Get and Stay Engaged “Let us remember we are all part of one American family. We are united in common values, and that includes belief in equality under the law, basic respect for public order, and the right of peaceful protest.” – Barack Obama
Organizational Activism By Nicole A. Butler International Director of Social Action
The 44th president of the United States said it best. We are all part of one American family. As such, we must be diligent in ensuring equity in every aspect of our society. Zeta, as an organization, made the declaration 100 years ago, seeking to improve the human condition. Having a mission to improve communities and make our lives examples for others to follow is how we stand out among our peers. Being a part of an organization has many merits, such as sisterhood, working as a collective of like-minded people, and being a contributor to society through service projects. Being able to say that more 8
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Zeta Phi Beta Sorority, Incorporated
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than 20,000 women are fighting all injustices that they face has a greater impact than a select few. By uniting under One Zeta, we make sure our voices are heard on pertinent issues such as birth equity, domestic violence, police brutality, and human trafficking, to name a few. We have promoted the slogan Community-Conscious, Action-Oriented for many years; we must continue to use this as our rallying cry and use it as our foundation to serve our social action efforts. We are tasked to ensure that we are utilizing all resources to make our communities better than they are and to increase our actions in doing so. We are the only sorority that has a designated program for social action. Get Engaged is where we are intentional in addressing current issues, resolving conflict on the local level, and encouraging the blue and white family to be visible when seeking political office. Get Engaged is not just a slogan or catchphrase but a verb that should motivate you to make change in your communities, seek support from your public officials, and demand that engagement is ongoing within our organization. As with any program, Get Engaged can always improve, yet improvement comes from being involved and having your voice heard. Serving on multiple levels of social action, it is invigorating that many Zetas are leading the way in making sure social action is being done on the local level. With over 900 active chapters, we have impacted over 75,000 people in the last two years. Let’s strive to impact more by 2022. Serving as the director of this program has allowed me to assess what is important to the sisterhood and how we can impact our communities through our various Z-
The Archon Magazine • Spring & Summer 2021
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HOPE programs. It is gratifying to say to a partner that we have more than 20,000 Zetas who are ready to implement programs related to the Census, Election 2020, and supporting the families of Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery, George Floyd, and Soror Pheonecia Ratliff. We must continue to say their names and continue to do the work to prevent further injustices in our chartered areas of service. I charge you all with rolling up your sleeves and getting in the trenches to make sure that we are truly being a service to our communities. Our theme for this administration: Robust Civic Engagement. We must demand to be in the room where decisions are made. We must demand that we receive funding to support our programs that will help families thrive. We must demand accountability from all who have been elected. We must demand transparency from all who pledged to serve. In closing, I am grateful to the Zetas who blazed the path for me to walk on, who were a friend to man and continued to lead the fight for the improvement of our communities.
As We Move Forth The year 2020 was a year of many changes. We have experienced a pandemic, a rise in violence against women, our nation’s capital being breeched, police brutality, virtual education, and much more. Zeta has embraced the many changes we faced as a country. What would have (Continued on page 10) SOCIAL JUSTICE
