kommunique november 09

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On the CoverTale of Two TomsBrother Thomas Motley is awarded the Jefferson awardfor community service.

WhitewashThe new color of ethical inpropriety is black.

Made in AmericaThe recent hazing death of a Phi Beta Sigma aspirant servesas a catalyst across the Pan-Hellenic community to revisit anti-hazing policies, there enforcement and there effectiveness.

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This publication is by Pittsburgh Kappas, of PittsburghKappas, and for Pittsburgh Kappas. To maintain the qual-ity of this publication, your input is required. To submitcontent to the Kommunique, email to:

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A New Settlement for the Colonials?Efforts to establish a chapter at Robert Morris University start with a lot of interest.

Pinning One DownAll submissions are in for the East Central Province Lifetime Membership Pin. Which one doyou like?

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Departments

Polemarchs Message | 4

The Kommunique is published monthly by the Pittsburgh Alumni Chapter of Kappa Alpha PsiFraternity, Incorporated, P.O. Box 99395, Pittsburgh, PA 15233. This magazine may not be re-produced in whole or in part without written permission of the Pittsburgh Alumni Chapter. ThePittsburgh Alumni Chapter is a non-profit organization. All donations are tax deductible.

Editor-in-Chief1stLt. Benjamin McClellan, US Army

Our MissionThe mission of The Kommunique is to inform the membership of the activities and positivepresence and impact of the Pittsburgh Alumni Chapter and Kappa Alpha Psi in our local com-munity, particularly in the areas of scholarships, mentoring, and social and professional net-working, all the while generating interest in continuing, re-establishing, and seeking activemembership in the Pittsburgh Alumni Chapter.

Write to the Kommunique [email protected]


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PolemarchMalcolm Blount

[email protected]

Vice PolemarchMichael Dear

[email protected]

First Vice PolemarchMichael Fussel

[email protected]

Keeper of Records

Prentess [email protected]

Asst. Keeper of Records1stLt. Ben McClellan, US Army

[email protected]

Keeper of ExchequerStanford [email protected]

Asst. Keeper of ExchequerTravelle Johnson

[email protected]

StrategusAndrew Turner

Lt. StrategusAlfred Carl

HistorianGeorge [email protected]

ReporterVacant

2009-2010Pittsburgh Alumni Chapter

Officers

www.pittsburghkappa.com

Membership Intake ChairmanMike McLendon

[email protected]

Assistant MembershipIntake RepFrankie B Hicks

[email protected]

Board of DirectorJeff Jackson

[email protected]

Board of DirectorMike Phillips

[email protected]

Board of DirectorGeorge Lewis

[email protected]

PanHellenic RepWill Motley

[email protected]

Asst PanHellenic RepTravelle Johnson

[email protected]


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Greetings to allBrothers of the PittsburghAlumni Chapter. The newfraternal year marks a time

of financial renewal forPittsburgh Alumni. We con-tinue to ask you to becomea financial supporter. Ourannual dues are $205 for thefiscal year. The paymentscan be made in installments.If you are a Life member,there is no other financialcommitment required. If you

are an Annual Dues Payingmember, your added com-mitment is $150 to GrandChapter to be fully financial.

The months of Novemberand December bring on thetraditional holidays. TheThanksgiving holiday bringsfamilies together around atremendous meal. Some ofus are very fortunate to be

able to celebrate with familyand stuff ourselves onturkey and dressing and allthe extras. Some will beless fortunate and will nothave the same opportunity.In a small way PAC has sortto bridge the gap for someby making financial contri-

butions in 2008 to EbenezerBaptist Church and NewDawn Ministries, supportingthe church and the groupsThanksgiving Day mealgive-a-way efforts for theless fortunate. We also sup-ported the Hill House Asso-ciation by providing fullturkey day baskets to 10needy families. We col-

lected cash donations at theSeptember and Octobermeetings. We will solicityour help at the Novembermeeting. There is no spe-cific amount required, givewhat you can. Hopefully wewill continue the traditionfor 2009.

