HAVING MY SAY!
By Skip Mason 

I rarely vent in my own newsletter. Nevertheless, I need to and ask your indulgence. A brother remarked to me,"Skip, you could be making a killing on the Jewels." I said, "Perhaps I could, but that is and never was my intent ."  Those brothers who know me well, know that I have a passion for history. I have labored in this fraternity since I joined it back in the Spring of 1982 through Iota Chapter at Morris Brown College. What a memorable time that was as my six other line brothers and I sought the light and crossed those sands on April 4, 1982.  Another Brother asked me what I am going to do in Dallas if I am attacked again publicly. I could not answer immediately. But then I said, I will do as I did in Augusta. Say a prayer and put it into God's hand. 
To have my character attacked as it was throughout the regions because I desired to research and write a book on our Jewels has been one of the most painful experiences of my life. To hear my name called out as if I was some criminal, unable to defend myself or honor. I felt the hands of brothers on my shoulder telling me to hang in there as the tears welled up in my eyes. We have your back. Then God said, weeping my endure for a night, but joy comes in the morning.   I said,  the real criminals are the ones who have subjected this fraternity to a law suits and thousands of dollars of legal fees. Do you know their names. NO! 

Yes, I had access to some of our historical records. I was the Archivist. But my research didn't come from one sources it came from hundreds. The Alpha Archives was just one of many. Did I offer the fraternity the book? Yes. I have  the letter I sent to the National Office  and the response that I received.  The fact is that I was not the choice to interpret the history. I do not have a Ph. D(which is probably an unspoken requirement) , but I have the compassion.   Was it my writing skills? Even the best writers have editors.  Heck, Terry McMillan and Toni Morrison have top of the line editors to rework their writing. It was not my desire to bring the history book to date. My subject dealt with an area that no one to my knowledge had written on.  Well, I may not have been the choice, but I certainly had the right! And with that right, I pressed on because God kept saying to me there is  a larger picture (that even you can't see right now. God opened doors for me to 
see this through. He placed on the hearts of a group of brothers a sense of support as they mailed their checks to get this process started. Well, today,  there is a book rolling on the presses in South Florida as we speak.  I am so grateful to God for the ability to do it. Today,  close to 400 hundred of you have already preordered copies. To God be the glory.   Four hundred and eighty pages I have labored over just to give you a glimpse of the world of our Jewels and General Presidents. This is as I have said has been the most grueling project that I have worked on. But I did if for the love of Alpha and nothing else. While there is so much more to be found on them(just think what I could have done if I had the money and support) I feel confident that after you read, you will know these men a lot better than you know them know. If anyone else had the idea to do the book, then they should have done it. Brothers, I have reached a point where I must speak my peace. What do I have to lose? 

One of the reason that God inspired me to start Skip's Historical Moments was to share with you the world and words of the Jewels and the 30 General President as I have researched it.  I had no plans to do it. I am telling you that the Lord sat me down on the April 15th and the first issue came out. And now we are up to issue No 32 and I have over 4,000 brothers(minimum) that I share that with. One day I sure would like to know how many brothers it actually reaches. We walk by faith, not by sight. Sounding like a preacher? 
Well, I am and I must practice what I preach!  I don't know how long I will continue to do these moments. A new historian may be named at the convention. Out of deference to that brother,  I may cease to them in the spirt of realizing that "I have done what the good lord told me to do." I do know the Lord will speak to me on it and tell me when to move on. 

