FOR THE BROTHAS: AN INTRODUCTION

It must have been about 20 years ago when I first began thinking about creating a "Cultural Salon" as a reaction to the mundane social circles In Washington D.C. The richness of intellectual and artistic interchange had died, college friends had moved, the internet had not yet become the phenomenon it now is... I romanticised about the Salons of the mid to late 1800's in Paris, London and Berlin and the cultural dynamo of the Harlem Rennaisance. I was fortunate enough to meet a gentleman, an artist who lived and traveled with James Baldwin... Jimmy he affectionately called him, and he spoke often of their small cottage in southern France and of the many Artists, Poets and Luminaries that dropped in to chat and relax. Well, the impressionists, cubists, modernists, etc. all hung out together famously in those days and shared their ideas with one another creating a creative greenhouse in a world that was rapidly changing. I longed to have lived in those times, to have met Cassat, Rodin, Ellington, Fitzgerald, Baker, Balwin, well I did finally meet Baldwin and others purely for the joy of intellection upon the arts. This was in the late 1980's and by the mid 2000's I happened to run into a friend of mine from Hampton University who had been living in New York since he graduated in the early 90s. Well, I was surprised to hear him comment that in all of the wonder that is New York he never met anyone who ever really had anything interesting to say about art, literature, architecture, science, fashion or anything... I was so surprised to hear this since it had also been my experience. Well here I am in 2011 attempting the Virtual Salon...

Sunday, March 31, 2013

LEARNING TO LET GO






A man shared his life-changing experience with me and while I have heard many such stories in my short existence upon this beautiful earth his was no less moving as if it were the first time anything had touched my heart. While his discovery represented an evolutionary hurtle I had conquered many years before it served as a refresher course on why I even bothered to wake up every morning. It reminded me of my daily goal to attempt a transformation of gobbledygook and utter chaos into something meaningful, structured and beautiful.



In retrospect it wasn’t so much what happened to him, the raw, undressed details that captured my attention and consequently my soul but rather the creative path he took to avert disaster and transform it into a quantifiable measure triumph!  What is more, the skills he used are the same ones we call upon daily performing the simplest deductive reasoning.  The point of disconnect for many men is acting decisively on what they already know.  What makes what he did different from many people is that he followed through solving the problem and successfully implemented its solution. 



Now I hear people complain all day long about “This and that!” and “That and this!” so I always say to them, “Wonderful!  You have identified the problem now don’t stop there, come up with a solution and then carry it out!”  It is my design to reach out to others, to push them and to introduce them to a more solutions-based outlook and strategy for handling life’s many problems.  To that end, my success is only as good as their desire to embrace openness. I learned many years ago that a person’s window must be first be open to positive change in order for them to catch its sweet breeze literally floating away from adversity. 



Well, after what I must assume had been many years of utopic but blindfolded bliss the gentleman realized everyone did not have his best interest at heart; a tough lesson for him at his age.  He learned that some people were willing to manipulate their association with him, pretending to be his ally, friend, lover and or confidant in order to carry out some craftily hidden agenda that would ultimately betray him.  Such people are willing to feign affection, hiding behind their wants and needs, rationalizing them to avoid a confrontation with the graveness of their deception.  A hunter can get closer to his prey by pretending at friendship, it psyches out his prey while he quietly executes the real purpose of the charade waiting to strike the fatal blow.  I will not say that my friend was gullible because he was not! However, it was my impression that he was certainly blinded by any of a number of variables ranging from amazing sex to the promise of amazing sex, romance, and the chic novelty of it all. Now, that is as far as any gentleman will go in the way of disclosing details that are more prudently left private.  In the final hour my gentleman friend was the hapless victim of betrayal, deceit, slander and a raging bonfire of vanities!  Having been there I applaud him for having the tenacity to rise from the ashes with both his dignity and manners intact!



How he managed his plight was most effective.  First he severed association with everyone who had been even remotely guilty of an indiscretion against him.  Secondly he re-established himself amongst those who had been steadfast friends and associates reaffirming their established bond.  Thirdly he retreated from the entire public reconstruction in order to reaffirm his relationship with himself in private.  He then gradually came out of sequester refreshed, and refocused.  He had analyzed and let go of the past, moved forward with a new plan of action and embraced the spirit of positive change; he was a new man!