The PAC will not havea chapter meeting in Decem-ber, but you will be asked togather on the 19th for a holi-day affair at the Alcoma GolfCourse facility located at6700 Saltsburg Road inPenn Hills. Brothers havevoluntarily contributedmonies ($5, $10, $20, etc) atthe September and Octobermeetings for the affair and

to relieve the stress on ourexchequer. We will ask foryour help at the Novemberchapter meeting also. Wewant all Brothers (and theirinvited guest) to come andenjoy the festivities on De-cember 19th, without regardto financial status. Do whatyou can!

The PAC officers willmeet every month as usualeven though the chaptermay not meet. The variouscommittees should continuetheir meeting efforts orbegin the process. We needyour involvement at chaptermeetings, in the committeeprocess and at any fraternal

functions. It is your respon-sibility, individually and col-lectively to move thischapter forward. Thank youto the brothers that makethe effort, it is very muchappreciated.

The next chaptermeeting will be held on Fri-day November 20thth at theCentre Avenue YMCA, at thecorner of Francis Street &Centre Avenue. Our repastwill start around 6:15 pm.Continue to check our website at www.pitts-burghkappa.com for infor-mation updates and get onthe [email protected] list serve. As

usual, gentlemen - Be safe,careful and prayerful in yourdaily life!

YITB,Malcolm A. BlountPolemarch

PolemarchsMessage


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Whitewash

There appears to be a concertedattack on the political establish-ment of the progressive commu-nity from at least 3 sectors. First,the attack has been focused over

the last several months on organ-izations that register minorities tovote (ex, ACORN). Acorn hadflaws but in relation to the rob-bery of Wall street and corruptionwithin the Bush administrationwas baby food in comparison andto date no one has gone to jail forthe theft of Wall street. Second,the attack on the CBC at pre-cisely the moment it is at it

strongest due to seniority andchairmanships on Capitol Hill iseerily reminiscent of when largenumbers of Black lawmakersgained political power during re-construction and "suddenly" therewas a problem with corruptionand ignorance. As VernonMitchell from Cornell remarkedin an earlier e-mail the housingand banking crisis bears a re-semblance to what happened toAfrican Americans during Recon-struction with the FreedmansBanks. A more recent examplewas the passage of progressivelegislation during the 60's andearly 70's. The conservative mov-ment is taking advantage of theeconomic crisis to attack all pro-gressive legislation and prevent

any meaningful reform to takeplace. Third, there is now a con-certed attack by Neo-conserva-tive elements to destroy ordisable lobbying organization inD.C. that support more progres-sive political stances. In myhumble opinion this is an organ-ized attempt to scare predomi-nantly "suburban" voters into

believing the nonsense about aso-called radical agenda andgenerate a backlash against Im-migrants, Blacks, Gays, Mus-lims and other progressivesupporters. The article below il-lustrate my point:

The House ethics committee is cur-rently investigating seven African-American lawmakers more than 15percent of the total in the House. Andan eighth black member, Rep. JesseJackson Jr. (D-Ill.), would be under in-vestigation if the Justice Departmenthadnt asked the committee to standdown.

Not a single white lawmaker is cur-rently the subject of

a full-scale ethicscommittee probe.

The ethics commit-tee declined to re-spond to questionsabout the racial dis-parity, and mem-bers of theCongressionalBlack Caucus arewary of talkingabout it on the

record. But pri-vately, some black members are out-raged and see in the numbers aworrisome trend in the actions ofethics watchdogs on and off CapitolHill.

Is there concern whether someone istrying to set up [Congressional BlackCaucus] members? Yeah, there is, ablack House Democrat said. It looksas if there is somebody out there whounderstands what the rules [are] and

sends names to the ethics committeewith the goal of going after the [CBC].

African-American politicians have longcomplained that theyre treated un-fairly when ethical issues arise. Mem-bers of the Congressional BlackCaucus are still fuming over SpeakerNancy Pelosis decision to oust then-Rep. William Jefferson (D-La.) fromthe House Ways and Means Commit-tee in 2006, and some have argued

that race plays a role in the ongoing ef-forts to remove Rep. Charles Rangel(D-N.Y.) from his chairmanship of thatcommittee.

Last weeks actions by the Houseethics committee are sure to add fuel tothe fire.

