2011 World Policy Council Report

ALPHA PHI ALPHA FRATERNITY, INC.

2011 WORLD POLICY COUNCIL REPORT p.1 2011 World Policy Council

Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc. develops leaders, promotes brotherhood and academic excellence, while providing service and advocacy for our communities.

- The Mission of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity

The mission of the Alpha Phi Alpha World Policy Council (WPC) is to address issues of concern to our brotherhood, our communities, our nation and the world. The council has been charged with applying sustained and profound intellectual energy to understanding an alternative means of bringing about the resolution of problems at the community, national and international levels; expanding fraternal and public knowledge of such problems and engaging public discussion about them.

The council, in fulfilling its mission, is non-partisan, gives consideration to domestic and international issues, seeks the counsel of experts in relevant fields, provides perspectives on specific problems and, where practicable, recommends possible solutions that may have a favorable impact on African Americans, the community, the nation and the world.

PRESIDENT’S GREETINGS It’s with great pleasure that we present the latest edition of the World Policy Council Report. Established during the administration of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity 29th General President Milton Carver Davis, the WPC continues to provide sound intellectual discourse on the issues affecting people of color all around the world, from the world’s premiere fraternity of men.

The level of insight, thought, and research that has gone into preparing these papers is second-to-none. The recommendations within this document are brought forward for use in the ongoing and future development of public policy by members of the U.S. Congress, the White House staff, diplomats and other stakeholders who share in the fraternity’s commitment to creating global dialogue on the great issues of our time.

Additionally, Alpha Phi Alpha is committed to expanding the fraternity’s global reach. Realizing that Americans must go beyond borders in their thought, perspective and outreach, Alpha aims to lead by example. Since 2009, Alpha has led delegations of its members to Haiti, South Africa and England. Executive officers of the fraternity have conducted meetings in South Korea and Germany. In Washington, brothers have met with top diplomats from South Africa, the United Kingdom and others.

Also in Haiti, after talks with the minister of communications and education, Alpha is helping renovate a school building, the Alpha Academy that was damaged during the 2010 earthquake.

The fraternity offers its highest thanks and commendations to members of the World Policy Council (WPC) and its chairman, Ambassador Horace Dawson, for all of their hard work, and for their commitment to ensure that Alpha Phi Alpha continues to play a role on the world stage. The founders of Alpha would expect nothing less.

Herman “Skip” Mason, Jr. General President

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CONTENTS MEMBERS SUMMARY 2007 DELIBERATIONS HAITI: RELIEF, RECOVERY AND DEVELOPMENT IMMIGRATION ISSUES TAKE BACK OUR COUNTRY PREFATORY COMMENT THE BUSH ADMINISTRATION AND AFRICAN HEALTH AFRICOM: AN UNNECESSARY AND DANGEROUS IDEA PLIGHT OF THE AFRICAN-AMERICAN MALE: WHAT CAN BE DONE?

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MEMBERS EDWARD WILLIAM BROOKE, III, Chairman Emeritus, Beta ’37 Member, United States Senate, 1967-1979; Attorney General, Commonwealth of Massachusetts, 1963-1967.

HORACE G. DAWSON, JR., Chairman, Nu ’46 Former Director, Ralph J. Bunche International Affairs Center and Patricia Roberts Harris Public Affairs Program, Howard University; former U.S. Ambassador to Botswana.

HENRY PONDER, Former Vice Chairman, Beta Kappa ’48 President and Chief Executive Officer, National Association for Equal Opportunity in Higher Education; former President, Fisk University, Benedict College, and Talladega College; former General President, Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc.

VINTON R. ANDERSON, Xi ’50 92nd Bishop, African Methodist Episcopal Church (retired); former President, World Council of Churches.

BOBBY W. AUSTIN, Tau Lambda ’68 Vice President, University Relations and Communications, University of the District of Columbia; President, Austin Institute; former President and Chief Executive Officer, Village Foundation.

RONALD V. DELLUMS, Delta Omicron ’57 Mayor of Oakland, CA; President and CEO of HealthCare International; former member, U.S. House of Representatives (D California).

KENTON W. KEITH Senior Vice President, Meridian International Center; former U.S. Ambassador to the State of Qatar.

HUEL D. PERKINS, Beta Sigma ’41 Professor Emeritus, Humanities, Louisiana State University; former Deputy Director, National Endowment for Humanities.

CHARLES RANGEL, Alpha Gamma Lambda ’64 Member, United States House of Representatives((D - NY); Dean, New York State Congressional Delegation; founding member, Congressional Black Caucus.

CORNEL WEST, Zeta Beta Lambda ’96 Cornel West is a University Professor at Princeton. He has taught at Union Theological Seminary, Yale, Harvard and the University of Paris.

HARTFORD T. JENNINGS, Rapporteur Foreign Service Officer (retired).

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SUMMARY This report, a summary of World Policy Council (WPC) deliberations, deals with six separate issues deemed to be of national and/or international import. The council has considered the first three of these issues during the past year; it considered the other three issues in 2009 but did not publish its findings. Considering that these essays continue to be of value, the council is including them, and a previously prepared prefatory note, in this volume.

HAITI: RELIEF, RECOVERY AND DEVELOPMENT A year after the devastating earthquake of January 12, 2010, Haiti continues to suffer from the effects of the catastrophe. Many of those displaced by the disaster continue to live in tent cities. Collapsed buildings await clean-up. The elections held late in 2010 gave rise to much acrimony, which may or may not be resolved. The council has examined the situation and makes several recommendations it believes will help Haiti to rebuild to better than before the earthquake.

IMMIGRATION ISSUES There is widespread agreement that the U.S. immigration system should be reformed but little agreement on how that task should be accomplished. Since September 11, 2001, much of the immigration debate has focused on the issue of illegal immigrants.

This essay reviews the issues in the immigration debate and makes recommendations concerning how to move it forward.

TAKE BACK OUR COUNTRY The council endorses and commends to its audience an essay by Former General President Henry Ponder examining the cries that have been heard recently to “Take Back Our Country.�

FROM THE DELIBERATIONS OF 2009 THE BUSH ADMINISTRATION AND AFRICAN HEALTH Although the country is halfway beyond the Obama Administration’s term, the policies that the Bush Administration established in its waning days continue to affect and influence Africa and U.S. relations. The issues raised in this essay therefore continue to be germane.

AFRICOM: AN UNNECESSARY AND DANGEROUS IDEA Although Barack Obama has replaced George Bush in the White House, AFRICOM continues to direct U.S. military relations with the countries of Africa from its headquarters in Stuttgart, Germany. This essay concludes that the command is good neither for Africa nor for U.S. relations with the region.

PLIGHT OF THE AFRICAN-AMERICAN MALE: WHAT CAN BE DONE? For a number of years now, observers have studied, re-studied and lamented the plight of the African-American male. This essay suggests that it is more important to adopt measures to improve this situation. It includes a series of recommendations that will help to achieve that goal.

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HAITI: RELIEF, RECOVERY AND DEVELOPMENT

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY As the site of the first successful revolt of African slaves and the world’s first black republic, Haiti has been a long-standing source of inspiration for Africans around the world. Unfortunately, Haiti has experienced difficulty in governing itself and developing its economy. The troubled U.S.–Haiti relationship includes a U.S. military occupation of the country from 1915 to 1934. The U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) and U.S. non-governmental organizations (NGOs) have provided much of the aid coming from the international community in the wake of the devastating earthquake of January 12, 2010. Former U.S. President Bill Clinton is co-chairman of the Interim Haiti Recovery Commission (IHRC).

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The January earthquake killed more than 222,570 people, injured 300,572 people and displaced 2.3 million people—nearly one quarter of the population. Some 250,000 residences and 30,000 commercial buildings collapsed or were severely damaged. The extent of the country’s needs poses a significant challenge to the Haitian government’s ability to coordinate relief and recovery efforts. The earthquake damage dramatically increased preexisting needs in the areas of infrastructure, public health, education and governance. The Interim Haiti Relief Commission (IHRC), jointly headed by Haitian Prime Minister Jean-Max Bellerive and former U.S. President Clinton, has been established to coordinate assistance efforts and increase the Haitian government’s capacity to absorb aid.

In March 2010, governmental and international organization donors pledged $5.3 billion—more than the Haitian government estimated it needed—to the rebuilding effort.

However, only a small portion of that money has been made available to Haiti so far.

Haiti’s current situation has been described as “acute problems layered on chronic ones.” But, the response to the earthquake has the potential to leave Haiti better off than it was before the disaster if it is properly administered.

With this in mind, the WPC has made a series of recommendations to advance the process. Listed in detail at the end of this article, the recommendations focus on •

the need for governments to fulfill their relief pledges;

•

the need for effective coordination of relief efforts, with the IHRC as central;

•

the continuing importance of the role of U.S. government agencies and NGOs in the recovery process;

•

the value to be derived from drawing on the expertise of Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) to assist in the recovery, particularly in the areas of agriculture (1890 universities) and education and

•

the desirability of utilizing the skills of highly educated and well-trained Haitian expatriates in the recovery process.

BACKGROUND Haiti has played a significant role in the history of the Americas. It is thought that its first inhabitants were Paleo-Indians, who came from Central America about 5000 BC. When Christopher Columbus discovered the island he named Hispaniola in 1492, he found the Taino Arawak living there. Columbus claimed the island for the Spanish crown. Spain ceded the western third of the island to France in 1697.

After eradicating the indigenous people, the colonizers imported African slaves to work the sugar and coffee plantations of the French colony of Saint-Domingue. In 1804, Haiti became the second country in the New World (after the United States) to wrest its independence from the European colonizers and the world’s first black-ruled republic. The Haitian slaves’ success in throwing off the shackles of their masters has been a source of inspiration for Africans around the world.

