevelt
Humanitarian and former First Lady of the United States.

Sonia Sanchez
Noted author and poet.

Ntozake Shaunge
Author of For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide When the Rainbow is Enuf.

Jada Pinkett-Smith
Actress whose works include: The Nutty Professor, Set it Off, Menace to Society, A Different World, and All of Us.

Georgiana Simpson
First African-American female to get a PhD.

Marietta Tree
First U.S. Woman Ambassador to the United Nations.

Dr. C. Delores Tucker
National Chairman of the National political Congress of Black Women.

Dr. Debbye (Deborah) Lynn Turner
Crowned Miss America in 1990; Humanitarian

Madame Leah Tutu
Wife of South African activist Bishop Desmond Tutu.

Iyanla Vanzant
Author of 10 books and Public Inspirational Speaker.

Marjorie Judith Vincent
Crowned Miss America in 1991.

Congresswoman Diane Watson (D-CA)
The first Black woman to preside over the California State Senate.

Faye Wattleton
The first woman to head the Planned Parenthood Federation of America.

Lynn Whitfield
Humanitarian and actress. She is the star of The Jospehine Baker Story.

Dorothy Cowser Yancy
President of Johnson C. Smith University.

Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf
Current President of Liberia and the first female head of state of a continental African nation

Alicia Keys
Grammy award winning artist and producer.

Marva Collins,
Educator and Founder of her own private school on Chicago's west side

Debbie Allen
Actress, Producer

Dr. Debi Thomas
physician and first African-American woman to medal in the Winter Olympics (1988 Calgary)

Vonetta Flowers
bobsledder and first African-American woman to win a gold medal in the Winter Olympics (2002 Salt Lake City)

Skee-wee, It's AKA Barbie!

TransGriot Note: The Mattel AKA Barbie final design has yet to be released. While searching for a photo of it I stumbled across a picture of the Ivy Rose doll, which is available at Sisterhood Boutique

The pretty girls that wear twenty pearls and the TransGriot will be expanding our Barbie collections soon. In honor of AKA's centennial birthday tomorrow, Mattel Inc. will produce a collectible Barbie based on Alpha Kappa Alpha.

According to Elizabeth Grampp, director of Barbie collector marketing, upon learning that Alpha Kappa Alpha is marking its 100th anniversary this year, Mattel sought licensing for the doll.

While Mattel has produced African-American Barbie collectible dolls before, it's the first Barbie in the company's flagship brand based on any sorority and any predominately African-American organization.

"When you pair that milestone with an organization representing an amazing cross section of women who are empowered leaders in any field, it's a real opportunity to introduce the hobby of collecting to a new group of collectors," Grampp said. "It's such a landmark event."

The AKA Barbie doll will be dressed in an evening gown. Prominent in the ensemble will be the official pink and green colors of the sorority. Alpha Kappa Alpha kicks off its centennial celebration in Washington, DC this weekend, where the sorority was founded on the Howard University campus on January 15, 1908.

The Mattel partnership is one of several corporate deals that comes as Alpha Kappa Alpha is in the midst of implementing policy initiatives that puts emphasis of its programs on micro and macro economics. It's being pushed by Centennial President Barbara A. McKinzie, who is finance director at Chicago's Neighborhood Housing Services.

"Economics is the central focus of everything we do," said McKinzie, whose tenure began in 2006. "My vision was to make economics as much of a core competency as service has been to Alpha Kappa Alpha for the last 100 years."

Last year AKA's biennial leadership conference was moved to New Orleans from a planned cruise to infuse about $5 million into that city's economy. College chapters are charged with providing computer training to community members.

And the approximately 1,000 AKA chapters around the globe are conducting investment and financial literacy workshops for youth, seniors and chapter members.

For your Barbie collectors like moi, the AKA doll will cost about $50, and be available through BarbieCollector.com, the Barbie Collector catalog, other outlets and in partnership with the sorority.

The final design for the doll, which the sorority selected from three submissions, will be unveiled at Alpha Kappa Alpha's 100th anniversary celebration in Washington, DC Saturday. The Centennial Boule will also be held in Washington, DC later this summer.

Alpha Kappa Alpha and Delta Sigma Theta Call For Imus Firing

TransGriot Note: When you have pissed off the two oldest African-American women's organizations in the country with a combined membership of over 400,000 professional college-educated women worldwide, your behind is in deep, deep, deep trouble.
****

Alpha Kappa Alpha Assails Remarks Of Don Imus And Bernard McGuirk

President Urges Members To Flex Economic Muscle For Maximum Results



Chicago, Illinois
April 10, 2007

Alpha Kappa Alpha's International President, Barbara A. McKinzie, assailed Don Imus for his reprehensible characterization of the Rutgers Women's Basketball team and expanded her criticism to Bernard McGuirk, producer, whose callous remarks triggered the disrespectful exchange. She said she supports the sense of outrage that is enveloping the nation in the wake of these egregious remarks and believes he and McGuirk should, as a tandem, be fired. However, consistent with the economic theme that drives her administration, she asserted that the public should flex its economic muscle if powerful results are to be achieved.

Against this admonition, McKinzie urged the 200,000 members of the Sorority to divest of all stock in NBC, CBS and their parent companies; and to urge their families to do the same.