The committee which has oneAfrican-American lawmaker, Rep. G.K.Butterfield (D-N.C.), among its 10 mem-bers on Thursday considered threereferrals from the recently formed Of-fice of Congressional Ethics. It dis-missed a case against Rep. SamGraves (R-Mo.), who is white, butagreed to open full-blown investigationsof California Democratic Reps. MaxineWaters and Laura Richardson, both ofwhom are black.

The committee was al-ready investigating fiveother African-Ameri-cans. Rangel is thesubject of two differentprobes, one involving ahost of issues he hasput before the commit-tee and another involv-ing allegations thatcorporate funds mayhave been used im-properly to pay for

members trips to theCaribbean in 2007-08. Reps. CarolynKilpatrick (D-Mich.), Bennie Thompson(D-Miss.) and Donald Payne (D-N.J.)and Del. Donna Christensen (D-U.S.Virgin Islands) are also included in thesecond of those investigations.

A document leaked to The WashingtonPost last week showed that nearlythree dozen lawmakers have comeunder scrutiny this year by either theHouse ethics committee or the Office ofCongressional Ethics, an independentwatchdog created in 2008 at the insis-tence of Pelosi. While the list containeda substantial number of white lawmak-ers, the ethics committee has not yetlaunched formal investigative subcom-mittees with respect to any of them as it has with the seven African-Ameri-can members.

The OCE has also been a particulartarget of ire for the Congressional Black

Congressional Black Caucus


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Caucus. Black lawmakers, includingCBC Chairwoman Barbara Lee (D-Calif.), met with OCE officials earlierthis year to raise their concerns.Spokesmen for Lee and the OCEboth declined to comment.

A number of CBC members op-posed the resolution establishing

the OCE, arguing that it was thewrong response to the JackAbramoff lobbying scandal, whichhelped Democrats seize control ofthe House in 2006.

Setting up the OCE was a mistake,Rep. Emanuel Cleaver (D-Mo.) toldThe Hill newspaper recently. Con-gress has a long and rich history ofoverreacting to a crisis.

Cleaver, though, now finds himself

part of the four-member subcommit-tee that will investigate Waters, whovoted against the OCE. Waters isbeing probed over her interventionwith the Treasury Department onbehalf of a minority-owned bank inwhich her husband served on theboard and owned at least $250,000in stock.While she has flatly denied engag-ing in any unethical or improper be-havior in her dealings withOneUnited, Waters was described

by colleagues and Democratic aidesas livid over the ethics committeesdecision to investigate her.She was hopping mad, a Demo-cratic lawmaker said of Waters.She feels this is a complete miscar-riage of justice.

Another CBC member said blacklawmakers are easy targets forethics watchdog groups becausethey have less money both per-sonally and in their campaign ac-counts to defend themselvesthan do their white colleagues.Campaign funds can be used to paymembers legal bills.A lot of that has to do with outsidewatchdog groups like [Citizens forResponsibility and Ethics in Wash-ington ] that have to have a level ofsuccess to justify OCE, the CBCmember said. The good-governmentgroups were strong backers of theOCEs creation.

But these same groups wont go afterRep. Jane Harman (D-Calif.), this law-maker claimed, because she hasplenty of money to defend herself, andthe outside groups dont want to take arisk. The Democrat said the ethicscommittee would be going up againstHarmans lawyers and going up

against the powerful American IsraelPublic Affairs Committee if they pushthe OCE to pressure the ethics commit-tee to act.

Harman was allegedly recorded on a2005 federal wiretap discussing with anIsraeli operative her bid to become In-telligence Committee chairwoman. Har-man has denied any wrongdoing, butan attempt by theethics committeeto get a transcript

of the taped callwas rebuffed bythe Justice De-partment.

What especially galled black lawmak-ers was that the ethics committeevoted to move forward with the Watersand Richardson probes following theOCE referrals, while Graves whoOCE also thought should be investi-gated by the ethics committee sawhis case dismissed.

Even worse, the ethics committee is-sued a 541-page document explainingwhy it wouldnt look into allegations thatGraves invited a witness to testify be-fore the Small Business Committee on which he sits without revealinghis financial ties to that witness.

It is kind of crazy, said an aide to onesenior black Democrat. How can it bethat the ethics committee only investi-

gates African-Americans? It doesntmake sense.