Many of us go through similar exercises in which we must shed some of what we have come to associate as our “Selves” and then regroup to redefine self.  In many instances it is any man’s guess as to how long this “New Man” will last before it gradually degrades back to its former self?  But we must not preconceive fate!  The important lesson to be got from this example is the process. It could be argued that maintenance is also an integral element of process and I would be well inclined to agree because the simple process of learning through failure is one of the mightiest methods of human understanding.  What I took from this was an understanding of the concept, “terminus” or “terminal”!  A terminus or terminal is a place of finality the completion of a journey whether physical or aesthetic.  When traveling it is the point at which the vehicle comes to a final stop having arrived at its destination.  At this point the traveler must get out of the vehicle take whatever owns and earns he desires to preserve in order to begin a new phase of his journey, a new arrival.  At this point he can still leave anything, anything behind him, he can be free of the burdens of the past at least conceptually.  Whether he likes it or not the journey lay behind him at the terminus, it cannot be re-trod, it is final, before him lay a new journey and that is where his mind is bent, forward not backward.  No matter what he does he can only move forward from this point on as surely he could only ever have done; it is the way time works.  My hat goes off to this gentleman because he revived an old lesson in my mind, a rite of passage, an art appreciated by those who have truly lived and understood the meaning of what they have done, he had finally learned to let go.  My gentleman friend realized that the way men become better men is by gracefully learning to let go….



Written by D. Vollin 

Sunday, March 24, 2013

MEN’S ETIQUETTE, A RESTAURANT WITH NO HAT CHECK OR COATROOM…


MEN’S ETIQUETTE, A RESTAURANT WITH NO HAT CHECK OR COATROOM…



The first time I ever seriously contemplated the subject of a timely revision to the matter of men’s etiquette was when I was entreated to remove an exceptionally esteemed fedora in a somewhat less than mediocre eating establishment.  The question was not necessarily if I would have removed it in homage to the ritual convention that gentleman must always remove their chapeau when entering into a restaurant as I here quote Emily Post advising men that, “In a fashionable restaurant a man leaves his hat and coat in the coat room or checks them at the entrance of the restaurant.” Rather, the question was where would I place my then-favorite chapeau as there was neither a coat room or hat check.  I was therefore challenged to discover a nearby location where my chapeau would neither be ruined by the tiniest morsel of food or grease nor be stolen whilst I dined.  So grave had my choices become that I chose not to dine there at all but the dilemma remained.



Now when I refer to a gentleman’s hat I mean a fine fedora, Kufe, Kaftan, homburg, boater, derby, homburg, fez, krakul, ascot or other type of more formal dress hat certainly not any of the more informal varieties such as a baseball cap, a skull cap or stocking hat.  Hats that are of a formal religious nature are exempt from the secular rules of etiquette as they are governed by more restrictive standards such as a turban a zucchetto, a toquem, fez or biretta.



I had never got so political, not about a mere question of etiquette as I have now become, but let me organise my argument in a comparison contrast so that you gentlemen can see the true nature of my thoughts.  First allow me to define the term, “Restaurant”.  Without delving overlong into the history of the use of the terminology it appears that the term restaurant widely refers to an eating establishment primarily devoted to the preparation of food including the serving of beverages with the key distinction being that customers are primarily intended to dine on the premises with the smaller portion of customers dining off premises in what is commonly referred to as a, “carryout” feature.  I feel that it is largely the dynamic of dining on premises which drives the necessity for a gentleman to remove his hat.  The restaurateur is charged with the responsibility of preparing a compelling dining experience for his gentle patrons including safe and clean accommodations for a gentleman’s chapeau.  A restaurateur who has not provided these amenities and who has not even made the crudest of hat hooks available on the wall nearest the seating or on the benches where gentleman might sit should therefore not expect a gentleman to place his fine hat upon the same table at which he intends to dine. 



Unfortunately, the new generation of restaurants do not understand the fine intent of etiquette with respect to a gentleman’s chapeau and yet in their pretension suffer their patrons to remove their hats upon demand.  A restaurateur who is truly refined should never insult a patron by demanding or even suggesting the removal of his hat.  A maître d’ might politely offer to take a gentleman’s hat to hat and coat check at the door but he must never insist, mention it a second time nor make it appear in any way that the gentleman was being discourteous or was ignorant of the proper gentlemanly manner.   A truly fine restaurant will accommodate its patrons, not scold or oppress them since it is not their business to teach proper etiquette but rather to dispense fine food and customer service!