She said this is part of a multi-pronged strategy to address the economic and spiritual dynamics of this episode. As president of the world's oldest and largest sorority for college-educated African-American women, McKinzie said Alpha Kappa Alpha is a major stakeholder in protecting the image and self-actualization of black women.

In this vein, McKinzie noted that the language co-opted by McGuirk and Imus in their now-infamous exchange, was taken from the black rappers who have gotten rich and made white producers wealthy by defiling black women in their music, She said the offensive lyrics that invade the airwaves have created a climate where it is 'acceptable' to defile black women.

"We must provide an atmosphere where our mothers, grandmothers, sisters, aunts and children will not be subjected to this degree of public disrespect. This can be most effectively achieved when we take away the economic incentive that says it's all right to utter such racist and sexist remarks. We must stand strong and stop buying the records whose hurtful lyrics degrade black women."

In her remarks, McKinzie recalled that the late C. Delores Tucker, a member of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, waged a valiant – but lonely — campaign — to expose the damage that these lyrics inflicted on black women's psyches.

"She was vilified for her courageous stance," recalled McKinzie. "However, it was the right position because as its core was a resolve to derail the economic engine that creates this climate."

McKinzie said that, ultimately, the policy at the stations should change because the behavior cannot be changed.

"We can fire a Don Imus or Bernard McGuirk but unless there is a change in policy, another tandem will surface who will be equally offensive."

McKinzie said this episode can result in a positive outcome if NBC, CBS and their owners craft a policy that will prevent any future shock jocks from coming on the air and assaulting the airwaves with their sexist and racist vitriol. She said such a "sincere" outreach can open up a national dialogue that can address the gulf that divides our nation."

McKinzie said that Alpha Kappa Alpha and its talented core of members would serve as resources for such a landmark effort.

Until such a movement is launched, McKinzie urged members to divest themselves of stock in CBS, which is owned by Westinghouse Electric Company and is part of the Nuclear Utilities Business Group of British Nuclear Funds; and to sell all stock in MSNBC, which is co-owned by NBC (a subsidiary of General Electric) and Microsoft.

Founded in 1908, Alpha Kappa Alpha is the oldest and largest sorority of its kind with 200,000 members in over 900 chapters worldwide. Because of its stature and nearly 100-year-record of service, AKA is hailed as "America's premiere Greek-lettered organization for Black women." Its membership includes high-profile women from all walks of life and from all disciplines including astronaut and physician Dr. Mae Jemison, poet Maya Angelou, actress Phylicia Rashad, entertainer Gladys Knight, entrepreneur Suzanne de Passe, U.K. Member of Parliament Diane Abbott, performing artist Alicia Keys and a host of local, regional and national political leaders.

Barbara A. McKinzie is International President of Alpha Kappa Alpha and will serve through 2010. Because her term coincides with the Sorority's Centennial in 2008, she is hailed as the Centennial National President and her term is characterized as the Centennial Administration. The theme of McKinzie's administration is ESP, Economics, Service and Partnerships.

The Sorority will celebrate its 100-year anniversary in 2008 with a birthday celebration at its birth home at Howard University in January; and with its Centennial Conference in July. Over 20,000 members are expected to converge upon Washington, D.C. to commemorate this milestone.

* * * *

Sorority Calls for Don Imus' Immediate Dismissal




Washington, D.C.

Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc., a public service organization of more than 200,000 college-educated women, is calling for the immediate firing of Don Imus! We are outraged with the decision of MSNBC and CBS to simply suspend airing his radio show for two weeks following his racist depictions of African-American women.

Delta's National President Dr. Louise A. Rice said that the suspension is a mere slap on the wrist that only trivializes the harm done through his hateful, demeaning attack when on a recent radio show, Imus called members of the mostly black Rutgers University Women's Basketball team, "nappy-headed ho's." Dr. Rice also stated that his abominable remarks degrades young African-American women college students, athletes, and all women who are working hard to make a positive contribution to American society.

"We believe that it is time for media corporations to draw the line as to what is unacceptable in a nation that calls on its young to go to fight in Iraq, pay taxes, vote and perform acts of responsible citizenship but at the same time, they are unprotected from predatory, divisive and inhumane degradation of their character on public airwaves," said Dr. Rice.

"It is incredible that anyone would use the public airways to display such utter disregard for the dignity of human beings such as the Rutgers student athletes whose commitment to scholarship and athletics is bringing honor to the university and our nation," she continued.

Since its founding in 1913 when the members marched in Washington, D.C. for suffrage, Delta Sigma Theta has been in the forefront fighting for the dignity and just treatment of all humankind, particularly women. Delta considers the talk show host's despicable remarks an intentional attempt to single out one group of Americans for public humiliation and ridicule.

Imus' apology does not go far enough to heal the wounds caused by this misrepresentation and name-calling aimed at young African-American women. If Imus does not face serious consequences, other like-minded individuals will continue this course of singling out African-American women for public ridicule. Therefore the 200,000+ members of Delta Sigma Theta, operating out of 900 chapters located in the United States, Japan, Germany, Bermuda, the Bahamas, Korea, Jamaica, and St. Thomas and St Croix in the U.S. Virgin Islands are calling for the stations that air Imus' show and MSNBC that simulcasts it, to disassociate themselves from him and his polluting the airwaves with racial hatred. Fire Imus and send a strong message that hate speech will not be excused, tolerated, or protected. Don Imus must go!

Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Incorporated