Unfortunately, Haitians have not been as successful in ruling themselves or developing their country as they were in winning their independence. France, supported by other European powers and the United States, insisted that Haiti should pay reparations for the property French citizens lost when the country achieved independence.

Although Haiti has made sporadic efforts to pay down this debt, portions of it are still outstanding. Haiti has often suffered under despotic and/or inept leaders.

On independence in 1804, General Jean-Jacques Dessalines proclaimed himself emperor. After his assassination in 1806, civil war broke out between the blacks and the mulattoes. The blacks held the northern portion of the country while the mulattoes ruled the south. President Jean-Pierre Boyer reunited Haiti in 1820 and governed until 1843. In 1844, a band of Dominican nationalists wrested control of two thirds of Hispaniola from the Haitian government and established an independent Dominican Republic.

Between 1843 and 1915, coups and assassinations were commonplace in Haiti. Only three of the country’s presidents, General Nicholas Geffrard (1859–67), Louis Lysius Félicité Salomon (1879–88) and Florvil Hyppolite (1889–96), served relatively peaceful and effective terms.

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U.S.–HAITI RELATIONS The relationship between the United States government and the Haitian government has historically been troubled. The South, particularly, considered that the Haitian example of slaves revolting against their masters was subversive to the maintenance of proper relations between blacks and whites. The U.S. government did not recognize Haiti until 1862, when it took the step in an effort to secure the Caribbean during the Civil War. During the remaining years of the 19th century, the U.S. Navy intervened periodically in Haitian affairs. In 1915, U.S. Marines landed in Haiti, ostensibly to forestall German efforts to control the country. The U.S. occupied the country until 1934 and controlled Haitian finances until 1947.

Francois “Papa Doc” Duvalier ruled Haiti from 1957 until his death in 1971. His son Jean-Claude “Baby Doc” Duvalier was president until 1986. The Duvaliers ruled repressively but enjoyed U.S. support because they were anti-communist.

In 1990, Haitians elected Jean-Bertrand Aristide president with 67 percent of the vote.

A military coup forced him from office the following year. Large numbers of Haitians fled the country, attempting to reach the United States in small boats. Many drowned.

The U.S. Coast Guard rescued more than 40,000 Haitians at sea during 1991 and 1992.

The United Nations refused to recognize Haiti’s new rulers and imposed economic sanctions. In 1994, a U.S.-led United Nations force entered Haiti peacefully and restored President Aristide to power.

Haiti’s constitution prohibits presidents from succeeding themselves. In 1995, Aristide’s Prime Minister, René Préval, was elected president. In 2000, Aristide was elected to a second term as president in an election that an Organization of American States observer mission declined to certify as free and fair. In 2004, U.S. forces flew President Aristide and his wife to exile in the Central African Republic, an action that Randall Robinson has characterized as “kidnapping.” At the time of the earthquake, President Préval was serving a second term.

Following President Aristide’s departure, a U.S.-led Multilateral Interim Force was dispatched to Haiti to secure the ports and assure the delivery of humanitarian relief supplies. The U.N. Stability Mission in Haiti (MINUSTAH) took over these functions

from the interim force. Since 2004, MINUSTAH and civilian elements of the U.S. government, primarily USAID, have been working to foster order and stability and assist development in Haiti.

Some U.S. military elements remained in the country. In the aftermath of the January 12, 2010 earthquake, only the U.S. military was determined to have the capability to operate Port-au-Prince’s international airport at a tempo that would permit the importation of relief supplies in amounts corresponding to the country’s needs.

USAID and U.S. NGOs have supplied much of the aid provided by the international community in the wake of the disaster. Another element of the U.S. involvement in the Haitian relief and recovery efforts is Former U.S. President Bill Clinton’s co-chairmanship of the Interim Haiti Recovery Commission (IHRC).

Many slaves in the United States were aware of and inspired by the Haitian revolution. Some observers have cited it as an inspiration for the slave revolts that occurred in the United States. Frederick Douglass served as U.S. Consul-General to Haiti in the late 19th century. For most of the 20th century, however, African Americans displayed little interest in Haiti. Haitian Ambassador to the United States Raymond Joseph advised the council that the 2010 earthquake had excited increased interest in Haiti and sympathy for the plight of the Haitian people among the African-American community in the United States.

There are significant Haitian diasporan communities in the United States and Canada. According to the Migration Immigration Source, almost half of the Haitian immigrants in the U.S. have some college education. Many expatriate Haitians have acquired skills in the sciences and technology, education and business. Those skills could contribute much to the Haitian rebuilding effort.

The “boat people” who attempted to reach the U.S. from Haiti did not receive a warm welcome. Some were interned in difficult conditions. Others were intercepted in small boats and returned to Haiti. Since the January 12, 2010 earthquake, Haitians in the U.S. have been permitted to apply for temporary protected status (TPS), which will permit them to remain in the U.S. legally and work.

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The Haitian legislature is considering a bill to allow expatriate Haitians to reclaim their citizenship without having to renounce any other nationality they had acquired while overseas. Adopting this legislation would remove significant obstacles to the participation of overseas Haitians in the reconstruction effort. However, the legislature is not scheduled to meet until next year.

EARTHQUAKE DAMAGE The January 2010 Haiti earthquake was centered approximately 16 miles west of the capital, Port-au-Prince. According to MINUSTAH, over 222,570 people died, 300,572 people were injured and 2.3 million people—nearly one quarter of the population— were displaced. It is thought that 250,000 residences and 30,000 commercial buildings collapsed or were severely damaged.

Among the buildings damaged or destroyed were the presidential palace, the National Assembly building, the Port-au-Prince cathedral and the main jail. The headquarters of MINUSTAH collapsed, killing its chief and many other international peacekeepers and civil servants.

RELIEF–RECOVERY COORDINATION Haiti is often characterized as the poorest country in the western hemisphere. According to the World Bank Web site, Haitian life expectancy was 61 years in 2008 and the country’s literacy rate was 61% in 2004.

A primary consideration is how to provide earthquake relief in ways that promote economic development. Relief agencies and workers tend to be focused on how to get help to disaster sufferers as quickly as possible, which is the most important issue in the immediate aftermath of a disaster. It is also important, however, to provide disaster assistance in ways that foster the economic development of the receiving country. Relief agencies are not always sensitive to this consideration. Their personnel are more skilled in assessing relief needs than development needs. Conversely, development agency personnel may not be aware of relief demands. The different perspectives of relief and development agencies may make it difficult for them to coordinate their efforts.

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In Haiti today, the difficulty of reconciling relief and development needs is compounded by the large number of relief NGOs operating in the country. No one knows how many exist. They come from many countries and speak different languages. Coordination among them is difficult; coordination across the relief agency–development agency divide is even more problematic.

Haiti could attempt to follow the Eritrean example and require private relief agencies to get government licenses before operating. The Haitian government then could be informed about what relief agencies are operating in Haiti and what they are doing.

It could require that relief NGOs coordinate among themselves and with the international development agencies. It is not clear, however, whether the Haitian government would have the capacity or will to administer a licensing system properly. Considerable expertise would be required to evaluate license applications and issue permits.

The past performance of Haitian civil servants raises the question of whether they would regard a licensing requirement primarily as an opportunity to seek bribes.

INFRASTRUCTURE NEEDS The destruction caused by the 1/12/10 earthquake was so great because its epicenter was near the capital Port-au-Prince, where Haiti’s governmental and economic activities are centered. Governmental offices and services are few outside the capital. Economic activity is also much greater in Port-au-Prince than in the provinces. Haitians who want to apply for passports must do so in Port-au-Prince. “Papa Doc” Duvalier shut down Haiti’s regional seaports years ago for fear that insurgents would make use of them, and they have not been reopened.

For years, Haitians and outside observers have discussed how to reduce the disparities between the capital region and the rest of the country, but these discussions have produced few results.

Haitian infrastructure, already poorly developed, suffered extensive damage in the earthquake. Roads were cut. The telephone system was damaged. Schools and universities lost students and faculty and sustained damage to their buildings. In rebuilding its road network, communications systems and educational system, Haiti should take advantage of the latest technology and knowledge.

PUBLIC HEALTH NEEDS Although cholera was not known to exist in Haiti prior to the earthquake, Haiti’s Health Ministry reported a total of 72,017 cases of the disease, with 1,648 deaths as of November 24, 2010.

The primary threat from cholera is dehydration, which is particularly dangerous in the very young and the very old. The Pan American Health Organization, the regional arm of the World Health Organization, is working to coordinate efforts to retard the spread of the disease and treat its effects. Oral rehydration and other treatments are effective in combating cholera’s effects, but the challenge is getting timely treatment to the people who need it.

EDUCATIONAL NEEDS Haiti’s educational system was not able to meet the country’s needs before the earthquake. The public educational system had limited resources, and its standards were low. Haitians referred to the private schools that attempted to handle the overflow as lottery schools because they felt that finding one that provided good education was akin to winning a lottery.

The country’s limited educational assets were decimated by the disaster. Many of the country’s universities and schools were severely damaged. Instructors and students were killed. Although some schools have managed to reopen, most education has been suspended since the earthquake.

The educational system should be rebuilt so that it will be much better than before.

HBCUs in the United States have extensive experience in doing much with little and providing educational opportunities to underserved populations. The 1890 universities’ experience in agriculture and technology would be particularly beneficial in the decentralization effort. HBCUs have been active in international development. For example, a consortium of Grambling State University, Southern University of New Orleans and Southern University of Baton Rouge has helped with the transition from a command to a market economy in Armenia. Southern University of Baton Rouge has

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also provided technical assistance in South Africa, Uganda and Liberia. The expertise of the HBCUs should be placed at Haiti’s disposal.