Well, to be quite honest with you, if I had my way or if I were General President, I would require every brother of Alpha (old and new, pledged and aspirant) to attend a mandatory class called Jewel 101 for Jewel 
Certification. In that class which I would teach and later train other brothers to teach,  each brother would be required to dissect and analyze the true foundation of the fraternity from the perspectives of the founder. I am 
not talking about memorizing what was served at a banquet or who made this motion or cramming six weeks worth of material into two weekends, but clearly understanding the basis for why this fraternity was founded. Each session would focus on a Jewel, his life, family life, background, writings, influences. Getting to the heart and soul of these seven men. For isn't that what Christians do in church, in  bible study and Sunday School? Study the life and background of Jesus Christ, his words, words inspired by him. What about the Nation of Islam. Don't they know the life of its founder and sucessor Elijah Muhammad? Shouldn't we as Alpha's do the same thing? In Search of Sisterhood, gives a wonderful account of the lives of the Delta founders. You feel like you know Miss Vashti or Myra Hemmings. How on earth would I have known that some of the founders were married to Alpha's if she had not given their husband names.  Knowing the names, I knew immediately 
that they were Alphas.   Connecting to our Jewels is not an option, it  is mandatory before we lose sight of our purpose. I am certain that is why the brothers in Atlanta fell in love with Jewel Ogle's granddaughter during her 
visit to Atlanta as I fell in love with the daughter of Jewel Ogle when I visited her. Do you know that Jewel Callis's daughter Jane Callis Evans, a pioneer African-American graphic designer,  a member of Delta Sigma Theta died last December 1998 in Washington, DC. She was 83 years old.  I wonder how many brothers in DC knew that or made the connection.  A dear brother faxed me her funeral program. Before  we had our convention  in DC in 1987, I  had suggested we invite these descendants to what I had proposed for a 
dedication of the archives. Well, it didn't happen and I will just leave it at that.  Imagine, we would have had the daughters of Jewel Callis and Ogle in the midst, both of them living in Washington, DC, along with Jewel Jones granddaugter Betty whom I a spoke to on several occasions.  Brothers, the founders are real. Not just fraternal icons, or CCJKMOT, or names to memorize and recall on a test. 

Oh, I become dismayed often, but remain optimistic when I notice and observe the numerous things that brothers and chapters are doing in the name of Alpha Phi Alpha. I say to myself, "If they only knew how the Jewels felt about this, perhaps we would not do these things." That 's why I look forward in anticipation for the release of this book to share with you their thoughts on certain issues from the history book, to conventions, to the elections of officers, to hazing and brutality, to our true purpose as Alpha men. 

Lately, several issues have  come to mind. Several brothers wrote me and asked me about the various number grips. One brother said."My question is that I want to know who started the individual grips for the numbers 1-7 and how come there are so many variations between different chapters? As a 3 I've come across about four different "3"  grips. Please enlighten me." 

My dear brother and others, my  response to those various grips that brothers give is that I think first of all,  it is ridiculous and sacrilegious to the pure foundation of this fraternity that we have the gaul to add to the sacred 
fraternal grip. To me its like tampering with the ritual. Something Jewel Callis complained about so often.  There are chapter grips,  number grips and I don't know what other kind of grips. There is but one sacred grip that should be given with intensed pride for it is the true connecting factor between the brothers and the founders. If you grip me, dont  give me anything other than the true grip. Yes, I was a number one.(Brothers today call them ace). That's fine and dandy, but I don't care for an ace grip.  Who are we to distort and create these  grips in the name of dear Alpha Phi Alpha?  Back to the foundation brothers, back to the Jewels! 

Secondly, many chapters have monikers(names) which denote some type of image or reputation. Sinister, Notorious, Outrageous,  Gangster, Bloody (I guess I hear from the Beta, Beta Omicron brothers and any other chapter with that name). Keep it yourselves brothers.  Before you rush to write me, let me remind you that our Jewels would not be pleased with these titles (though popular they are in this current tradition) Jewels Callis, Chapman, Jones, Kelley, Murray, Ogle and Tandy would not be proud of these names. I know why 
you have it and what goes into it. But we know live in a world which rejects gang like mentality, in a world which calls White thugs "cliques" and black thugs "gangs, " we need to find appropriate intelligent monikers for our chapter that represent who we are, the best and the brightest minds of college trained men, the sons of the magnificent seven. We are the Jewel Murray's "Black Geniuses." 

Don't like what I am saying. I'm sorry. You can  move that mouse to close, click and delete "if you can't stand to hear the truth spoken, sometimes twisted by naives to make traps for fools." I mean no disrespect, but I guess like so many other brothers I  have reach my point. I've cried a tear(s) over Alpha. But, yet in still  I know that God has anointed me to be a mouthpiece for these beloved founders at this time. Am I a fanatic over the Jewels? You better believe your seven pearls  that I am, but in an intelligent way.  We all should be. I have read their speeches.  We ought be able to quote from Callis, Kelley and Ogle with proficiency. Why isn't there a Jewel's rap? The thoughts set to music, personified. I'd call it the Miseducation of an Alpha man. I'd flow with rhyme and verse with words from these men.  We can't quote from them because there has not been anything to quote from.  To tell others what they thought about the ways of the fraternity. 

