After the high school bands had marched through the streets of downtown, playing thunderously loud; after the sound of high-polish JROTC dress shoes clicking rhythmically on the pavement had echoed away; after the fleet of Corvettes and jeeps carrying the newly crowned Miss Juneteenth pageant winners had parked; and after all the speeches celebrating the dream of Martin Luther King Jr. had been delivered, a group of local Black fraternities got down to the business of keeping not just the dream alive but also making sure that MLK’s message of service to the community was carried out.
Members of Alpha Phi Alpha, as well as other local Black fraternities, joined in the 40th Annual Fort Worth MLK Day Parade despite the bracingly cold morning weather. The parade, organized by the Greater Fort Worth MLK Holiday Committee, had been postponed due to inclement weather once before.
Vince Adams, a member of Alpha Phi Alpha, said that “events like this are of vital importance,” so that the community can see that the dream of MLK is still important, still worth striving for, and still, in spite of the politics of the day, within reach.
Founded on Dec. 4, 1906, Alpha Phi Alpha was the first Black Greek letter organization. “MLK was an Alpha man,” Adams remarked with pride as marching bands from Paschal and Dunbar high schools made their way into Sundance Square.
Adrian Gray, president of the Fort Worth chapter of Alpha Phi Alpha, spoke about MLK’s message of service to and for the community. “My whole life has been about service.”
It’s also vital, he continued, for young boys to see “men being men, helping out in the community.”
For Alpha Phi Alpha, enabling young Black men to attain the highest levels of education while mentoring them to be responsible, solid members of the community is paramount.
Once the parade concluded, Omega Psi Phi, another Black fraternity, and the rest of the Alpha men convened at the downtown YMCA, where they gathered and packaged up necessities to be delivered to those in need.
“We are about serving,” Adams said, “really, genuinely serving our community, and making a difference. Whether it is mentoring, whether it is advocating for the less fortunate or disenfranchised, our organization is about service, about helping to realize that great dream.”
Fort Worth native/author E.R. Bills has thoughts on D.E.I. Read about it in Discrimination, Inequality, and Exclusion.