One of the dynamics of the late twentieth century has been the utilization of hats as a symbolic gesture by urban gangs.  Business establishments that are forced to respond to these clear and serious threats have implemented no hat policies that have caught on in places where this threat is nonexistent without the practise ever being reconsidered.  So welcome to the twenty-first century; a paranoid, litigious and generally discourteous landscape where gentlemanly values are not understood or revered!  Today’s gentleman is virtually alone, and his civilized sense of courtesy will be looked upon by many as antiquated, irrelevant and offensive.  Under these circumstances it is easy to understand why many men no longer have a desire to be true gentlemen.  So as gentlemen, we represent all that stands between chaos and barbarism!  But a gentleman does not ever want to become overzealous about his convictions at least not to the point that he becomes rude, or might insult those who are truly ignorant of the fact they are ignorant.



This, of course leaves a true gentleman with but one option, when he is wearing a fine chapeau and intends to dine out then he must immediately inquire at the door, and if there is a maître d’ direct this question toward him, tactfully so as not to make a great fuss of it.  It is also very important that a gentleman not insult the restaurant or eating establishment because it has no accommodations for hi8s hat.  He should not be so selfish as  to imagine that any business, would suddenly create a hat check for him and he should never impose upon the restaurateur or manager to make special accommodations for him to place his hat in some secure place perhaps the office or elsewhere.  A gentleman must respect the nature of the business that confronts him; it literally is what it is!  Furthermore, if the gentleman is dining with one or more persons he should have inquired beforehand.  It is impolite to invite dinner guests to a restaurant without having first verified its virtues.  A gentleman will have not gone merely on word of mouth but would have checked the menu and price beforehand a task made all he simpler with the internet.  A loophole to this dilemma when a gentleman is unsure of the restaurants hat policy is for the him to tell his guests he is checking availability for a table and whilst he checks if he discovers there are no accommodations he returns to them informing them that the restaurant is booked with appointments.  But this manner of hunting should not go on to the utter frustration of all parties involved.  A gentleman cannot repeat this mistake, he must  forgo his need to protect his chapeau so as not to hold his hungry guests hostage so the gentleman must decide to either remove his hat place it in the car, if that option exists or employ any number of cyber tools to locate a gentle restaurant that will have the proper accommodations.



Many restaurants want to create the image of luxury and sophistication by asking male patrons to remove their hats but a fine restaurant will have a coat and hat check specifically for this purpose leaving it up to the patron to either remove or wear his hat as he so pleases.  A gentleman must always remember to tip the clerk at the hat check directly and separately from the waiter.   A gentleman will never make a fuss concerning whether a restaurant can accommodate his hat check, likewise if a gentleman finds that he has entered an establishment that is aggressive about the removal of his fine dress-hat he should simply pay his tab and leave.  There may be arguments for when a gentleman can wear his hat in a restaurant or if he can wear it when he is at the bar only or if he is in an informal eating establishment such as a diner, café or fast food establishment but these will be subjects of another time…



Written by David Vollin

Sunday, March 17, 2013

PONDERING PAPAL PREPONDERANCE…


PONDERING PAPAL PREPONDERANCE…

Engraving Showing an Inca King Bowing To A Conquestador

As religions go one might say that The Catholic Church is doing quite well after nearly 1,688 years since its founding in ancient Rome.  Roman Catholicism is a relatively young religion; in fact, it is only about 357 years older than Islam which was founded around 1,331 years ago. Judaism is nearly 2,325 years older than Roman Catholicism.   Comparatively there is evidence that the Hindu faith began 5,132 years ago nearly 3,624 years prior to Roman Catholicism.  To put this equation into proper context one must look to Africa where the Cushitic or Egyptian culture and religion began to flourish more than 8,000 years ago, nearly 6,325 years before Catholicism or Christianity had even been thought of. 
Inca Gold Artifact Similar To Those Taken Back To Europe.

