By Cheryl Smith
Usually, when organizations like Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority (AKA) come to town for conferences or conventions, the same cookie-cutter story appears in the so-called mainstream media about the financial impact of that one event.
I want to set the record straight that the impact is felt 365 days a year and 366 in a leap year and that’s why it is so important to show love to these organizations.
According to International Supreme President Danette Anthony Reed, there will be more than 20,000 paid registrants at this year’s convention in Dallas.
That’s huge! But many members are bringing their families, supporters and loved ones, so the numbers, adding in the non-registering members, could climb to as many as six figures!
If you really want to look at numbers, you have to look at the millions of dollars and scholarships presented annually by AKA chapters across the country and around the world.
AKAs serve, shop, step, mentor, style, teach, lead, support, advise, and more, including having a good/fun time, partying, and helping build spiritually sound foundations in the home, at work, in our communities, and ultimately, the world.
Texas Metro News is saluting the sisters of Alpha Kappa Alpha and President Reed because we know of the impact you have on society. We are proud to say that a Superb Woman, the leader of this prestigious organization of predominantly Black college-educated women, calls D/ FW home.
For those unfamiliar with the sorority, it was founded in 1908 at Howard University in the nation’s capital.
Notable members include Vice President Kamala Harris; Atty. DeMetris Sampson; Judges Monica Purdy, Ingrid Warren, Cheryl Williams, Veretta Frazier, Audrey Moorehead, Julia Hayes, Julia Malveaux, LaDeitra Atkins, Dominique Collins, Sandra Jackson, Kim Cooks, Lisa Green, Stephanie Huff, Amber Givens, and several other elected officials; media mogul Cathy Hughes; tennis great Althea Gibson; legends Dr. Maya Angelou, Coretta Scott King and her daughter Bernice, Chelle Wilson and Rosa Parks; actresses Phylicia Rashad, Wanda Sykes, Roxie Roker, Loretta Devine, Lynn Whit-field, Jada Pinkett Smith and Tracey Ellis Ross; the three hidden features – Katherine Goble Johnson, Dorothy Johnson Vaughan and Mary Winston Jackson; Hon. Eddie Bernice Johnson and Sheila Jackson Lee; noted educators Drs. Glenda Glover, Beverly Mitchell Brooks, Deardra Hayes Whigham, Shirley Ison-Newsome, and Shirley Fisher; and journalists Kim Godwin, Michelle Miller, Eva D. Coleman, Suzanne Malveaux and NABJ Hall of Famer Barbara Ciara.
When you consider the millions of dollars raised in scholarship funds, support of community service projects, the establishment of a credit union, and mentoring through youth groups; to name a few successes, yes the millions funneled into cities from the convention, while important is just one component of the great work of this organization.
So, if you are out and about July 5-11; give a smile, a welcome, a fist bump, possibly a hug or a thank you to the ladies in pink and green.
The impact that Alpha Kappa Alpha women have on society is way bigger than one convention so show some love year-round because believe me the sisters are working year-round to make this world a better place.
And that’s the real story, the whole truth!
