The legacy of Kappa Alphi Psi, Inc. was forever memorialized in a street sign unveiled Monday in the city of Miami Gardens.
In partnership with the Miami Alumni, Miami Gardens and the Miami-Dade County Commission, local Kappa men reunited to commemorate the moment at Dr. Lester Brown Park.
Miami Gardens Councilmember Reggie Leon opened the event, which he spearheaded alongside Miami-Dade Commissioner Oliver Gilbert. The two men are no strangers to working with Kappa men in Miami, and all remarks were filled with gratitude for their long-standing partnership. The sign reading “Kappa Alpha Psi Way” was unveiled indoors with plans to officially place it at 32nd Ave.
Miami Gardens Mayor Rodney Harris lauded the event saying, “This is is one of the great things that happens in the city — the Divine Nine stood up, and because of that we’re looking out for you.
It’s men like you that will carry on legacies for our little babies to see.”
Commissioner Gilbert was open about his hesitation to honor the Kappa men this way: “I was skeptical at first, I don’t do a lot of street naming.” Then, he said he thought of all of the former senators, councilmembers and community leaders that are members of the Divine Nine (National Pan-Hellenic Council), including those in the room.
“I need you to be remembered,” Gilbert said. “If we do not tell our story, our story will not be told.”
While many nonprofits have an executive director, organizations under the National Pan-Hellenic Council have different hierarchies and courtesies that are respected in all local and national chapters. Oliver Spicer is often introduced as the president of the Miami Alumni, but his official title is polemarch — a Greek term used for war leaders — similar to the grand polemarch at the national level of the organization.
“Our founders were some of the first to experience diversity, equity and inclusion,” Spicer said when recounting Kappa history. His chapter is “humbled” by the renaming and dedication of 32nd Ave.
Spicer calls the alumni a “literal who’s who of the risk takers, change makers and trailblazers that exist in Miami-Dade county.” He told the Miami Times that “everybody takes a role” in his alumni chapter.
From the top of the team to the students they mentor, Mayor Harris said Kappas are “maintaining the history of Black Miami and making sure Black culture continues to exist.”
One of the biggest alumni initiatives is the Miami Kappa League. The alumni chapter says the league is “designed to steer its participants toward identifying the best-fit career or college while identifying the best possible sources of financial aid.” It also won the “Community Service Chapter of the Year 2021-22” in the Southern Province, out of 44 alumni chapters.
Before the sign was revealed, attendees found out that three more signs were made for exceptional alumni to take home, including Dewey Knight. Knight has dedicated his life to service but remains in the background.
“I was born into it,” he told the Miami Times. “Service is the price we pay for the space we occupy.”
His father worked for Miami-Dade County, and Miami Gardens is close to his heart.
“It used to be the running joke. ‘Oh you don’t ever want to go to Murder Gardens.’” Knight applauded the current and former city council members for leading the change alongside his fraternity brothers: “Nobody says it anymore. People want to live there now. Stores are coming, jobs are coming, and that was our mission.”
Chartered in 1946, the Miami Alumni chapter brought out some men with 30 to 50 years of membership and service. Among the hand-shakes and red blazers were Miami Gardens councilmembers who supported Councilman Leon in his partnership with the Kappa men.
Leon also expressed his support as an Omega Psi Phi member, and even though most attendees were Kappas, many men were “barking” to show their approval.
When looking at American history, many would not regard the early 1900s as good for Black people — but since Kappa Alpha Psi and Omega Psi Phi were founded then, Leon declared otherwise:
“1911 was a wonderful year, I must say. Here are men who do great things across the board that do great things in this community, as we stand in this building named after one of your fraternity brothers.” (Dr. Lester Brown, the park’s namesake, was a polemarch of the award-winning alumni chapter.
To add to the significance of this unveiling, the street renaming was held on founder’s day, Jan. 6, celebrating 114 years of the fraternity’s mission. To round out the weekend the men also attended a church service at New Hope Baptist Church, where Kappa Alpha Psi member Bishop Randall Holts is the senior pastor.
Source:
https://www.miamitimesonline.com/news/local/kappa-alpha-psi-street-renaming-cements-black-fraternitys-impact-in-miami/article_b38e635a-cd82-11ef-8fa8-2718e5f60a6b.html
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