The Presidents’ Message

The President’s Message

Greetings Brothers,

Perspective.

During the this past month I was on sabbatical and out of town for the most part. During that time my plans were to ride my motorcycle taking a scenic route through the Sky Line drive and Blue Ridge Parkway to Atlanta and then to Montgomery AL. While in Atlanta I was going to see three of my line Brothers who live in the Atlanta metro area along with other Beta initiated Brothers who were available including my special who is also a member of Mu Lambada. In Montgomery AL my goal was to visit the Legacy Museum and the National Memorial for Peace and Justice, (https:// museumandmemorial.eji.org/), along with visiting the campus of Tuskegee University. I actually considered going to Tuskegee when I was graduating from high school but had never seen the campus or been to the state for Alabama.

The ride along the Sky Line Drive was both beautiful and terrifying. It was off and on cloudy. When riding in the clear sky along the mountain and stopping by the overlooks it was breathtakingly beautiful. When riding through the rain clouds with very, very little visibility it was terrifying. It was definitely a test of my riding skills and concentration. When I completed the Sky Line Drive it was close to dark and I decided to not ride the Blue Ridge Parkway in the dark and clouds. So I took the regular road to a quaint little inn in Floyd VA along the route. Thinking along the way hmm I could have not made it through those clouds. The next morning it was too cold for me to ride on the Blue Ridge Parkway to Atlanta and decided to jettison that part of the trip and take regular roads to Atlanta.

While in Atlanta for a few days before the going to Montgomery I got to spend time with my line Brothers and other Brothers who have shaped and influenced my life. I also spent time with lifelong great friends from my days in college and beyond. It was a refreshing and wonderful time. During one of those days I noticed the foot shifter parts were loose on the bike and I made a mental note to fix it or replace the parts when I got back home.

On to Montgomery to the museum, memorial and Tuskegee. My one and only niece lives in Atlanta and I invited her to go with me on the journey to Montgomery. She accepted so instead of taking the bike we road in her car for the 2.5 hour trip. Along the way it was great talking with her about her life my life, family history and characters, and various topics. The Legacy museum was a powerful, unflinching, serious, realistic and high tech focus on our experience as a people from the transatlantic slave trade through mass incarceration. Unlike the NMAAHC in our home town the Legacy Museum is more narrowly focused. It shakes you to your core and gives you a visceral reminder of what we have experienced as a people, how much strength we have to had endured and that this strength is still in our makeup today if untapped in some of us. Equally somber and powerful was the National Memorial for Peace and Justice. It is an outdoor quite place where the names and unknown names of the hundreds of Black men, women and children who were lynched are etched in 805 hanging rectangular metal structures almost like coffins and above the names of the lynched is the county and state where the atrocities occurred. Maryland and Pennsylvania is represented sadly as well as Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi and many other states. My niece was pretty shook up. After the memorial we took the journey to Tuskegee University which in a way gave us an emotional uplift. Of course I had reached out to the Brothers at the Gamma Phi Chapter and exchanged emails with their president but they were attending their district conference so I did not get a chance to connect with them, but I still dragged my niece to their plot. The ride back was of course full of conversations about the journey.

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Time to leave and head back home. It was always the plan to take a direct path home using the major highways. While about 2 hours north of Atlanta I am travelling along 85 North at a good clip and in 6th gear. Traffic starts to slow down so I go to down shift to slow the bike down getting into a lower gear, etc. However when I go to step on the foot shifter, the part that I noticed was loose was now gone. I had no means of downshifting the bike’s engine. Another moment of relying on my riding experience, no panicking, just knowing I need to get off the highway. It was a good thing I was in the right lane and not too far from an exit. So I exited the highway and while on the off ramp stopped the bike, pulled the gear shifter by hand into first gear and rode to the nearby gas station which is in Lavonia GA, population 1,827. It’s a Monday and the closer, smaller Harley dealerships are closed on Mondays. The closest one with the parts needed is back south of Atlanta the way I came. I make arrangements to get a tow, (dude almost dropped my bike btw), and hope it makes it there before the place closes. He gets it to the dealership with 15 minutes to spare. But due to Covid I was not allowed to ride in the tow truck with the driver to the dealership. So I am in Lavonia with no means to get to Conyers GA where the bike is being towed. No car services, buses etc. So I now have to figure out how I am going to get back to Atlanta. I reach out to family and friends letting them know I am alright just stuck. Now I am not one of those Brothers who “leans on the Shield”, my Shield is always available to leaned on but I just tend not to do that. “I will figure it out”. So eventually I am talking with Brother Malcolm Carter and he is like how is it going, have you called the Bros? Why are you still there? (hours have passed at this point). Nah not yet. He then reads me the riot act. “You know if someone called you a$$ you’d be there almost immediately” “Reach out and make that call.” So I do. My line Brother and Front Brother Juan Pittman who I was enjoying hanging out with a few days earlier in the Atlanta said he would come get me. The next day the bike is fixed and I am on the road back to the DMV no more mishaps or need of enhanced riding skills. While I was sitting there in Lavonia GA at the gas station it gave me a chance to put the last week or so in perspective. Here I was sitting at a gas station for hours in a small southern city/town, safe, mentally and physically sound because my “toy” broke down. There was no way in the world I was going to be upset or angry about this. Looking back I am actually glad that I did not do my usual and had that part fixed and replaced when I first noticed it as I would not be there at the gas station sitting and reflecting. This was a minor inconvenience when compared to the experiences of our people which was so powerfully captured at the museum and memorial I had just visited. I had just experienced a comradery with my Alpha Brothers that few Black men get to experience in their entire life times. While I was away two of our Chapter members mothers’ passed away. One of which my line Brother’s mom. I spent precious time with friends and family. This inconvenience was nothing. And when I stopped being stubborn and reached out to the Brothers there was no hesitation, “where you at, I got you”.

So Brothers as always I got you, we got each other and be reflective and energized by what we do and what we stand for. This is our mission: Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity Inc. develops leaders, promotes brotherhood and academic excellence, while providing service and advocacy for our communities.

We do this for those who came before us, who are here with us now and who will be here after we are gone on to Omega Chapter.

Fraternally

Brother John “Tony” Wilson, President Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc. Mu Lambda Chapter