I like to talk about elder brothers in these stories;for they are the shoulders we stand on. There are Omega men(and Greeks) who when they die, much of our past will have passed on with them if we don't remember them.
When I was in Southern California, an elder brother, who has gone on to his reward, liked to talk about "the old days" after Frat meetings. He just wanted someone to share these stories with. He told us about the time that Bishop Edgar Love, a Founder of Omega Psi Phi, stayed at his home when he visited the West Coast in the '50s. (We forget that once upon a time we could not stay at some of the finer hotels and thus we sometime lodged at each other's homes--this is not ancient history!) Anyway, the brother told us how impressed he was with Founder Love. He was a very gracious man.
This same brother told us about why he pledged Omega. Where he came from he said of the Alphas:if it rained, an Alpha would drown because he he held his nose up so high. Of the Kappas:"they were all alcoholics."(An aside: in the book "Black Haze," the author, a Nupe, says that the "Pretty Boy" stereotype is a recent phenomeon of Kappas, whereas before Kappas were known as heavy social drinkers. So this assessment from this brother may not have been just a off hand prejudiced remark.) Finally, this brother said that the Omegas were known as the "Do-gooders" for their social outreach efforts.
And a dear friend and brother who passed a few years ago was the quintessential Omega man. His name was Paul Woods.(Ques who have been around for a while would know of whom I speak.) After I recommitted my life to Christ I gave up the Frat. I began my journey back by hanging out as his house and relearning the beauty of Que fellowship. He treated evervone fairly and was open to any brother. He told stories also. About how one of Omega's founders chastised brothers for having "exotic dancers" at a function during a Conclave, telling them that this was "his fraternity." And how Jesse Jackson had brothers crying during one of the meetings with his down home homiletical eloquence. And how he lived at the Frat house in D.C. in the early '60s, and his roomate was the only caucasian to have pledged Omega at Alpha chapter in Howard--he was on the same line as H. Patrick Swygert, the present President of Howard.
Stories!!!!How a brother in Los Angeles knew about 100 ditties to go with the song "Come brothers and Join in the Chorus," a Que drinking song that most Ques don't even know these days. Outside of Atomic Dog, the hymn ("Omega Dear") and the Omega Sweeheart Song, and some common chants, most younger brothers aren't conversant with the rich Omega tradition in music and song. Gone are the days in which Ques didn't step and Omegas were known for singing. A elder brother told me that one time when he was an undergrad and they were serenading girls in a dorm at an HBCU, one girl was so overcome that she fell out of the window. And the '60s brothers who influenced my line, used to tell us stories about their step shows, to motivate us. They said that when they stepped, coeds used to tear off their panties.
So, when we stepped when I was an undergrad, we dressed in our boots and diapers, a la Parliament/Funkadelic--pre-Atomic Dog.
Hybrid Mode