You my brothers have sustained me over the last several months with your emails of support and encouragement. I wish I could thank each one of you personally. I have tried. How appreciative I am of the kind words you have shared. A brother wrote to me and said, "Skip, you really don't know how many 
brothers receive your email." I guess I don't. It is still surreal to me that all over the country and the world, I get the opportunity to share a few words with my brothers.  There is one brother Steve Little from North 
Carolina, who sends me a weekly letter he calls "a  Skip pick me up." This brother is a newly wed, new job but still finds time to drop me a line.  After I read it I say, Lord I am so blessed to have these brothers." There 
are others who do the same.  I am reminded of the times when DuBois was going through his crisis as Editor of the Crisis. The verbal attacks, the criticisms, yet he maintained. I recall how despondent our Brother M.L. King had become during the late 1960's with the Vietnam war and his shift in focus to African-American economic survival. Who was there to support them in their darkest hours? He loved Alpha. King recalled being in the Montgomery Courthouse during the Bus Boycott movement and looking out and seeing General 
President Frank Stanley and General Secretary James Huger. Andy Young, who wrote the forward for my book and a true supporter of my efforts says that King and Belford Lawson were the inspiration in his life. Young's daddy was an Alpha.  On the back of King's  funeral program of which I have several copies that I treasure is the poem "There Goes An Alpha Man."  Our motto calls for us to support the aims of our brothers. We ought to encouragement and expect encouragement and support from our brothers. This is what has 
baffled me about what I am trying to do, share knowledge. 

Oh my brothers, this  journey to uncover the lives of the Jewels has become a part of my ministry. The more I try to let it go(and trust me I have tried to convince myself that I am putting too much into thing called Alpha, I have tried to drop the project, to say to hell with this, I don't need this hassle), the more I recognized that God is all over this process. I don't have the time or space to explain. My faith just says "move mountain move!" 

This is a phenomenal brotherhood that is on the brink of its centennial celebration in less than seven years. I used to have a dream years ago that I wanted to be General President of Alpha when we celebrate our Centennial.  After all it would be a historical celebration and I was the man.(remember this is a dream). The 100th birthday of Alpha  would be a glorious year of celebration. Nothing but looking back, to be reenergized to forge ahead.(Alright if a future candidate uses that, you know where it came from).  From the fall of 2005 to December 4, 2006, we would take the Jewels Historic tour across the states(visit grave sites, birthhomes where they lived); there would be a major exhibition on the fraternity at the Smithsonian or the Schomburg, each chapter would focus on one major project that uplifts young African-American men and support it to the max.  Reclamation would be a breeze. I'd tell every Alpha alive that if you are never financial again, in your love and reverence to these beloved seven men whom we call Jewels, in remembrance of the vow you made when you became an Alpha,  please pay your dues. I know  the checks would roll in, membership would be the highest it had ever been. Why? Because there is not an Alpha man worth his weight that would not want to be active to wish Alpha its 100th birthday. We would do the Jewels Centennial tour to each state over the year with a birthday celebration.   At that special convention in 2006,  we will gather in Buffalo, New York,  travel to Ithaca(maybe on a train just like they did in 1956(for I cannot think of anyplace else but to go back to our birthplace) and walk on that holy ground.  We might share a moment with Sigma Alpha Epsilon(where Callis worked or Beta Theta Pi,(where Kelley worked) and acknowledge their support of  our Jewels in the early years. By that time we arrive, that long lost film of the Jewels(filmed in 1956) would have been found and we would sit in an auditorium and watch Callis, Kelley and Murray speak at the 50th Anniversary or hear Brother Martin Luther King give us his banquet speech "God, Give Us Men."(reprinted in the Talented Tenth) . Yes, Tears would flow down our eyes. I know you have chills thinking about it because you have made that spiritual connection with the fraternity.  God only knows where that film is, but its somewhere in some brother's house. Afterwards, we would  erect a memorial where the Singleton's house was, walk down East State Street and North Albany  Street. Visit the AMEZion Church where the brothers held their social (maybehave someone recite Paul Lawrence Dunbar or DuBois, like Kelley used to do) , go to the Odd Fellows Hall where Jewel Murray played the organ during the first initiation(I bet you did not know that).  Brothers would be inspired, tears streaming down your eyes, charged up because they would have connected to the very foundation of the fraternity. Accompanying us on the tour would be the grandchildren of Jewel 
Ogle (Melanie and Julian), the granddaughters and great grandchildren of Jewel Callis, the great grandchildren of Jewel Murray, the grandson of Jewel Tandy (Robert Tandy). Perhaps by that time, we would have discovered the descendants of the daughters of Jewel Chapman(perhaps somewhere in Chicago).  Lemuel Graves granddaughters would be there, George Lyle(founder of Beta and husband of AKA founder Ethel Hedgman Lyle) greatgrandson Kevin(an Alpha) would be there. These living descendants of our pioneers there with us at our Centennial. It wouldn't be enough film to capture these moments. These were the dreams that I had. Well, what happens to a dream deferred is the question playwrite Lorraine Hansberry asked. 