It is remarkable that in spite of the fact there are still religions far older and larger than Roman Catholicism the media is often ignores them in lieu of even the slightest news of the Pope.  The global preponderance that The Catholic Church has seized in its brief history is largely tied to the fact that it has emerged as a major economic power often leading the march of manifest destiny as nations have fallen under its influence.  In the Ancient world, the wealth of The Catholic Church came from conquests in the Middle East and Europe  but as Islam and Protestantism drove them out of The Catholic Church rooted itself in the new world redoubling its wealth and power from the exploitation of Latin American resources alone. 
The Spaniards Murdered Millions Of Pre-Colombian Peoples  Launching  A Tide Of Genocide.

The Roman Catholic Church has bought its place in the global stage through a bloody and violent history.  Considering barbaric legacy of The Catholic Church having executed the genocide of nearly all the indigenous Pre-Columbian cultures in Latin America, the Caribbean and North America it is more than appropriate that the voice of its last frontier has been raised to the holy altar of Rome.  But one cannot help but wonder if this unprecedented marvel is owed more to a to a deeply rooted sense guilt expressed as if in expiation for sins of the past!  Or is it a last desperate grasp for some kind of manifest destiny now that Europe has turned its back on the church.  Selecting Popes from the ruins of communism in Eastern Europe may not have stirred enough of the souls of the faithful.  Europe is wearied by dogma; it is still haunted by the cold war.  It has been hundreds of years since the Spanish Galleons sailed away with the riches of the new world leaving a broken, corrupt and impoverished Latin America behind.  The price Latin America’s surviving aboriginal populations paid for salvation was hardly an even trade for the obliteration of their culture but at the end of the day, that is all they got, a rosary a gaily painted Santa Maria and a dizzying canopy of sun tanned cherubs set in a crumbling Chiaroscuro, Baroque Basilica.  In contrast, one must visit the fabulous cathedrals of Toledo and Seville in Spain in order to marvel at the vast wealth stolen from Latin America.  Of course, one has also to visit St. Peters, the papal seat, to see how the exploitation of Latin American wealth and resources manifested itself in great works of art and architecture dedicated to the glory of a European god over the gods of savages and to European greed and lust for power.  As its real power wanes in Europe The Catholic Church has returned to the crime scene again, pouring over the bones of old victims, looking for refreshment in a world it has forgotten for nearly three hundred years…
Pre-Colombian Gold Effigies

For this and many other reasons I find the recent selection of the pontiff from Argentina to be an unremarkable and rather desperate move.  Latin America is the last place on the planet that The Catholic Church has not worn out its welcome!  While it weathers out its scandals elsewhere, (a survival skill it has refined down to an art), It anticipates the breaking of new-old ground in Latin America; but will the scandals follow?
Gold Plaque

Like every other continent, Latin America faces issues of overpopulation, poverty and illiteracy.  In a world where there are fewer resources, fewer jobs, not enough money, too many people and not enough civil rights The obvious issues of abortion, women’s rights, tolerance of sexually diverse lifestyles and many others that are common to twenty-first century human culture will challenge The Catholic Church in Latin America to step up to the plate or be relegated to that hallowed and respected but obsolete corner of human consciousness where it is ever and anon finding itself in the minds of progressive men and women. 
A Noble Pre-Colombian At The Time Of The Conquistadors

Save for the purpose of weak, “Coffee Talk,” I have already become bored with the entire media drama surrounding the new Pontiff.  It already appears that this represents an intensification of the conservatism of The Catholic Church in a time of otherwise unprecedented social growth.  The fact that the new Pope is from the lugubriously racist country of Argentina bodes even worse for the cause of global tolerance.  For too many years the Catholic Church has done nothing but blow smoke up the asses of innocent and impressionable peoples and whether it was white or black smoke, the smell was just as foul!  For my part I am utterly bored with the entire affair of pondering papal preponderance…
Gold Mask

Written by David Vollin

Friday, March 15, 2013

WHAT NOBODY WANTS TO ADMIT ABOUT THE BLACK COMMUNITY…




WHAT NOBODY WANTS TO ADMIT ABOUT THE BLACK COMMUNITY…



Black people have failed at being stewards of their own communities, well, not all Black peoples but clearly those who dwell in some of the roughest and most economically challenged in America!  That is where such stewardship is most needed, and where it is most absent.  There is one very clear link to the failure of these communities’; they have adopted the motto of cowards, "Don't Snitch" and “Don’t Strive For Excellence” and it has devastated what was once a strong but delicate balance of order and civility.   As such the term, “Black Community” is nothing more than a weather worn epitaph for these places which had once been functional neighborhoods notwithstanding the economic and other perverse challenges they faced.

