NASSAU CELEBRATION FOUNDERS’ DAY 17TH BIENNIAL NATIONAL THE BAHAMAS JANUARY 7-11, 2026
NATIONAL FOUNDERS’ DAY THE BAHAMAS
Left: Donald E. Frieson, Kappa Alpha Psi Foundation ® Chairman, 104th Elder Watson Diggs Awardee and outgoing Foundation Chairman Michael J. Dubose, and Grand Polemarch Jimmy McMikle. Right: Nevada Attorney General Aaron D. Ford (Nu Alpha 1993), the 87th Grand Chapter Meeting Closed Banquet speaker, introduces Governor Bryan).
T he 35th Administration of Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity, Inc. had staged a gathering that looked, at first glance, like a celebration. Chan- deliers glowed above pressed tuxedos with crimson accents. Ocean air moved softly through the corridors of the convention center, and hundreds of men—undergraduates and executives, elected officials and entrepreneurs, mentors and protégés—had traveled to Nassau, The Bahamas, to mark the fraternity’s 17th Biennial National Founders’ Day observance. Convened under the lights, the Closed Banquet on Saturday evening reached its height as 775 Kappa Men representing a 115-year chain of institutional continuity that outlasted segregation, disenfranchisement, war, migration, and America’s long, unfin- ished negotiation between citizenship and belonging. Brothers came to fel- lowship and throughout the weekend,
were constantly reminded why Phi Nu Pi exists. The programming unfolded as a ceremonial reunion, combined with master classes on leadership and achievement. There were presentations, strategy sessions, policy conversations, and intergenerational exchanges that placed undergraduates within arm’s reach of men who govern cities, shape industries, and write laws. Rather than allowing Founders’ Day 2026 to drift into nostalgia, the Administration treated it as an opportunity for renewal: a place where responsibility was reas- signed to the next generation. When Spring 2023 initiate, Jamari D. Brooks (Lambda Delta 2023) and Northern Junior Province Vice Pole- march Trevon E. Harris (Gamma Beta 2023) seized the floor, and the ballroom erupted with the unmistakable cadence. “I’m too pretty to die! I’m too smooth to die! I’m too cool to die!” The chant
carried across the hall with swagger and the familiarity of tradition. The room then relaxed into some- thing recognizable and warm. It was a reminder that institutions like Kappa Alpha Psi don’t survive on obligation alone. They survive because of the succession of bold young men arriving in places they know they belong. This moment mattered. Before the philosophical turn of the evening arrived, another signal passed quietly through the room. Michael J. Dubose, outgoing President of the Kappa Alpha Psi® Foundation, Inc., was honored for eight years of demanding service. Then came the announcement that the Alpha Kappa Foundation ( www.theakfoundation.com ) had pre- sented a $100,000 contribution to the Kappa Alpha Psi® Foundation. The applause that followed was booming. The 35th Administration was demonstrating what institutional
52 THE JOURNAL ♦ WINTER 2025-2026
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