But in reality, it is just that a dream. I don't know what the future holds. Right now, I'm just a "renagade"  author removed from the inner circle. No longer  the archivist, will probably never be the Historian and  not on the Historical Commission. But guess what? It's all good! Glory Halleluia, it is all good for in a few weeks, many of you brothers will receive the mail a package,  a book titled the "The Talented Tenth: The Founders and Presidents of Alpha." As each book is mailed, I will pray over it as I have prayed over the six or seven drafts of the manuscript that some  good will come out of this. In spite of the decline of fraternities in the public eye, the debate over intake, the law suits and everything else, Lord, some good will come out of this. Once again, I leave you with the words of our beloved seven. I know these men, like I know my daddy. They speak to me (I guess you are saying Skip has lost his mind.) On the contrary, I have found peace of mind.  In the  words of the songwriter, "This joy I have, the world didn't give it, the world can't take it away." Skip 

In case you have forgotten why you are an Alpha, let the Jewels remind you 

JEWEL CALLIS 
"Our purpose is to raise the intellectual and cultural level, yes-and the moral level also; to aid in the development of special skills: to build men of vision, courage, self sacrifice, who are willing to develop a wise, consistent leadership toward the integration of a truly democratic society." 1946 
 

JEWEL CHAPMAN
"I mean by this regardless of the many, many purposes each of us may devise as the activating principle in our life and the many goals toward which we may be striving, I can see, nevertheless, that we do have one supreme purpose for our existence as a fraternity, and that is the recognition, as well as the development and thereby the making of better men." 1931 

JEWEL JONES 
" A membership upwards of eight thousand men, should be able to take into their hands the leadership in the Negro's struggle for status." 1936 

JEWEL KELLEY
"Our main purpose in 1906 was to found a fraternity composed of groups of undergraduates so chosen in the various colleges and universities that they would represent the best of the Negro youth of that institution,  banded together to help each other in the various essentials necessary for success in college; successful scholarship, healthful recreation and clean living." 

JEWEL MURRAY 
"Brothers, Alpha Phi Alpha needs a real awakening from its lethargy! It is asleep and things are transpiring in many of the local chapters that would humiliate and shame your Founders..something must be done if we are to hold our place in the sun as the first fraternity among Negro men." 

JEWEL OGLE 
"Founded on a platform of service, loyalty and reverence to God and our fellow brothers, we have learned that the greatness of any group of men lies not in the fine buildings they erect, or the numerous air castles planned but never erected, but rather in service to God and your fellow brothers, whether it can be in the fraternity house, on the street, on the school campus, at a public gathring, or in your own home." 1936 

JEWEL TANDY 
"It is of vital importance that we seriously consider the contribution that every brother may make for the good of our fraternity.  Never were the demands for constructive effort and intelligent devotion as great as today.  Never before was it as incumbent upon every member to restate loyalty and exemplify fraternal obligation by consistent life and unimpeachable character. '" 1939 

"As the years pass on, the founders note more and more that the fraternity is the victim of politics which becoming a dangerous menace without our realization. The ambition of the brothers for office, the maneuvering for place and the jockeying for position is becoming alarming and will soon make us lose sight of the idea of service for all which is one of our tenets. May I point this danger in a fatherly way and ask for a better understanding among the brothers and a deeper realization that the office seeks the man rather than the man the office." 
Jewel George Biddle Kelley,  December 1935 

 Jewel Callis who was so prophetic, he said: