“The red coats are coming!”
That’s the rallying cry the Grand Polemarch of Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity, Inc., Thomas Battles Jr., gave to scores of his fraternity brothers dressed in crimson and cream on Friday in City Hall.
He revealed that the fraternity’s 84th Grand Chapter meeting will be held in Philadelphia next year.
The biannual, multi-day event is expected to draw upwards of 20,000 people to the city’s Convention Center for workshops, seminars, activities, philanthropic endeavors and more, according to Kevin Johnson, the national meeting planner for the fraternity.
While members of the historically Black fraternity and their families were encouraged to support and spend their dollars at Black-owned businesses next year, Johnson said the event will contribute more than just economics to the city.
“More importantly, we will leave a lasting impression upon this city, exhibiting what educated African-American men can and will do when provided the opportunity to make a difference in society,” Johnson told those gathered in the Mayor’s Reception Hall.
The announcement drew fraternity members; wives of fraternity members, with some known as silhouettes; and officials including former Mayor the Rev. W. Wilson Goode Sr., City Councilwomen Blondell Reynolds Brown and Cherelle Parker, state Sen. Shariff Street, state Rep. Stephen Kinsey and Julie Coker Graham, president and chief executive officer of the Philadelphia Convention and Visitors Bureau.
Founded in 1911 at Indiana University, the fraternity boasts more than 700 undergraduate and alumni chapters across the United States, and an estimated 150,000 members worldwide.
Kappa Alpha Psi’s international headquarters has been based on Broad Street for decades.
Parker credited the fraternity for its longtime investments in Philadelphia.
“Thank you for continuing to do what you did in the city long before other people were talking about the power of economic investment in African-American neighborhoods,” she said. “It’s your history, you did it on Broad Street before Broad Street — it’s changing, it’s growing, but you planted roots there when it mattered.”
The city previously hosted three Grand Chapter meetings — in 1930, 1959 and 1995 — but next year’s meeting will be the first of the 21st century, according to the local alumni chapter’s website.
The Philadelphia Alumni Chapter, located in Germantown, was founded in 1922 and is among the oldest in the fraternity.
L. Douglas Harrell Jr., polemarch of the local chapter, said the Grand Chapter meeting will bring a significant philanthropic effort to the city, noting the fraternity will donate funds to the school district and give scholarships to students.
Harrell added that the city itself contributes something, too.
“The last one that was here in 1995 … the whole fraternity still talks about it,” he said.
Harrell added: “It’s going to be better now, because the city has grown so much.”
Among those at the announcement was Tarleton Williams Sr., a member of the fraternity for 69 years.
Williams, 88, a member of the local chapter and Philadelphia resident, said he recalls the 1995 meeting, but the changing economic fortunes of the city, coupled with the innumerable restaurants, venues and hotels that have opened since then will ensure next year is something new.
“It’s a different city,” he said.
If you go …
What: 84th Kappa Alpha Psi Grand Chapter Meeting
When: July 30-Aug. 4, 2019
Where: Philadelphia Convention Center, 1101 Arch St.
More information: kappaconclave2019.com/
Source: http://www.phillytrib.com/news/kappa-alpha-psi-announces-grand-meeting-in-philly/article_c1f5fbe1-cc69-563c-9c21-693140744be4.html