GOVERNANCE NEEDS Widespread corruption is another problem that must be taken into account when planning and mounting Haitian reconstruction efforts. Transparency International (TI), an international NGO that monitors corruption worldwide, listed Haiti as 146th of 178 countries ranked in its Corruption Perceptions Index 2010. Haiti’s corruption score of 2.2 places it on the highly corrupt end of the TI scale. The Haitian government created a special anti-corruption office after the country was rated third most corrupt in the world in the 2003 index. This office reported that the majority of the Haitian citizens, business people, civil servants and business executives it surveyed responded that the government never or seldom took account of the needs of the people when acting. It reported that “more than 70% of those surveyed stated that government officials acted in their own interest and not in the general interest.”

The elections held November 28, 2010, have generated controversy and unrest.

Before the polls closed, 12 of the 18 presidential candidates called for the voting to be canceled. Many Haitians are convinced that President Préval stuffed the ballot boxes in favor of his preferred successor. There have been demonstrations, some accompanied by violence. Some are calling for the cancellation of the run-off election and its replacement with new elections under international supervision. It is unclear at this writing how the situation will be resolved.

THE INTERIM HAITI RECOVERY COMMISSION The structure of the IHRC is the result of a desire to counter the effects of misgovernment and corruption within Haiti. Former President Bill Clinton co-chairs the commission with Haitian Prime Minister Jean-Max Bellerive. International agency representatives sit on the commission along with Haitian officials. The IHRC will authorize reconstruction expenditures, ensuring that they are consistent with the Haitian Development Plan. Some Haitian politicians, however, have attacked the commission as a derogation of Haiti’s sovereignty.

The IHRC co-chairs in an op-ed article in the New York Times indicated that many NGOs have agreed to submit their projects to it for approval. The commission’s Web

site states that “all post-earthquake related projects or programs funded by donors or non-governmental organizations are required to be submitted to the IHRC, as are private sector projects or programs deemed by the IHRC to be of ‘National Significance’.

(Projects not meeting the above criteria may be voluntarily submitted.)”

RESOURCES AVAILABLE In March 2010, United Nations member states and international partners pledged $5.3 billion for the next 18 months to begin Haiti’s path to long-term recovery from the January 12 earthquake. These pledges exceeded the Haitian government’s estimation of its needs.

But pledges are not money. In August, the co-chairs of the IHRC wrote that only 10 percent of the pledges had been disbursed to the Haitian government. According to a November 19, 2010 USAID fact sheet, the U.S. government has provided $1.161 billion to Haiti in humanitarian assistance since the earthquake. According to a White House press release, the U.S. government’s pledge of $1.15 billion for Haiti’s reconstruction is in addition to the $1.1 billion for humanitarian relief.

At President Obama’s request, former Presidents Bill Clinton and George W. Bush have raised more than $36 million in private donations for Haitian relief and reconstruction. In addition, private U.S. citizens have provided $1 billion through the United Nations and NGOs such as the American Red Cross.

THE U.S. GOVERNMENT ASSISTANCE EFFORT The U.S. government response to the Haitian earthquake involved not only the U.S. Agency for International Development and its Office of Foreign Disaster Assistance but the U.S. Embassy in Port-au-Prince as well. Many other elements of the U.S. government were and continue to be involved. The U.S. military ran Haiti’s international airport in the aftermath of the disaster. Civilian agencies such as the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) have been involved. President Obama designated USAID Administrator Rajiv Shah to coordinate the U.S. government response. State Department Counselor and Chief of Staff Cheryl Mills represents the U.S. on the Interim Haiti Recovery Commission.

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ALPHA PHI ALPHA’S IMMEDIATE AND PERSONAL RESPONSE With hundreds of Haitian members, Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity was determined to respond immediately to the devastation of the earthquake in a way that was different and personal. General President Herman Mason, Jr. led a delegation to provide personally to the families of Haitian Alphas more than $40,000 that the fraternity had collected for Haiti relief. The delegation stayed in the homes of Haitian members’ families. The fraternity has decided to maintain these contacts in the future. A project is also under way to rebuild a school in Haiti that is headed by an Alpha brother.

THE WAY FORWARD Although a recent RAND Corporation monograph describes Haiti’s current situation as “acute problems layered on chronic ones,” it expresses the belief that today’s challenges provide an opportunity to create a new basis for stability and economic growth in the country. It recommends that the Haitian government and the international community seize the opportunity to increase the capacity of Haiti’s government and society to resolve problems and provide services to the people. Some Haitians agree. Al Leandre, a Haitian-born American businessman who discussed the Haitian situation with the council, said that many Haitians, both within and outside the country, hope that the reconstruction required by the earthquake will result in fundamental changes for the better. Ambassador Joseph said that the prompt response by the Dominican Republic, the country with which Haiti shares the island of Hispaniola, provided an opening for the improvement of the sometimes-strained relations between the two countries.

CONCLUSION The tasks of providing relief and reconstructing the assets destroyed by the earthquake are daunting. Their demands are layered upon the already extensive requirements imposed by Haiti’s need for development. However, response to the disaster, in the United States, in the international community and in Haiti itself, has been encouraging. The outpouring of offers for assistance has been so great that one of the difficulties has been getting the relief to those for whom it is intended. Properly administered, the relief-recovery-development effort has the potential to leave Haiti better off than it was before the disaster.

RECOMMENDATIONS The WPC believes that adoption of the following recommendations will help to make post-earthquake Haiti a better and stronger society than it was before the disaster.

1.

In addition to fulfilling its own financial commitments to the relief effort in Haiti, the U.S. government should urge ALL international donors to provide quickly the funds pledged to the Haitian government for this purpose.

2.

Alpha Phi Alpha should call on other Greek-letter organizations, as well as other African-American organizations, to join in supporting Haitian recovery projects, working through the Interim Haiti Recovery Commission.

3.

The Interim Haiti Recovery Commission should make strengthening the capacity of the Haitian government to monitor and utilize development assistance one of its major aims.

4.

Governments, international organizations and private donors should work through the Interim Haiti Recovery Commission.

5.

The Haitian government, USAID and other donors should draw heavily on the expertise of HBCUs, particularly in the areas of education and agriculture. 1890 universities are a natural “fit� for the promotion of Haitian agriculture and the decentralization effort.

6.

The Haitian government should request USAID and other donors to tap the expertise of HBCUs in the educational rebuilding process.

7.

A consortium of HBCUs should develop and submit a proposal to USAID and other possible donors for the rebuilding and development of the Haitian educational system.

8.

USAID should solicit proposals from HBCUs for projects in Haiti, particularly in the areas of education and agriculture.

9.

The Haitian government, the U.S. government and international donors should seek to make use of the skills and expertise of expatriate Haitians.

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Bibliography Bellerive, Jean-Max and Bill Clinton, “Finishing Haiti’s Unfinished Work,” New York Times, July 11, 2010, http://www. nytimes.com/2010/07/12/opinion/12clinton-1.html?_r=3&scp=9&sq=Bill%20Clinton&st=cse Crane, Keith, James Dobbins, Laurel E. Miller, Charles P. Ries, Christopher S. Chivvis, Marla C. Haims, Marco Overhaus, Heather Lee Schwartz and Elizabeth Wilke, Building a More Resilient Haitian State, Rand Corporation, 2010, http://www. rand.org/pubs/monographs/2010/RAND_MG1039.pdf NgCheong-Lum, Roseline & Leslie Jermyn, Haiti, Marshall Cavendish Benchmark, New York, 2006 Robinson, Randall, An Unbroken Agony: Haiti, from Revolution to the Kidnapping of a President, Basic Civitas Books, New York, 2007 Terrazas, Aaron, “Haitian Immigrants in the United States,” Migration Immigration Source, http://www.migrationinformation. org/USfocus/display.cfm?id=770#11 United Nations Stabilization Mission in Haiti, Haiti: 6 Months After Commemoration, http://www.un.org/en/peacekeeping/ missions/minustah/documents/6_months_after_commemoration.pdf U.S. Agency for International Development, Haiti–Earthquake: Fact Sheet #70 Fiscal Year (FY) 2010, September 3, 2010, http://www.usaid.gov/our_work/humanitarian_assistance/disaster_assistance/countries/haiti/template/fs_sr/fy2010/ haiti_eq_fs70_09-03-2010.pdf

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IMMIGRATION ISSUES

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Despite widespread agreement that the U.S. immigration system needs to be reformed, there is no consensus on how the system should be changed. Given the absence of action at the federal level, some state and local governments have attempted to regulate the activities of illegal immigrants. The public is unsure about what it wants the immigration system to do.

The immigration debate has traditionally centered on who should be accepted as immigrants and how those who come should be integrated into U.S. society. Since the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001, however, the debate has increasingly focused on the question of illegal immigrants.

The WPC believes that the current preoccupation with the handling of illegal immigrants distracts the public from the necessary tasks of considering whom the U.S. should accept from other nations and how immigrants should be incorporated into U.S. society.

The WPC offers three recommendations that it believes will significantly advance the debate about immigration into the United States. The recommendations are to be found at the end of this paper.

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IMMIGRATION REFORM U.S. politicians have been talking for several years now about the necessity of reforming the U.S. immigration system. President Obama has spoken in favor of it. It appears that hardly anyone is satisfied with the way the system works now. U.S. citizens have little difficulty agreeing that our immigration system needs to be revised, but they have been unable to agree on how the immigration system should be changed.