An unschooled mind would think it far easier for a Black community composed of well-educated and hardworking white and blue collar professionals to achieve and maintain a stable, healthy and functional community because they are personally invested in its safety, quality and welfare.   But most successful Black communities must constantly battle an influx of the same criminal, barbarisms that have taken root in less gifted neighborhoods.  The treat of crime and violence is only a breath away from most working and middle class Black communities especially in the city.  These communities are constantly victimized by opportunistic criminals coming from less advantaged black neighborhoods to prey on their hard won prosperity.  This reality leads to the obvious but erroneous conclusion that the black man is his own antithesis, his own poison!  Crime is the byproduct of poverty regardless of race.  Poverty can be quantified in terms of economics and intellect; race is only an incidental variable of crime.

There is an obvious connexion between the flight of middle class Blacks to the suburbs and that of whites.  The irony is that they have both sought to escape the same phenomenon, ghetto-mentality and/or slave-mentality!  The biggest and most puzzling irony is the way American media popularizes ghetto lifestyle while at the same time American ghettos are under attack and are being aggressively demolished in lieu of gentrification.  Americans are amenable to utilise ghettoisms for purposes of humorous entertainment but nobody wants to take the ghetto girl or boy home to mama and without a doubt nobody wants them living next door either!  As long as Americans are comfortably buffered from
“Ghetto Culture” by the reassuring but intangible medium of cyberspace they imagine they are safe! But there is a crazy spin to gentrification which has always pen demonized as representative of the influx of whites and other traditionally economically fortified ethnic groups but has ignored the influx of middle and upper middle class Blacks.  As poor Blacks are being moved out of American cities those affluent Blacks living on the border of this migration are moving back into the city into gentrified slums, neighborhoods now populated with an ethnic array middle and upper middle class folks creating a reverse-migration of the poor to the outskirts of town.  In time those neighborhoods caught between the exclusive suburbs and the renovated, high-rent urban districts will eventually be routed out as property values increase to a point that will no longer be able to support housing affordable to the poor.  In time the poor will be removed to rural enclaves far beyond the city and suburb.  It is wholly conceivable that eventually poor Blacks will live in isolated shanty-towns cut off from the amenities of the cities; neighborhoods that might resemble concentration camps complete with their own police and prisons to manage the crime.  This prediction is more than just an Orwellian fantasy; it might one day come to pass!

The twenty-first century has found that affluent, middle class and working class Blacks are turning their backs to the poor, under-educated and disadvantaged that continue to dwell in the historic ghettos of most American cities.  Faced with the prospect of sending their children to decent schools and fending off crime spilling over from ghettos adjacent to their own neighborhoods, they have everything to gain by the dismantling of urban ghettos and the relocation of its population to more remote locations.  Given the history of crime and other atrocities they have been forced to endure can you honestly blame them?

The Black American ghettos were never historically a fun or beautiful place to live.  But during the late 1960’s through the 1990’s their historic borders widened to encompass historically stable Black neighborhoods all devastated by the culture of drugs and the crime that accompanied it.  The gains of generations of hard working Black folk were lost in a matter of decades as their children abandoned the education and work ethics of their parents losing their inherited property and assets while transfixed in a multiple spiral of variables ranging from incarceration to drug addiction.  As these ghettos expanded they became more and more vicious transforming into a cesspool of anarchy, barbarism and profound ignorance!  In the name of easy money and out of fear these Black people allowed family and love ties to cause them to abandon their ethics, morals and the very foundation of human decency!  To other ethnic groups looking at the black community it surely appears to be barbaric on an unprecedented scale!  One has only to try the experiment of pretending to be another race looking at the headlines of the newspapers, absorbing the long list of homicide after homicide; shooting after shooting; robbery after robbery; arrest after arrest!  Can you honestly blame them for their low opinion of black peoples?  Yes you can… they should and can be more understanding, less generalizing but realistically, they just absorb what they see, after all it’s not their battle anyway!

They fear us and despise the Black man and his community and have no interest in reforming it at all, they see only the quick solution to move the ghetto as far away from them as possible and to perhaps make some money in the process!  Nobody can cure the black community but itself!  There has to be some tough love or things will never improve, the ignorance appears to be widening not growing smaller...  Dependence on public assistance growing, percentages of illiteracy, incarceration, unemployment and teen pregnancy growing, it is a self-fulfilling prophecy of utter doom! 