White lawmakers have certainly beenthe subject of ethics committee investi-gations before. Former Majority LeaderTom DeLay (R-Texas) was admonishedby the committee for his dealings withcorporate lobbyists, while ex-Rep. MarkFoley (R-Fla.) was the target of an in-vestigation over his dealings withteenage male House pages in late2006. Foley resigned after the sex

scandal was revealed.

And the document leaked to the Post lastweek shows that a number of white law-makers including senior House Appro-priations Committee members JohnMurtha (D-Pa.), Pete Visclosky (D-Ind.),Alan Mollohan (D-W.Va.) and Jim Moran(D-Va.) have drawn the attention of

the committee and the OCE.

The two congressional ethics watchdogsare looking into these members ties tothe PMA Group, a now-defunct lobbyingfirm that won tens of millions of dollars inearmarks from members of the Appropri-ations Committee. The lawmakers whoarranged for the earmarks received hun-dreds of thousands of dollars in cam-

paign contributions from PMAslobbying clients.

But it seems unlikely that thePMA case will become the sub-

ject of a full-blown ethics com-mittee investigation. The JusticeDepartment is also looking into

the PMA allegations; the FBI raidedPMAs office last year, and Visclosky andhis former chief of staff have beenserved with document subpoenas. Andunder ethics committee rules, the panelcannot conduct an investigation of anymember or staffer already being probedby a law enforcement agency.

The nations only black senator, RolandBurris of Illinois, is currently under inves-tigation by the Senate Ethics Committee.Its not clear whether that committee iscurrently investigating any white mem-bers, although Sen. John Ensign (R-Nev.) is likely to be in its sights if theJustice Department doesnt pre-empt acommittee investigation.

Article reprinted from: Racial dis-

parity: All active ethics probesfocus on black lawmakers

By: John Bresnahan

November 3, 2009 04:54 AM EST

How can it be that theethics committee only in-

vestigatesAfrican-Americans?It doesnt make sense.

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A New Settlementfor the Colonials?

For some time, BetaEpsilon has been the primary (ifnot the only) road to Kappa

Alpha Psi for undergraduatemales. This has meant that foruniversities in the PittsburghMetropolitan area, all interestedstudents had to travel to Pitt.For most, the only challengewas finding a parking space, orcrossing the street in traffic, asmost of theschools are co-lo-cated. However,

for the aspirantsthat attend RobertMorris University,the task was a tadmore daunting. Robert Morris islocated in Moon Township, asuburb of Pittsburgh, about 15miles from the city center. Mostpeople are familiar with the areain terms of the Airport. The driveto Pittsburgh from Robert Mor-ris, in the midst of after worktraffic or any time the Steelers,Pens, or Pirates are at home, oran accident in the tunnel, cantake upwards of an hour. Forsome young men, transporta-tion, regardless of the traveltime maybe the issue.

Dr. Rex Crawley, theEast Central Province Senior

Vice Polemarch, and member ofPAC is the head of the Commu-nications Department and a pro-fessor at Robert Morris. Thereis so much potential to growKappa Alpha Psi right here, itsunfortunate there isnt a pres-ence right here says Rex aboutthe absence of Kappa on thecampus.

Others also noticed theabsence. Frankie Hicks, a grad-uate of Robert Morris and theAssistant Membership IntakeRepresentative for PAC set outto change things. Workingclosely with Michael Mc-Clendon, John Lovelace,

Alexander Carlisle, JesseMcLean (undergraduateadvisors for area schools) andDr. Crawley, Hicks formulated aplan.

On multiple occasions,Hicks visited his alma mater to

generate interest inKappa Alpha Psi. Dis-cussions with the ad-

ministration of theschool welcomed theidea. Plastering thecampus with fliers

and engaging students in con-versation, the questions and ex-citement grew. The momentumof curiosity carried severalyoung men to an informationalmeeting that Hicks as arranged.Several members of PAC were

also in attendance, presenting apositive image as informationabout the efforts were ex-plained.

Frankie Hicks, receivedgreat praise from many mem-bers of the PAC, and the real-ization of a chapter at RobertMorris is ever closer.

He is I.T.

PACs own 1stLt. Ben-jamin McClellan was recentlyoffered and accepted a provincecommittee chair.

On November 5th,Province Polemarch CharlesDawson asked McClellan toserve as the chair of the Infor-

mation and Technology committee.Im glad I can help in an

area that Im good at it said Mc-Clellan of the appointment, I sin-cerely hope I get the opportunity tomeet more brothers by working in

this capacity.Since Province

Council, I noticed thebrother who always had

a laptop, says Dawson of hischoice, Now Im gonna let him pu tit to good use! McClellan and histag-a-long laptop was available induring a period of technical diffi-culty during Dawsons presentationat Province Council in Cincinnati.McClellan again provided a laptop

during the MOIP at the recentCRWLC.This committee is tasked

with improving communication effi-ciency throughout the Province.Currently, the most visible respon-sibility of the committee is the man-agement of the newly revisedProvince website. In the future,teleconferencing and internet-working are priorities that Dawson

and McClellan share as the wayahead.

How Sweet It Is.

Congratulations are in order to WillMotley and the Mt Arat Choir ontheir success in the "How SweetThe Sound" National Gospel com-petition. They represented Pitts-

burgh well and came home withthe first runner up title.Information and media is available

at www.howsweetthesound.com.

There is so much po-tential to grow KappaAlpha Psi right here,

its unfortunate thereisnt a presence righthere.

Im glad I can

help...

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Pinning One Down

At last years Province Coun-cil, then Senior Vice PolemarchCharles Dawson presented the ideafor the Province Lifetime Membershipprogram. In its conceptual stages,

the concern was more about its in-tent rather than its appearance. Fastforward several months, with the pro-gram approved, a solicitation for de-sign ideas was issued across theprovince, with the incentive being agratuitous life time membership. Whowould come up with the prize winningdesign?

The deadline has come andgone for submissions and the options

are before the province board andexecutive body. If the choice wasyours, which would you pick?


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Made in Americareprinted from theroot.com by:

Lawrence C. Ross Jr

Special Report: UndergroundPledging vs. Membership IntakeProcess

Pledging. For most black frater-nity and sorority members initi-ated before 1990, pledging iswhen they formed their first fra-ternal memories. The identicaluniforms, marching across cam-pus, reciting poems and history,fulfilling the whims of their bigbrothers and sistersthesepledging activities were all de-

signed to create an experiencethrough which the pledge wouldbe bonded to their new organi-zation for life. These organiza-tions are an important, oftenintegral, part of college life forthousands upon thousands ofAfrican-American college stu-dents at HBCUs and more main-stream campuses. Theseorganizations do important com-

munity servicescholarshipfunds, operating food pantries,self-esteem and teen pregnancyprogramsaround the country,and sometimes, around theworld.

The dark side of pledging,thoughthe way into these or-ganizationsthe physical and

mental hazing that has maimedscores of college students fordecades, in certain circles, con-tinues still, even though it is out-lawed in some states and iscause for suspension of mem-bership in each of the ninelargest black organizations.Over the last few decades, blackGreek national organizations

have shortened the pledge periodfrom a year to a semester, and bythe mid 80s, it was down to six toeight weeks. In theory, a shorterpledge period meant reduced riskfor the pledge and reduced liabilityfor the organization. It didnt work.

In 1989, Joel Harris was a More-house College sophomore whowas determined to pledge the old-est African-American fraternity,Alpha Phi Alpha. The 18-year-oldwas attracted to the fraternity afterlearning about famous memberslike Martin Luther King Jr. andThurgood Marshall, and soon wasinitiated onto a pledge line with 19

other Morehouse students. Weekslater, he was dead.

The coroners report said thecause of Harris death was an ir-regular heartbeat. But he alsonoted that Harris had suffered nu-merous blows to the chest andface, a custom known as thunderand lightening. A pledge is firstpunched in the chest (the thun-

der), and then slapped in the faceso hard that the pledge seesblinding lights (the lightening).Hazing, for the record, is also out-lawed in the state of Georgia.

The reaction to the Harris case byblack Greek organizations was amixture of horror and panic. Haz-ing deaths had occurred before(Omega Psi Phi pledges had diedon the Tennessee State andHampton campuses in 1983 and1984), but the Harris death ap-peared to be the final straw.