In the absence of federal government action on immigration reform, state and local governments have begun enacting laws that deal with the problem of illegal immigrants. There is controversy about whether state and local governments have any authority in the area. A federal court stayed the enforcement of some provisions of an Arizona law on illegal immigrants that has been described as the toughest in the nation. Another federal court struck down provisions of Hazleton, Pennsylvania ordinances prohibiting illegal immigrants from renting housing or being employed there.

These disputes are the contemporary manifestation of the recurring American battle about the proper balance between the authority of the federal government and rights of the states.

WHAT KIND OF REFORM? The federal government has been unable to deal with the issues of immigration reform because there is no agreement among the citizenry on what the immigration system should do.

Should it keep foreigners out so they will not take jobs from U.S. citizens? Or should it allow foreigners to enter the country and remain here illegally so they will accept less than minimum wage for cleaning our houses, tending our children and performing casual labor jobs?

Should the immigration system focus on rounding up and extraditing foreigners who are here illegally? •

Is it able to accomplish this task?

•

Is this task an immigration issue or a law enforcement question?

•

If most illegal aliens can be expelled, who will take the casual labor, groundskeeping and other low-wage jobs they are currently filling?

•

Would permanent residents and citizens be willing to do these jobs at wages the companies could afford?

•

Should undocumented aliens who have been in the country for an extended period of time be permitted to apply for permanent resident status?

Whom should the system permit to immigrate? Do we want the world’s huddled masses?

•

Should it encourage immigration from some countries or regions and discourage applicants from others?

•

If so, how can it accomplish that task?

•

Should the system continue to allow applicants to qualify for immigrant visas by demonstrating that they have a certain amount of money to invest here?

Should illegal aliens be denied social services?

•

What effect would such restrictions have on permanent residents and citizens?

•

Will making it impossible for illegal immigrants to get driver’s licenses keep them from driving?

Can/should state and local governments enforce our immigration laws?

THE CONTEXT OF THE DEBATE Dr. B. A. Austin placed the current immigration reform debate in historical context in a paper presented to a United Nations non-governmental organization briefing in 2005. The ancestors of all those who inhabit the United States, including the Native Americans, came here from somewhere else. Nevertheless, those who had established themselves here have tended to view those who followed them with suspicion.

After Columbus discovered America and the Native Americans who were populating it, the first wave of immigration came from Western Europe. Immigration was unrestricted. In 1882, legislation was passed to levy a head tax of $0.50 on each immigrant and to bar idiots, criminals and those likely to become public charges.

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Mounting concern that inferior breeds would come to America and mix with the Anglo-Saxons already here resulted ultimately in the establishment in 1924 of a quota system that favored Western Europe and Scandinavia. President Kennedy is credited with passing a bill in 1965 that abolished the quota system and imposed a limit of 20,000 immigrants per country, with an overall ceiling of 170,000 for immigrants from countries outside the Western Hemisphere. That system has been modified in the intervening years but remains essentially in force.

Dr. Austin argued that prior to the attacks of September 11, 2001, the immigration debate focused on the origins of legal immigrants and their effect on U.S. society. Since the attacks, concern about illegal immigrants has been a much greater part of the debate. Before the attacks, we cited with pride our open borders with Canada and Mexico. Since they took place, we have been gravely concerned about fortifying them to keep illegal immigrants and potential terrorists out.

NEWLY ARRIVED AFRICAN AMERICANS In a 2005 article, Sam Roberts of the New York Times noted that immigrants from Africa and the Caribbean accounted for 25% of the growth of the African-American population in the 1990s. This influx calls for an adjustment by our society, just as the arrival of previous immigrants did, but it poses a particular challenge for the AfricanAmericans who were already here. Those African-Americans are descendants of people who were brought here against their will; the immigrants arriving from Africa are coming by choice to seek greater opportunity.

Logic would seem to indicate that one who immigrates to the United States from an African country and becomes a U.S. citizen would thereby become an African-American. There is some feeling, however, that the issue is not that simple—that the term African-American should be reserved for those whose ancestors were brought here in chains and whose fore-parents participated in the struggle for equal rights. Dr. Austin notes that efforts have been instituted to foster mutual understanding between those African-Americans whose people have been here for generations and those who have recently arrived from the continent.

CONCLUSION The WPC believes that the issue of illegal immigration has inflamed the debate about immigration reform and distracted the polity from considering the important questions of who should be accepted as immigrants and how citizens of other countries should be integrated into U.S. society after they arrive as permanent residents.

In final analysis, deterring, apprehending and expelling illegal immigrants are not immigration issues. They are law enforcement issues. Nevertheless, the question of illegal immigration has become entwined in the immigration reform debate. If the U.S. can deal successfully with the illegal immigration issue, the question of how to revise its immigration system will be easier to resolve. The recommendations that follow are intended to move the immigration reform debate forward.

RECOMMENDATIONS The WPC offers the following recommendations concerning the U.S. immigration system.

1.

The current administration should develop and implement effective procedures for dealing with illegal immigrants.

2.

The United States should establish a guest worker system that will permit aliens who wish to come to the U.S. for employment without remaining permanently to do so. Guest workers would not be permanent residents and would not become eligible for U.S. citizenship.

3.

Academic institutions, public affairs groups, and the citizenry at large should consider who should be accepted from other countries and how those who come as permanent residents should be incorporated into U.S. society. The administration and Congress should use the results of these deliberations to restructure U.S. immigration policy.

Bibliography Austin, B.W., Critical Issues Related to Immigration Policy in the United States, March 17, 2005 Roberts, Sam, “More Africans Enter U.S. Than in Days of Slavery,� New York Times, February 21, 2005, http://www. nytimes.com/2005/02/21/nyregion/21africa.html?_r=1&scp=1&sq=More%20Africans%20in%20US%20than%20in%20 Times%20of%20Slavery&st=cse

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TAKE BACK OUR COUNTRY

HENRY PONDER, PH.D. PAST GENERAL PRESIDENT ALPHA PHI ALPHA FRATERNITY, INC.

Recently, a few socio-political organizations have begun to use as their mantra “Take Back Our Country.”

This is a catchy phrase and no doubt has been instrumental in the spike in increased membership of these organizations. It is fair to say that the phrase has been used in the past by the political party not currently in power.

However, current users seem to be using it to connote other meanings.

In this writer’s desire to expose the unambiguous meaning of the phrase “Take Back Our Country,” let us take a short walk through American history. Christopher Columbus, an Italian navigator in the service of Ferdinand V and Isabella I of Spain, discovered America in 1492 (notwithstanding that he was greeted on the shore of the “New World” by Native Americans). Since Spain provided the three (3) ships and the financing, might Spain have a claim on America? What would be our reaction to a movement

by Spain to “Take Back Our Country”?

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The Dutch established a settlement in what is now the state of New York. History records that they bought Manhattan from Native Americans for a few colorful trinkets.

(This is perhaps the best real estate purchase in the history of humankind.) Does this entitle the Netherlands to a claim on Manhattan on the grounds that they were “taken advantage of?”

England might wish to join the competition. The English came with their families, livestock and equipment. They built their homes, communities, towns and cities. They even fought a war, which they lost, to keep their territory. They may claim that they are responsible for our form of government. They even gave us our first Thanksgiving.

What would be our position should England, on the basis of this, decide to “Take Back Our Country?”

The French, reading about these actions, just might decide that France might as well put in their claim. France owned the territory extending west from the Mississippi to the Rocky Mountains between the Mexican and Canadian borders. Napoleon found himself in need of cash and sold France’s American territory to the United States for $15 million in 1803. France might decide to take us to the International Court of Justice to “Take Back Our Country” on the basis that they were swindled.

Perhaps the best case to “Take Back Our Country” can be made by Native Americans.

They were here years before any others set foot on these shores. They raised their families and lived off the fruit of the land. They welcomed Columbus when his three ships docked. They helped the Pilgrims survive the horrible winter and celebrated the first Thanksgiving with them. Sacajawea was the guide for Louis and Clark during the exploration of the Louisiana Purchase. They signed numerous treaties with the United States government, many of which were broken. Yes, Native Americans might, justifiably, feel the need to “Take Back Our Country.”

EDITOR’S NOTE: IN THIS ESSAY, THE WPC DEPARTS FROM ITS PRACTICE OF ISSUING STATEMENTS ONLY BY THE COUNCIL AS A WHOLE. THIS PERSONAL STATEMENT BY PAST GENERAL PRESIDENT HENRY PONDER IS ONE WITH WHICH THE COUNCIL IS IN COMPLETE ACCORD.

Let us fast forward the “Take Back Our Country” movement to the present and examine its meaning. Words and phrases have the power to influence thinking and action.

The truth or falsity of the statements does not matter. In general, the socio-political organizations that desire to “Take Back Our Country” are against big government,

taxes, aid to the poor, national health care and immigration. They are for states’ rights, strong military, better roads and highways and disaster relief.

Let us examine the contradictions in these beliefs. They would have us reduce the size of the federal government. They believe we have too many federal employees, too many federal agencies and too many buildings housing them. They may have a legitimate argument to reduce the size of the federal government for efficiency, but wholesale surgery is not called for. Should we reduce the size of the federal government, what would we eliminate? Would we eliminate the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention? If so, how would we handle national health epidemics? Would we eliminate the Patent Office? If so, how would we protect our inventors? If we close the FBI and CIA, how do we protect our citizens from crime and espionage? Suppose we eliminate Veterans Affairs. Would a veteran be better off because of it? These are a few examples to illustrate the dilemma that would exist without big government.

These organizations are also against taxes, yet they are for strong military, law and order, better highway infrastructure and disaster relief. The question to be answered is “How would we finance these needs without taxes?” The taxes collected are used to guarantee that we have a strong military, law and order, highway system, disaster relief and the many other services that would be impossible if left to the individual citizen.