On the other hand Black Americans coming from other communities are experiencing unprecedented successes!  Black families are still able to produce doctors, lawyers, master electricians, politicians, master plumbers, engineers, carpenters, architects, sanitation engineers, designers, teachers, lawyers, principles and administrators, bus drivers, business entrepreneurs, chemists, music Moghuls, to their credit.  But after decades of disturbing headliners mourning how young and promising Black prodigies have been cut down by the “Random Ghetto Factor” or RGF, these families are moving as far away from the ghetto and all of its attributes as they possibly can or facilitating buffers from them; they want nothing to do with it and can you honestly blame them.  In all truth, you cannot!  The Black ghetto is out of control, it is a catabolic threat unlike any other that seems to gain even more momentum even as it gets closer to certain obliteration!  It has been said many times before, “It is no crime to be born in or come from the ghetto but it is indeed a crime to perpetuate the ignorance and barbarity that has come to be characterized as the ghetto mentality”!

I recall a conversation I had in the early 1990’s With Michael Smith, Essex Hemphill and others regarding the way we perceived that racism was being managed by Black people in general.  In that conversation Mike pointed out that Black people should never just react to racism, rather they must be proactive in order to avert it!  In short, it is no longer acceptable as a general rule for Black Americans to attribute the cause of all of their problems to racism.  Black Americans have got so accustomed to blaming the white man for all of their problems they have failed to look at themselves as their own oppressors.  Although racism is still very much a factor every Black American must manage in their daily lives more immediate are the real threats Black people pose to themselves.  The big and powerful “What If” in this equation is, “What if Black Americans could manage a level of solidarity across class and gender that would neutralize the devastating effects of self-administered racism”?  In the end it will take a monumental coordination on multiple levels to identify, contain and counteract the eroding effects of ghettoism including black on black crime.  It’s not an impossible task but it will require something that appears to have been lost not only within the Black American Population but in American culture as a whole; that is the ability of people who share similar causes to effectively unite and galvanize themselves toward the accomplishment of goals made infinitely more complex by the disparate nature of society.  If there is but one truth that might lift the pall from an ambivalent and apathetic Black America it will ultimately be the revelation of what nobody wants to admit about The Black American Community…

Written by David Vollin
Administrator: For “The Brothas Cultural, Intellectual Salon” on Facebook
and on Blogger at:  http://www.forthebrothas.blogspot.com/   

Saturday, March 9, 2013

EMBRACING OUR FRATERNAL LEGACIES


EMBRACING OUR FRATERNAL LEGACIES IN HOMAGE TO THEIR FATHERS: WHY IT IS AN ESSENTIAL PRACTISE FOR THE FUTURE OF THE BLACK COMMUNITY?

Chapter of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity Inc. In Pittsburgh circa 1918.    Alpha Phi Alpha was the first Black Fraternity Founded in 1906.


The Historic, Black, Greek Letter Fraternal Organizations represent one of the most important links in the continuum of intellectual and social achievement in The Black Community.  These Fraternal Organizations have established the foundations upon which Black American men have cultivated themselves; without them the strategic social, political and economic advances of The Civil Rights Era could not have been achieved.  In fact, the long, illustrious list of Black Civil Rights Leaders reads like a roll call from the seven primary Black male secret societies: Alpha Phi Alpha, Omega Psi Phi, Kappa Alpha Psi, Phi Beta Sigma, Iota Phi Theta, Groove Phi Groove and The Fraternal Order of Black Masons.  Black Fraternities have been the fountainhead of cultural evolution in America, allowing Black men to pass down traditions of manhood from father unto son and from our Elders to youth.  Fraternal Legacies are clear evidence of successful Black families, they are catalysts for the next generation of luminaries.  Every Black Fraternity should make a special, complementary gesture to reach out to the sons of its fraternity brothers when they enroll in any College or University in The United States to close the circle of family and community for each generation.  In homage to the beautiful and arduous task of fatherhood Black Fraternities should graciously entreat the sons of their brethren to continue the brilliant legacy of service and example, in fact it is a gentlemanly duty that should always be performed as a matter of utmost respect. 
Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity Inc. including it's founders circa 1911.