Aside from the obvious and tragicloss of young, promising lives,pledging deaths are, of course,bad publicity for black Greek or-ganizations, and there have been

lawsuits. After being sued bythe Harris family, Alpha PhiAlpha and Morehouse Collegeeach eventually settled for$500,000.

After the death of Joel Harris,most of the Divine Nine black

fraternities and sororities im-mediately declared a morato-rium on pledging, and within ayear, had dissolved pledgingaltogether, and replaced it witha new, highly controlled mem-bership intake process (MIP).Initiation would take placeover the course of only twoweekends. But 20 years after

Harris death and the officialend to pledging, a new illegalform of pledging not only ex-ists, but thrives. Its called un-derground pledging, andwhile the national organiza-tions decry it as illegal andissue statements about tryingto eradicate it, its clear thatnone of the black Greek or-ganizations are close to a so-

lution.

Underground pledging reallyisnt underground, says Dr.Walter M. Kimbrough, presi-dent of Philander Smith Uni-versity and author of BlackGreek 101: The Culture, Cus-toms, and Challenges of BlackFraternities and Sororities(Fairleigh Dickenson Univer-sity Press, 2003). Dr. Kim-brough is also a member ofAlpha Phi Alpha. Everyoneknows its happening, somaybe we should more accu-rately call it low-key pledg-ing. Nothing has beensuccessful in [terms of] stop-ping it, so I think the nationalorganizations are trying to


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manage rather than eradicate it.Were simply treating the acutecases, but arent looking for acure.

Nicknamed the Divine NineAlpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc.,Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity, Inc.,

Omega Psi Phi Fraternity, Inc.,Phi Beta Sigma Fraternity, Inc.,Iota Phi Theta Fraternity, Inc.,Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority,Inc., Delta Sigma Theta Sorority,Inc., Zeta Phi Beta Sorority, Inc.and Sigma Gamma Rho Soror-ity, Inc.were founded between1906 and 1963, and have beenat the forefront of the most colle-

giate and post-collegiateAfrican-American life for thepast 100 years. Nikki Giovanniis a Delta. Michelle Obama ac-cepted an honorary membershipfrom AKA. Zora Neale Hurstonwas a Zeta. Tavis Smiley is amember of Kappa Alpha Psi, asis Congressman John ConyersJr. The list of acclaimed, tal-ented and successful members

of the Divine Nine reads like aWhos Who of African-Americanhistory.

Tradition and fraternalism aregreat unifiers among the organi-zations. Whether its at a stepshow before thousands, con-ducting a community serviceproject in the inner city or fellow-shipping over drinks, blackGreeks believe in creatingbonds that move beyond friend-ship, and instead are centeredaround deeper ideals and princi-ples like brotherhood and sister-hood. For many, the trials andtribulations around pledging aresymbolic of the trials of life. Andwithout an official pledge pro-gram, recent black Greeks con-

tinue to emulate that tradition bycreating their own illegalprocess.

You dont have to look far to findexamples of the undergroundpledging culture on the Internet.Pledge Park, a social network

for black Greeks, proclaims thatthose who pledged will be ableto handle their community, whilethose who skated wont. OnFacebook, a popular blackGreek group called PaperBurns, but Sands Last Foreverthrives. Paper refers to initiateswho dont pledge undergroundand instead are initiated via MIP

(hence signing a piece of paper),versus those who pledge andcross the burning sands.Those who pledge undergrounddont think theyre pervertingtheir organizations rules and by-laws, but instead, believe thattheyre upholding a tradition.

Anjan Basu, a 33-year-old Eng-lish graduate student at North

Carolina A&T, pledged Alpha PhiAlpha on an underground line foreight weeks in 1999. LastMarch, Basu wrote I Love Haz-ingCan We Bring It Back? acontroversial editorial for BlackCollege Wire that advocated fora return to pledging as an officialpolicy.

I feel that in the development ofyoung men, which is what theundergraduate fraternity is sup-posed to be aligned with, a de-gree of physicality is called for,Basu wrote. And regardless ofpolitical correctness, sometimesa young mans convictions canonly be tested through action,and consequently, physical vio-lence.


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