It is estimated that ten (10) million children go hungry every day. The Holy Bible teaches that the poor and needy will be with us always. The citizens of this country contribute generously to our many charities—but there is still an enormous unmet need. Many poor and destitute families have little to no food, shelter and health care.

Our taxes help soften the burden on these families.

The United States of America has, from its founding, been a refuge for all nationalities who are oppressed. The Statue of Liberty has engraved within its pedestal these words: Give me your tired, your poor, Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.

Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me, I lift my lamp beside the golden door!

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Are we, as a nation, ready to close our borders and renege on this outstanding heritage? The socio-political movements that parrot “Take Back Our Country” profess not to be anti-Black, anti-Hispanic or anti-Immigration. This flies in the face of logic when we consider public statements made by some of their leaders. At a national meeting of the Tea Party in Nashville, Tennessee, Tom Tancredo, a former Republican congressman said, “They could not even spell the word ‘vote’ or say it in English and they put a committed socialist ideologue in the White House — Barack Hussein Obama.” i He further stated, “We really do have a culture to pass on to our children: it’s based on Judeo—Christian values.”ii At the same meeting, Rick Scarborough said, “If this country becomes thirty (30) percent Hispanic, we will no longer be America.” “English is our language. We are Americans. We’re not Hispanic-American or African Americans—we are Americans.”iii It should be noted that FDR inherited the Great Depression, and the country was almost unanimously in support of his efforts to eliminate the Depression. The Obama administration inherited a similar depression, and many groups are in opposition to the efforts to eliminate it. Most of our presidents, in the last fifty (50)-plus years, have attempted to pass legislation for health care and failed. This administration has passed health care legislation, and there is a movement to appeal it. Presidents Theodore Roosevelt and Woodrow Wilson were awarded the Nobel Peace Prize and the nation was proud. When President Obama was selected for the prize, there was much criticism. Those who oppose almost every effort that President Obama makes to improve this country, both economically and politically, say it is for ideological reasons only.

The evidence does not support this position.

It is the sincere hope of this writer that we Americans will put aside our “anti” sentiments and help make this presidential administration a success. A successful administration will go far in restoring our global prestige.

(Endnotes) i “Tea Party turns nasty. It’s our country—let’s take it back,” Times online, http://www.timesonline.co.ur/tol/news/world/us_and_american/artical ii Ibid iii Ibid

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PREFATORY COMMENT

The WPC’s end-of-the-year report contained three issues that members of the council deemed relevant at this time—the Bush Administration and African Health, AFRICOM and the African-American male (all of which follow). During the course of the council’s deliberations, a phenomenal event occurred: on November 4, 2008, the citizens of the United States elected the first African-American president— Senator Barack Obama of Illinois.

We begin our report—in these prefatory remarks—with acknowledgment of this extraordinary moment in American history. This was and is an astounding accomplishment for Obama, a man of vision who, in articulating a message of hope and change to the entire country, demonstrated the personality, wisdom, character, and skill to prevail. For the country, the election of Barack Obama made palpable the words of the Declaration of Independence, “all men are created equal,” and the guarantee of the Constitution of equal justice and freedom for all. In his opening remarks at the victory celebration in Grant Park in Chicago, the president-elect challenged “anyone who doubted” the truth of the American promise to stand with him on that memorable evening.

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Obama also acknowledged that in reaching this pinnacle, he stood on the shoulders of others who had gone before. Without doubt, these included, among numerous others, Frederick Douglass, W. E. B. DuBois, Charles Hamilton Houston, and Edward W. Brooke, the first African-American to win state wide office in Massachusetts when in 1963 he became attorney general and in 1967 he became the first person of color to be elected by popular vote and the first to be seated in the U.S. Senate since Reconstruction. Similarly, there were the examples of L. Douglas Wilder, who became governor of Virginia; David Dinkins, mayor of New York; Thurgood Marshall, the first AfricanAmerican on the Supreme Court and, of course, Martin Luther King, Jr., whose impassioned dream encompassed the seemingly impossible, although, as he said, it was “deeply rooted in the American dream.”

Indeed, the Obama phenomenon first struck America as a hopeful but realistically impossible dream. As it gained momentum and grew into a campaign with boundless enthusiasm, it began to suggest to people that perhaps America was after all capable of rescue from a social, moral and economic morass through an honest, open and rational political movement. In the end, it became an irresistible force overturning every obstacle in its path in the process of recording one of the most lopsided electoral victories in American political history. In winning, Barack Obama is confronted—he has said “challenged”—by some of the worst problems that any American president has faced since the Great Depression: wars on two fronts, an economic meltdown, failing financial institutions, vast unemployment, a health system in crisis and staggering national debt. Expectations run high throughout the nation for the young president, who is expected to fix all such ills. At this writing, over 300,000 Americans have applied to work in the Obama Administration with the prospect that twice that number will have done so by Inauguration Day. Abroad, hopes appear to be equally high that Obama will restore American moral standing, prestige and leadership in the world. Whether he can accomplish all this remains to be seen. Certainly the cabinet and other choices the president has made thus far, ideas he has articulated, and policies and programs he has proposed give promise of a splendid beginning.

The WPC and Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity congratulate President Barack Obama on his historic victory and are heartened by this tremendous affirmation on the part of the American people. While it is not the view of the council that all problems of race have been resolved by even such a momentous development as this, it is clear that this country has made a giant step in the direction of “one nation, under God, with liberty and justice for all.”

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THE BUSH ADMINISTRATION AND AFRICAN HEALTH

In the waning days of his troubled administration, President George W. Bush signed into law a bill that would put $48 billion into a global campaign against HIV/AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis.

The bill, which expanded the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), provided major funding for programs in Africa, including the development of the corps of available health workers in countries affected with these modern-day scourges. By any measure, this is a remarkable action. No other single donor nation has produced its equal, or anything near it. We can and should applaud the initiative, but we should also examine the context in which it was born.

First, why? To be blunt, there was no significant political capital to be accumulated by the Bush administration with this move.

While it is true that many American voters support a “compassion” agenda in foreign policy, especially in the prevention of the spread of HIV/AIDS, this ranks far below energy independence, job protection, the fight against terrorism and wars in Iraq and Afghanistan on the list of overall priorities in foreign affairs.

PEPFAR was not likely to produce swing votes in the 2008 presidential election.

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Some close to the former president believed he was simply committed as a “compassionate conservative” to a vision of active American munificence with regard to the most needy on the planet as a Christian duty. In this view, a faith-based sense of obligation motivated former President Bush with consistency over his years in office.

Some have criticized the administration’s approach in the HIV/AIDS field because of the prominence of faith-based American non-governmental organizations whose focus on abstinence and reluctance to push the use of condoms is seen as culturally naïve. Others worried that pharmaceutical companies have pushed an unbalanced reliance on antiretroviral medicines rather than a more holistic approach. Because of his association with both of these policy approaches, Bush’s appointment of Randall Tobias, former chief of Eli Lilly, as AIDS “czar” in 2003 was cause for concern in some quarters. But no one can argue that the U.S., under Bush’s leadership, had been indifferent to Africa.

The former president used the Group of Eight (G8) forums, especially those of 2004 at Sea Island in Georgia and 2005 at Gleneagles in Scotland, to rally support for combating HIV/AIDS in Africa and alleviating the crushing debt that held back so many African nations. Preceding PEPFAR was an earlier $15 billion for HIV/AIDS work and the U.S.-led implementation of the Heavily Indebted Poor Countries debt relief program.

Another criticism of the Bush administration’s support for African health was that it had been too bilateral. According to this view, American bilateral—rather than multilateral—assistance allows Washington to attach too many strings. This same argument has been used against the Millennium Challenge initiative. Still, the evidence suggests that requiring countries to get their houses in order as a quid pro quo for access to Millennium Challenge funds has been widely accepted by governments and ordinary citizens in the developing world, including Africa. In the case of PEPFAR, there has been inevitable benefit arising from the U.S. insistence on infrastructure improvement and better management. So far, complaints about the influence of faith-based American NGOs have been muted.

While we should applaud both the general thrust of Bush administration policy with regard to combating HIV/AIDS, malaria and other infectious diseases in Africa, we need to be wary of what Representative Donald Payne called “the militarization of U.S. aid to Africa.” Indeed, U.S. military activity in Africa has greatly increased since 9/11 as an outgrowth of the so-called war on terror. It would seem that any country in Africa

that declares itself ready to confront Islamic extremism can have fairly easy access to American funds. What may begin as small arms and basic training has a tendency to expand organically into broader cooperation that can be used to more deeply entrench undemocratic regimes. The support for democratization that George Bush proclaimed in his second inaugural address has already been trumped by security concerns, as we have seen in Egypt and Saudi Arabia, for example. U.S. security cooperation in Africa includes active partnerships in fourteen sub-Saharan countries under the African Contingency Operations Training and Assistance Program, and four Saharan countries under the Trans-Sahara Counter-Terrorism Initiative. The Combined Joint Task Force-Horn of Africa is headquartered in Djibouti and appears poised to increase its footprint there by five-fold.

In summary, with the end of the Bush administration, it is fair to assess its activity in Africa as positive on the humanitarian side. Without doubt, the massive injection of funds—already delivered and in the pipeline—is saving lives, improving living standards, and helping to create a public health environment that will contribute to overall human development. That is real achievement. At the same time, we should be wary of military aid policies that threaten the promise of the former administration’s Millennium Challenge Account.

RECOMMENDATIONS 1.

The Bush Administration should be recognized and applauded for its actions in the health area toward Africa.

2.

The council should recommend to the incoming Obama administration adoption and enhancement of policies such as these.