Whenever a black man fathers a son, guiding him to manhood, passing on to him instructions for manhood, teaching the hallowed traditions of his fraternity through example his efforts should be celebrated and acknowledged by his fraternity. The proper way for a fraternity to recognize the fruit of a brothers labor is with a gracious offering of brotherhood extended to his son.  There simply is no more gentlemanly way of showing appreciation to a father and fellow fraternity brother than to open the doors of his hallowed fraternity to his son.  Our Black Fraternities should be right on top of this practise.  Fraternity Chapters should always be aware of the progress of their brother’s sons so that they can immediately offer scholarships and other support when the time comes for them to send their boys off to college.  In many cases they will be able to offer valuable assistance to the sons that was not available to their fathers when they first stepped on campus years ago.
The Founders of Phi Beta Sigma circa 1913

Whether the son intends to actually pledge his father’s fraternity should be of no concern; as a matter of courtesy a neutral solicitation should be made.  This offering should be sent in the following manner. Two formal letters of invitation must be prepared and addressed separately; one for the father and one for the son and decidedly before the son begins his freshman year and prior to the beginning of his classes; also immediately after a transfer from one college or university to another.  This correspondence written on the formal chapter stationery bearing the official letterhead should contain: a simple greeting, an invitation to the next smoker or interest meeting and a contact list all of the undergraduate brothers including their proper names, phone numbers and email addresses. Within the body of this correspondence all of the officers and graduate assistants should be identified. This correspondence should not be considered complete unless it contains a brief biography of the father’s history of service in his respective undergraduate and graduate chapters even if they are not the same chapter as the host or if they are not local ones. This letter should be prepared by the chapter secretary in collaboration with the chapter historian.  Even if the father is no longer active this formality must be extended as a sign of gentlemanly courtesy and as a hallmark of the high standards of the Fraternity.  Please take note that it would be highly improper and discourteous for a fraternity to send this invitation via email.  If a formal response is not received within one week the chapter secretary should attempt to contact the father by phone as a courtesy.  Likewise, the father and son should send a prompt and courteous reply acknowledging the invitation within the first week of receipt and if they find they have not replied after one weeks’ time they should also follow-up with a phone call in addition to forwarding a written reply immediately. 
The Founders of Omega Psi Phi circa 19ll

Once the son is on campus and has established his place of residence a second formal letter of welcome should be sent to him at his new address at school or wherever his place of residence may be.  If the son is living away from home and on campus housing then one of the fraternity brothers should call on him at his dormitory to make a formal introduction.  This introduction should be brief as it is intended merely as a courtesy.  If the prospective pledge lives off-campus in a private residence or at home with his parents it would be inappropriate to call on him there unless invited by his father who is the master of the family house or by the son if he is living in private, off-campus accommodations.  Under no circumstances should any fraternal correspondence be administered to a woman with the possible exception that she is a widowed mother and only with the utmost discretion as all fraternal business should be kept within the fraternity. 
The Founders of Groove Phi Groove circa 1962.

Prior to the son’s induction into the fraternity interest group or pledge club regular correspondence should be sent to him apprising him of upcoming fraternity functions.  All private fraternity business and operations should be kept private.  If a prospective pledge is inducted into the interest group of another fraternity mail correspondence of general public activities should be forwarded to him but once he has been inducted formally into the pledge club of another fraternal organization all correspondence should cease unless it is of a nature relevant to or in honor of the sons father. 

It is with great sincerity that I apologize for every instance in which a Fraternal Legacy was not treated with the utmost courtesy and honor by the home chapter of his college or university.  Over the years much of the greatness and politeness that characterized the founders of these hallowed institutions has been lost.  Were it not for the fathers of our Fraternal Legacies we would have no Fraternity at all, we owe them this courtesy if for nothing else, to mark how the Grand Old Fraternity has succeeded in its mission to uplift the Black man by properly raising our boys and shaping them into great men!  To a great extent the return of Fraternal Legacies is a strong measure of the success of our Black families.  The great mission of our fraternal organization is the edification of Black men achieved by opening established traditions of manhood to new brothers and by deepening and enriching these traditions by passing them on from father unto son thereby revitalizing and solidifying the centuries old tradition of fathering and family values so essential to the development of civilized existence.

Written By. D. Vollin