Kirk Watson: “I rise today to salute my brother fraternity, Alpha Phi Alpha, on the occasion of their centennial celebration and in…”

“I rise today to salute my brother fraternity, Alpha Phi Alpha, on the occasion of their centennial celebration and in support of H. Con. Res. 384, a resolution honoring the Alpha Phi Alpha fraternity as the first Greek letter fraternity established for African American men. As a member of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Incorporated, the first female and sister sorority of Alpha Phi Alpha, I know well the hard work and dedication that goes towards their goals: their mission of education, their mission of civic engagement and participation, and their civil rights leadership. I was extremely honored to be declared a Golden Soror at the fall Alpha Kappa Alpha's Boule last week. The Brothers of the Black and Gold have watched their mission grow and evolve in the 100 years since the fraternity's founding. They have taken their original collegiate support system and expanded it to serve as a role model in high school and college mentoring programs, a practice that I as a former educator and school psychologist highly endorse as one of the best routes to success. Their 70-year-old mission to increase civic participation by instilling the adage, ``A Voteless People is a Hopeless People,'' is still relevant today, as we just passed the Voting Rights Act amid some claims that it is no longer needed.…”