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AFRICOM: AN UNNECESSARY AND DANGEROUS IDEA

AFRICOM, a Department of Defense Unified Combat Command for Africa, was authorized by former President Bush in December 2006, and its establishment was formally announced October 1, 2007. Planning by former President Bush and former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld for this new military organization began in 2006. The date for activation of the command was set for September 20, 2008. Original plans called for the command to be headquartered in an African capital.

AFRICOM joins a list of other U.S. Unified Combatant Commands that have responsibility for U.S. military operations throughout the world. Since World War II, when the U.S. military was forced to conduct combat operations in two widely separated areas of the world—in the Pacific and in Europe— American practice has been to divide the world into geographic areas for the purpose of assigning responsibility for each to different command structures.

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The World War II model was fairly simple, consisting as it did of only two geographic areas. General Douglas MacArthur became the supreme commander for the Pacific theater of operations and General Dwight Eisenhower for the European. The world after that conflict has become far more complex. The American response has been to organize the military accordingly. The world is now divided by the Defense Department into smaller geographic areas, reflecting a recognition by the military of differences in the power of various opposing forces, climate, culture and terrain.

The establishment of AFRICOM brings the total of such regional commands to six.

Their principal responsibility is to conduct combat operations in these regions. For example, CENTCOM, or the Central Command, has responsibility for the Middle East and was responsible for prosecution of the first Gulf War and for the current conflict in Afghanistan and Iraq. The remaining commands are as follows: •

USEUCOM, the U.S. Command for Europe: Western Europe and the former Soviet Union;

•

USPACOM, the U.S. Pacific Command: China, South Asia, Southeast Asia and Australia;

•

USSOUTHCOM, The U.S. Southern Command: Central America (minus Mexico) and South America and

•

USNORTHCOM: The U.S., Canada and Mexico.

Prior to the creation of AFRICOM, military matters regarding Africa were handled

by USEUCOM. The purpose of the command, as described by official government statement, is to engage in diplomatic, economic and humanitarian aid missions. A state department paper said the command would “play a supportive role as Africans continue to build democratic institutions and establish good governance across the continent.” Furthermore, a Defense Department statement says that the command will “enable the Department of Defense to better focus its resources to support and enhance existing U.S. initiatives that help African nations, the African Union and regional economic communities succeed. It also provides an integrated DOD coordination point to help address security needs.”

This is, indeed, a broad, wide-ranging mandate that rivals the role of the Department of State. It is important to note that, although omitted from descriptions of the

purpose of the command, the phrase “Unified Combat Command” is a part of the official name and, presumably, purpose of each of these geographic area commands.

AFRICOM is thus an unnecessary and potentially dangerous initiative for Africa, for long-term U.S. interests and for the international system as a whole. This discussion will focus on the reasons for this judgment.

Reaction to the establishment of the command has been for the most part negative, particularly from its originally planned hosts. Several African states have announced their active opposition to it, some vociferously. Among them are Nigeria, the bellwether of black African politics; Libya; Ghana; and the 14 member states of the Southern Africa Development Community (SADC), which includes South Africa. Nigeria went so far as to declare the idea an encroachment upon national sovereignty. Several African intellectuals have written and spoken against the idea.

Only two African states, Liberia and Ethiopia, have been receptive. Observers note that they are among the less stable African nations and suggest that their willingness to welcome the command has more to do with the domestic political insecurity felt by their leaders and their consequent desire for a military resource to shore up their uncertain domestic political standing. It is worth noting that, with the exception of USEUCOM, none of the other regional commands is headquartered within the area it serves. Observers also point out that there would likely be violent anti-American reaction by the people and nations of USPACOM, USSOUTHCOM or USNORTHCOM if these commands were situated in the areas of their responsibility.

In addition to African states and individuals, TransAfrica, an established nongovernmental organization working on African affairs, actively opposes the idea. TransAfrica currently serves as the leader for a coalition of groups in Africa and the United States opposed to AFRICOM. As a result of the coalition’s work and African opposition, AFRICOM has been unable to establish a headquarters on the African continent. The coalition has been able to pursuade key members of Congress to call for a re-evaluation of AFRICOM’s mandate and funding. It continues to direct the attention of key members of Congress to problems posed by AFRICOM. “Under the guise of creating a military command for Africa…analysts view the plan as a military first step towards securing unfettered access to Africa’s natural resources and

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to the creation of military outposts in Africa that would result in further penetration of the U.S. military into the continent,” declared TransAfrica. “If permitted to proceed, AFRICOM would have devastating effects upon Africa, U.S. policy, and the international system in general,” it concluded.

The most cursory understanding of the history of the immediate post-independent era in Africa is enough to convince even the hardened skeptics of the toxic mixture of the military, guns and politics there. The years of the early 60s when most of the African states received their independence were filled with violence, chaos and the enthronement of authoritarian, non-democratic regimes backed by the force of arms.

This is not to suggest that the military and their wares were alone responsible; but they certainly raised the violence and instability to new levels and at the same time prevented peaceful reconciliation. The political atmosphere of Africa in the aftermath of independence was a volatile brew of colonially imposed artificial borders forcing historic enemies to live within the same polity; an unequal balance of advantage in which minority groups often inherited power from colonial administrations and continued after independence to rule over frustrated, sometimes outraged majorities; and yawning socio-economic deficits in income, education and health care.

Under such circumstances, even the most dedicated and conscientious leaders found it difficult to cope. Those who had the most success were the so-called “fathers of independence,” men like Banda, Houphouet-Boigny, Kaunda, Kenyatta, Nkrumah, Nyerere and Senghor, for whom considerable tolerance was granted. And even their success was limited; some faced powerful opposition before they left office. In almost all cases, their immediate successors found themselves “pinned against the wall,” as it were, by a mass of discontented citizens no longer willing to put up with the deprivations of life in newly independent Africa and suspicions that somehow the former largesse of the state, once spread around among the populace in colonial times, was being pocketed by their new leaders. In such a situation, it was tempting, if not mandatory, for the beleaguered leadership to reach for the military and its arsenal to remain in power.

This domestic dynamic was further complicated by the looming presence of external forces: the former colonial powers who wished to continue to enjoy the benefits of “colonialism” and the contest between the superpowers (the U.S. and the Soviet Union) for allegiance from the various states. The prize for joining one side or the other was the guarantee of regime stability by the support of a fairly sizeable army, the station-

ing or loan of troops from the former paramount power, sometimes both, or access to money that allowed the purchase of armed might. These forces would keep order and discourage protest.

The French model was to station elements of its foreign legion in those countries it felt important to France’s interest as well as to become the sole source of training and equipment for the local military. Senegal, the Ivory Coast and Gabon became prime exponents of this model. Except for southern Africa, the British approach tended more toward laissez-faire, leaving much of the business of securing stability to the local African rulers. Many of the unstable governments during this period were therefore found in Anglophone West Africa. In southern Africa, where the British were more interested, European settlers were relied upon to control the political situations.

The U.S. and the Soviet Union had their own distinct approaches. The Soviet Union enticed the shaky leaders by offering arms and political support. At one time, there were the presumed “communist states� of Congo-Brazzaville, Ethiopia, Somalia and Angola, sponsored by the former Soviet Union. In point of fact, none of their leaders were communists in the classic sense. They were simply opportunists taking advantage of the offer of arms to shore up their unpopular governments.

The U.S. appears to have preferred covert methods, using the Central Intelligence Agency to fund and arm pro-U.S. groups in countries thought to be important to U.S. interests. Perhaps the most celebrated example is the Democratic Republic of the Congo, formerly Zaire, where in the early 60s the elected Prime Minister Patrice Lumumba, considered by the West a friend of the Soviet Union, was executed, it is believed, by Belgian and Congolese forces with political support from the U.S. The effectiveness of this paradigm for securing and holding to political power in Africa became abundantly clear to anyone willing to observe. Access to weaponry and the possession of a strong military were often keys to survival for political leaders in those states where instability was an issue. In turn, an alliance with one of the external powers was essential to guaranteeing a supply of weapons and a strong military. It was a lesson driven home, at times by fatal consequences, to every African head of state. It is into a milieu of modern-day African politics surviving from this past that AFRICOM, with its tempting menu of instruments of armed force, ready-made for maintaining

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political power, would be inserted. The memory of the 1960s and 1970s is not lost on contemporary aspiring African political leaders. Some of that memory resides within their own families.

In addition to the post-independence that political history bequeathed to Africans, many states of the continent continue to struggle with the problems of unity. A resort to force is the only example these states have for solving their political problems. In the recent past, Liberia, Sierra Leone, The Democratic Republic of the Congo (Kinshasa), the Republic of the Congo (Brazzaville) and Angola went through their times of trial. There continues to be great potential for additional instability and violence in these states. Perhaps the two most outstanding examples of instability on the continent now are the states of Ethiopia and Somalia. As with Liberia and its sister western African states, the only examples they have for solving their political problems is the use of force.

It should be clear to all by now that the use of force has not served Africa well. It has only postponed the coming to grips with lasting solutions. And each postponement makes the next round of protest more violent, destabilizing and dangerous. The last thing that Africa needs now is a resource like AFRICOM with its promise of open-ended access to modern weaponry, a situation that would allow African leaders to once more take the short-term solution of using force and open the way for greater destabilization.

For the U.S., the principle behind AFRICOM is damaging, not only to the way in which foreign policy is conducted but to our view of the world. The State Department is the government bureau authorized to conduct foreign policy. AFRICOM would change that. It would begin by duplicating the work of the Department of State. Furthermore, given the fact that the Defense Department almost never gets turned down for money, the command would probably have access to resources far greater than those of the State Department. In the end, AFRICOM would usurp the responsibility of the Department of State for the conduct of foreign policy. Who would argue that the average soldier, as prepared as he or she now is, would be more appropriate for the tasks of implementing U.S. policy on the ground than the typical foreign service officer recruited by the Department of State?

AFRICOM began as an idea in the early 1990s with oil company executives in Africa who felt that the U.S. needed to ensure our access to oil in that area of the world that

now provides a little more than 20 percent of our imports. Our military was seen as an instrument to accomplish this. Other causes were eventually added, including the need to combat terrorism on the African continent. Another purpose, although obviously not publicized, is to limit the growing influence of China, which aggressively seeks agreements with African states for the resources it needs to run its burgeoning industrial plant.

We should ask ourselves if AFRICOM would establish unwanted examples for others to follow. What if other nations aspiring to world power status such as China, Russia and India copy the U.S. example? As it did during the Cold War, Africa would again become the cockpit for proxy combat among the rivals for dominance. The result would be disastrous for Africa.

Finally, many African states, through pain, deprivation and sacrifice, have put behind them the bad times of the past. Nations such as Ghana, Nigeria, Mali, Botswana, South Africa and Tanzania have managed to exorcise the demons of division and conflict.

Others are nearing the same stage. They are not problem-free, but their problems today are those mainly of a plural, democratic system. Many of them have their own military organizations that yearn for the old days of greater participation in the nation’s political life. They should not be dragged back into the pit of instability and conflict by an outmoded and destructive model of governance that in the end relies on military force.

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PLIGHT OF THE AFRICAN-AMERICAN MALE: WHAT CAN BE DONE?

There is no dearth of articles, books, speeches, and other materials documenting the dire circumstances in which African-American males currently exist. The description used by one of the WPC’s major consultants to characterize reflections on one category of subjects is hardly less true of most others.

According to Dr. Leslie T. Fenwick, dean of the School of Education at Howard University, “The national discourse on school-age African-American males is veiled in a ‘litany of pathology’ that reiterates negative statistics about African-American males in the media, policy and research.”

Similar “findings” and sentiments are reflected at the high school level, in colleges and universities and in the workplace, where the rate of AfricanAmerican unemployed males is higher than that of all other racial groups.

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Whether it is true that “more African-American males are in jails and prisons than are in colleges and universities,” an often-repeated assertion, is open to question. Not questioned, however, is the fact that far too many are incarcerated and far too few are in institutions of higher learning. These factors alone, not to mention the remainder of “The Litany,” have a negative impact on every aspect of African-American society.

The objective of the WPC in this paper is not to join the chorus dwelling on these conditions, nor to enumerate them once again, nor to explain their existence. It is the view of the council that neither “benign neglect” nor continuous explication constitutes adequate response. Rather, the WPC strongly recommends that Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity address the African-American male issue with a strong plan of action, once again providing expertise, resources and leadership in time of crisis. As was done in earlier successful campaigns such as “Go to High School, Go to College,” the fraternity should call on others, especially other Greek-letter organizations, to join the fray.

However, there should be no further delay in an all-out effort by Alpha Phi Alpha to launch its own programs to promote progressive change in a deteriorating situation.

The time for action is now!

It is not that the fraternity has been heretofore uninvolved in this demanding issue.

Mentoring, traditionally regarded as one of the premier approaches to addressing the problem of young men and boys, has been a major activity of the fraternity. Indeed, Alpha Phi Alpha has enjoyed a long partnership with Big Brothers, Big Sisters (BBBS), the premier mentoring organization in the country. Especially during the presidency of Brother Darryl R. Matthews, mentoring in cooperation with BBBS has been a special component of the fraternity’s social agenda. In 2007, increasingly concerned about the plight of African-American men and boys, General President Matthews issued a call for 10,000 Alpha men to volunteer as mentors in their various communities, and he has continued to press the issue.

Very much aware of this emphasis, the council recommends strongly that it be continued and, indeed, expanded, as the general president himself has proposed. As such, this will be a major feature of a broad-action agenda that the WPC recommends for adoption by Alpha Phi Alpha.

In adopting such an approach, the council advises concentrating on remedies rather than on explanations and studies focusing on the “pathology” to which Dean Fenwick referred. This is not to denigrate the importance of research but to suggest urgency in

the face of already well-known problems, some rapidly deteriorating, as contemplation continues. For example, the connection often drawn between the breakdown of family structures in the African-American communities and the brutality and impersonality of the slave trade and the institution of slavery itself has been visited and revisited in scholarly journals over the past 40 to 50 years. Much less attention has been devoted to building and rebuilding family structures and solidifying foundations upon which they may better stand.

Much studied, researched and even the subject for fiction, drama and song is the related issue of warfare or at least the disconnect in the relationship between young African-American men and women. Negotiating a truce or even exploring the basis for such an action is far more likely to yield positive results than continuous observation.

Similarly, myriad statistics already exist to underscore the alarming high-school dropout rate among African-American youth, particularly young men. The impact of this statistic on college and beyond-college enrollment is also well known, given the obvious decrease in the pool from which likely college-bound males are drawn. The council knows also that “dropping out” contributes to the continued poverty syndrome for African-Americans generally, recognizing as it does the correlation between education and income. Studies show that well over 70% of African-American children live in conditions below the poverty line.

Further complicating this dismal view is the issue of “class” or socio-economic status as reflected in the fact that students from low-income families more often than not attend school with students of similar background. This often means a serious lack of motivation, given the absence of more achievement-oriented students from middle and high-income families. This phenomenon is manifested most seriously in large urban areas, where teachers, counselors and administrators further compound the issue and in many instances make of low expectations a self-fulfilling prophecy. Quite often, many of these students who do remain in school and graduate are directed not toward college but, if at all, toward trade and other types of schools.

“Breaking Barriers: Plotting the Path to Academic Success for School-Age AfricanAmerican Males” by Dr. Ivory A. Toldson, published in 2008, with a preface by Dean Fenwick, contains a trove of research data on problems related to school attendance

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and drop-out by African-American males. It summarizes many of the problem factors reported on and analyzed in various studies and also deals positively with practical approaches to remediation by the schools. For these factors as well as for important bibliographical data, this book is highly recommended.

While further study will doubtless provide deeper insights into underlying factors in various stress situations, there is need now for some of the cycles to be broken. The WPC concludes that Alpha Phi Alpha can and should be a catalyst in providing leadership.

The WPC recommends, in fact, that the fraternity, both nationally and locally, adopt the men and boys issue as its primary social action project for the foreseeable future. Considering its importance and urgency, this matter should receive the fraternity’s priority attention, skills and resources in a campaign or series of campaigns designed to make a difference in a crisis situation. The hope should be that Alpha Phi Alpha be joined in this mission, especially by kindred Greek-letter organizations, although there should be no objection to participation by other interested and capable groups. The main point at this junction, however, is that Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity move to the forefront of concern and action.

Once the decision has been made by whatever process is required, the general president should make an announcement, calculated to be broadcast nationwide, of this body’s decision and initiative. Preferably during the decision-making process, an attention-getting name and/or slogan should have been agreed to so that the project may be launched by an imaginative name that will resonate with the public. Nationwide competition among the chapters to garner a name and/or slogan is a possibility; so also is engaging a public relations firm. The main point, of course, is to have a suitable logo worthy of the bold and important action being undertaken by the fraternity, whose name, by the way, need NOT be included. It is extremely important to find a name for the project and/or a slogan around which other groups and individuals may rally.

In all probability, this project will require a national director, someone capable of devoting full-time attention to its promotion. It is possible also that he should be aided by counterparts in each of the regions. Clearly, such organizational details will depend on the interest generated and the work required.

Whatever the nature of the leadership, one of the first orders of business should be a survey of programs around the country that are devoted to the African-American men and boys issue. Some have been mentioned above. A compilation of such projects, preferably with some evaluation of effectiveness, will be useful in furthering the agenda of Alpha’s national initiative.

Such an initiative, in the view of the WPC, should address basic elements of man— mind, body and soul (or spirit)—and should be structured within the framework of the main institutions on which the African-American community traditionally has relied. Although these institutions—home, school, church and government—in the view of some have failed the community in recent times, in many ways exacerbating the very problems that this initiative seeks to address, they nonetheless continue to be uppermost in importance to African-Americans and are in every way associated with their progress over time. Whereas new institutions may be identified and utilized, traditional institutions should represent the primary focus of this initiative.

PROGRAM INITIATIVES As has been indicated, mentoring has been recognized as one of the more vital activities in outreach among boys and young men. The practice takes any number of forms as various organizations, churches, and societies engage in the practice (e.g., One Hundred Black Men). Alpha Phi Alpha has been associated in this endeavor, as noted previously, with BBBS for some time, building on a strategy of enlisting Alpha men as mentors in every city or town where both Alpha and BBBS chapters exist.

The WPC strongly endorses this obviously productive relationship and recommends that it be continued and expanded. The general president has issued a call for 10,000 Alpha men, each to serve as a one-to-one “match” with young African-American males in the BBBS tradition. A worthy goal would be first to ensure that the general president’s objective is met and then to “exceed his grasp” by setting even loftier goals of mentorship as the program expands.

Second, the WPC recommends that each chapter of the fraternity should select for moral and financial support the best initiative already under way in its city or area addressing the African-American male crisis and, having taken that step, should

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then adopt an initiative of its own. This strategy is designed to promote cooperation among different groups and agencies, rather than needless and wasteful competition, and also to underscore the importance of coordinated action. In many instances, the pre-existing program will be the mentoring activities of BBBS. In others, this may not be the case. At issue here, however, is the need for Alpha men to provide support to community efforts already under way even as they devise their own strategies to deal in different ways with the men and boys crisis. By closely tying awards to productivity in both of these vital areas, the national body of Alpha, as well as the regional areas, can greatly foster this process.

