TIMELINE: ROLL CALL OF CHAPTERS IN THE CONTEXT OF THE STRUGGLE FOR SOCIAL JUSTICE AND RACIAL EQUITY
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The issue of the Yo sign, or the diamond, (depending on what you were taught) brings on some controversy by some of the brothers in the Fraternity. It has been so much of an issue that some of your pictured articles might have been excluded from the pages of Tin' Journal because of the use. The Yo sign, a three-finger hand symbol, formed to create the shape of a diamond, is a sign used by both under- graduates and alumni to signify a brother in another manner other than the official recognition symbol of Kappa Alpha Psi. The sign, which was started in the North- eastern Province, is a Kappa's way of symbolizing the words "what's up, frat," and is equivalent to the everyday hand-sign of hello when a brother "throws" it at you. Although the Yo is used by most, it is highly criticized by others for a variety of reasons. Some brothers argue that the Yo sign is the same symbol used by members of the racist Ku Klux Klan, and that it is also used by the members of a notorious gang. Other brothers argue that this sign doesn't indicate that a person is a brother, or that the sign is not included in the ritual of Kappa Alpha Psi. Brothers, the Yo sign was not developed to create a dispute within the Fraternity, but was created by a brother as a gift to the Fraternity because he probably felt that this would be a good way to further distinguish Kappa Alpha Psi from the rest. We should not clamp down the Yo...Brothers, sometimes we have to open up our minds and give other ideas a chance, just as you would like for some brother to do for you." —Ricardo G. Carter Grand Board of Directors
Excerpts from "Yo, Baby Yo!" Ricardo G. Carter T he Kappa Alpha Psi Journal, Feb. 1994 , Vol. LXXX, No. 1.
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