Since 2016, the former U.S. President’s “Make America Great Again” campaign and political platform has unearthed many of the demons of racial division, acrimony, and the public pronouncement of white supremacy that Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc. has always fought against. Now, in the wake of the January 6th Capitol Insurrection, voter suppression legislation in many states, blatant redistricting attempts to dilute minority voting strength, as well as the distractive arguments of Critical Race Theory to inflame centrists and the political right wing, the U.S. Supreme Court has granted certiorari in a higher education affirmative action case.

"Democracy in America is literally under attack and the only way to combat it is with an informed population,” said Brother Rev. Jonathan C. Augustine, Esq., Fraternity’s General Chaplain and law professor at North Carolina Central. “Our panel will convene experienced and accomplished subject matter experts who will inform convention participants, as they return to their respective communities to both promote voting rights and protect the right to vote, in preparing for this year's very consequential elections."

“Where Do We Go From Here?” is the topic of an Alpha Phi Alpha social justice panel convened to discuss redistricting, voting rights, affirmative action and the impacts thereof during the Public Program of the Fraternity’s Southern Regional Convention, which is themed, “Elevating Social Justice through Mobilization, Education, Advocacy, and Navigation: The Role of Alpha in the Fight for Democracy.”

6 P.M., Friday, April 1, 2022

Sheraton Myrtle Beach Resort

2101 N. Oak Street

Myrtle Beach, SC 29577

The panel will also be livestreamed to the Fraternity’s Official Facebook https://www.facebook.com/1906apanetwork and YouTube https://www.youtube.com/c/SphinxTV1906 platforms as well as those for the Fraternity’s Southern Region Facebook https://www.facebook.com/alphasouth1906 platform.

Brother Rev. Jonathan C. Augustine, Esq., who is a nationally acclaimed social justice advocate, senior pastor of St. Joseph African Methodist Episcopal (AME) Church in Durham, North Carolina, law professor at North Carolina Central University, and strategist with the Duke University Center for Reconciliation, will serve as moderator.

The panel will consist of Alpha Phi Alpha Brothers Mitch Brown, Esq., a voting rights attorney with the Southern Coalition for Social Justice; Damon Hewitt, Esq., President and Executive Director of the Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights Under Law; and Gregory Vincent, Esq., a civil rights litigator and university administrator and professor with the University of Kentucky, and Executive Director of its Education and Civil Rights Initiative in collaboration with the NAACP.