The critical under-representation of African-American male teachers in the schools, particularly at the primary level, is a problem to be addressed by a third initiative of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity. In this case, Brother Senator Edward W. Brooke has provided not only the idea but also generous resources to launch such an effort. Brooke, the first African-American to be elected to the U.S. Senate since Reconstruction, has challenged the fraternity on numerous occasions to promote the presence of AfricanAmerican males as teachers in the early grades as one means of inspiring AfricanAmerican boys by example and of discouraging drop-outs.

Senator Brooke recently gave Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity $100,000 in unrestricted funds. The WPC endorses the decision by the fraternity to devote this grant to promoting the concept, long advocated by this distinguished Alpha brother, of encouraging more males to become teachers at the primary level. According to the general president, the grant will be used largely to develop proposals that may generate funds sufficient to launch a nationwide effort of support for such a project. Individuals selected for support under this aegis will be known as Brooke Fellows or Brooke Teachers. They will be funded in whole or in part as they work toward degrees in elementary school teaching.

As a means of encouraging achievement and of discouraging the culture of low expectations and low self-esteem, the WPC recommends that Alpha Phi Alpha establish at the national level a “Manly Deeds Award.” This prize, perhaps carrying with it a medal and a cash stipend, should reward extraordinary performance—some heroic deed, some outstanding achievement, some contribution of importance by a young man (or young men) from early youth up to the middle or senior high school years. The idea is to award merit and also to inspire others similarly situated. There should be only one

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such award annually, and it should be presented with maximum publicity on the widest possible basis. It is hopeful that this will become in time a much sought-after prize and one avidly promoted by Alpha chapters and individual members throughout the country.

Family stability is one of the most important building blocks of success in education, employment, the community and various other endeavors in society. The definition of such stability often begins with a two-parent household and with at least sufficient income to support basic needs. Without denigrating the single-parent phenomenon, or certainly the products of such situations, the fraternity should advance the notion—in every possible way—of the value of marriage and family life. The central and dynamic message of Alpha on this subject should be the positive ramifications of family life and stability.

SCHOOL The correlation between educational accomplishment and income achievement levels in the United States is well established. For African-Americans, it is a double-edged relationship: the offspring (but only a few) of high-income parents and families are more likely to aspire to education and to achieve, thereby increasing income. The higher incidence of low-income and under-educated families produces fewer offspring who aspire to college, who attend college, and who succeed in graduating, thus continuing the cycle of poverty among African-Americans generally. Stated simply, it may be said that the solution to this seemingly intractable problem begins with a job!

Indeed, the importance of this economic factor cannot be gainsaid. Unemployment rates among African-American males are the highest for any group in the United States. While no doubt contributing to this situation, current conditions of economic recession are by no means the total cause. Hopefully, some remedies will begin with the various work programs the Obama administration plans to put in place. Improvements in the economy, also forecast, are yet another solution. It is clear, however, that the long-range problems, both systemic and sociological, remain with us. Solutions, as indicated, begin with education and must be addressed through this means as well as through various others that constitute the premise of this report. The overall issue remains the concern, and indeed the challenge, of Alpha Phi Alpha.

SUMMARY OF RECOMMENDATIONS All of the following recommendations from the WPC are addressed to Alpha Phi Alpha: 1.

The fraternity should adopt the African-American males issue as the primary focus, nationally, regionally and locally, of its social action agenda for the foreseeable future. This policy decision should be announced publicly, with a view toward gaining maximum exposure for it.

2.

The fraternity should invite other African-American Greek-letter organizations to join Alpha in this initiative.

3.

Mentoring being recognized as an important tool in providing guidance and inspiration to boys and young men, Alpha Phi Alpha should continue and expand its very productive association with BBBS in addressing the crisis.

4.

One of the first activities of the leadership in this initiative should be a nationwide survey, aided by an evaluative mechanism, of programs and activities designed to address the males issue.

5.

It is recommended that each chapter of the fraternity should be mandated to select for moral and financial support the best such initiative under way in its city or area and, second, to adopt an initiative of its own.

6.

The fraternity should make as a national centerpiece initiative the program designed to increase the number of African-American male teachers, who can be seen as role models in primary grade schools, individuals selected under this program for support to be known as Brooke Fellows or Brooke Teachers, honoring Brother Edward W. Brooke.

7.

As a means of encouraging achievement and discouraging the culture of low expectations, the fraternity should establish at the national level a “Manly Deeds Award.�

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SINCE ITS FOUNDING ON DECEMBER 4, 1906, ALPHA PHI ALPHA FRATERNITY, INC. HAS SUPPLIED VOICE AND VISION TO THE STRUGGLE OF AFRICANAMERICANS AND PEOPLE OF COLOR AROUND THE WORLD. Alpha Phi Alpha, the first intercollegiate Greek-letter fraternity established for African-Americans, was founded at Cornell University in Ithaca, New York by seven college men who recognized the need for a strong bond of brotherhood among African descendants in this country. The visionary founders, known as the “Jewels” of the fraternity, are Henry Arthur Callis, Charles Henry Chapman, Eugene Kinckle Jones, George Biddle Kelley, Nathaniel Allison Murray, Robert Harold Ogle, and Vertner Woodson Tandy.

The fraternity initially served as a study and support group for minority students who faced racial prejudice, both educationally and socially, at Cornell. The Jewel founders and early leaders of the fraternity succeeded in laying a firm foundation for Alpha Phi Alpha’s principles of scholarship, fellowship, good character, and the uplifting of humanity.

Alpha Phi Alpha chapters were established at other colleges and universities, many of them historically black institutions, soon after the founding at Cornell. The first alumni chapter was established in 1911. While continuing to stress academic excellence among its members, Alpha also recognized the need to help correct the educational, economic, political, and social injustices faced by African-Americans. Alpha Phi Alpha has long stood at the forefront of the African-American community’s fight for civil rights through leaders such as: W.E.B. DuBois, Adam Clayton Powell, Jr., Edward Brooke, Martin Luther King, Jr., Thurgood Marshall, Andrew Young, William Gray, Paul Robeson, and many others. True to its form as the “first of firsts,” Alpha Phi Alpha has been interracial since 1945.

Henry Arthur Callis became a practicing physician, Howard University professor of medicine and prolific contributor to medical journals. Often regarded as the “philosopher of the founders,” and a moving force in the fraternity’s development, he was the only one of the “Cornell Seven” to become general president. Prior to moving to Washington, D.C., he was a medical consultant to the Veterans Hospital in Tuskegee, Alabama. Upon his death in 1974, at age 87, the fraternity entered a time without any living Jewels. His papers were donated to Howard’s Moorland-Spingarn Research Center.

Charles Henry Chapman entered higher education and eventually became Professor of agriculture at what is now Florida A&M University. A university funeral was held with considerable fraternity participation when he became the first Jewel to enter Omega Chapter in 1934. Described as “a Brother beloved in the bonds,” Chapman was a founder of FAMU’s Beta Nu Chapter. During the organization stages of Alpha Chapter, he was the first chairman of the Committees on Initiation and Organization.

Eugene Kinckle Jones became the first executive secretary of the National Urban League. His 20-year tenure with the Urban League thus far has exceeded those of all his successors in office. A versatile leader, he organized the first three fraternity chapters that branched out from Cornell—Beta at Howard, Gamma at Virginia Union and the original Delta at the University of Toronto in Canada. In addition to becoming Alpha Chapter’s second president and joining with Callis in creating the fraternity name, Jones was a member of the first Committees on Constitution and Organization and helped write the fraternity ritual. He died in 1954.

George Biddle Kelley became the first African-American engineer registered in the state of New York.

Not only was he the strongest proponent of the fraternity idea among the organization’s founders, the civil engineering student also became Alpha Chapter’s first president. In addition, he served on committees that worked out the handshake and ritual. Kelley was popular with the brotherhood. He resided in Troy, New York and was active with Beta Pi Lambda Chapter in Albany. He died in 1963.

Nathaniel Allison Murray pursued graduate work after completing his undergraduate studies at Howard. He later returned home to Washington, D.C., where he taught in public schools. Much of his career was spent at Armstrong Vocational High School in the District of Columbia. He was a member of Alpha Chapter’s first committee on organization of the new fraternal group, as well as the Committee on the Grip. The charter member of Washington’s Mu Lambda Chapter was a frequent attendee of General Conventions. He died in 1959.

Robert Harold Ogle entered the career secretarial field and had the unique privilege of serving as a professional staff member to the United States Senate Committee on Appropriations. He was an African-American pioneer in his Capitol Hill position. He proposed the fraternity’s colors and was Alpha Chapter’s first secretary. Ogle joined Kelley in working out the first ritual and later became a charter member of Washington’s Mu Lambda Chapter. He died in 1936.

Vertner Woodson Tandy became the state of New York’s first registered black architect, with offices on Broadway in New York City. The designer of the fraternity pin holds the distinction of being the first African-American to pass the military commissioning examination and was commissioned first lieutenant in the 15th Infantry of the New York State National Guard. He was Alpha Chapter’s first treasurer and took the initiative to incorporate the fraternity. Among the buildings designed by the highly talented architect is Saint Phillips Episcopal Church in New York City. He died in 1949, at age 64.

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ALPHA PHI ALPHA FRATERNITY, INC. DEVELOPS LEADERS, PROMOTES BROTHERHOOD AND ACADEMIC EXCELLENCE, WHILE PROVIDING SERVICE AND ADVOCACY FOR OUR COMMUNITIES. ADDRESS Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc.

2313 St. Paul Street Baltimore, MD 21218 PHONE

(410) 554-0040

WEB www.apa1906.net

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