COVER STORY
A n official delegation from est members into the fraternity through the Germany Alumni Chapter. Those in attendance included the 34 th Grand Polemarch Reuben A. Shelton III, Esq.; Junior Grand Vice Polemarch Evan R. Jackson; National Director of Organi- zational Effectiveness and Learn 2 Live National Chairman Jimmy McMikle, MBA; Northeastern Province Senior Province Vice Polemarch Ted Sanchious; Director of Undergraduate and Univer- sity Affairs Ryan Tucker; National Vice Chairman of the Learn 2 Live Initiative Joseph Bryant and Chief of Staff to the Grand Polemarch Joe Lewis. The event was photographed by National Photogra- pher Michael Hume. “Learn 2 Live” is a social justice initia- tive in partnership with the National Organization of Black Law Enforcement Executives (NOBLE). Each Learn 2 Live forum has three structured compo- nents. The first part addresses the con- Kappa Alpha Psi journeyed overseas for the Learn 2 Live forum and to initiate the new-
cept of policing and provides students with a strategic game plan and rules of engagement for the three occasions in which they are most likely to encoun- ter law enforcement. Those situations are during a traffic stop, a community encounter or in a person’s home set- ting. Students are also provided steps to follow in the event that an individual believes that his or her rights have been violated in a police encounter. Three simulated mock police encounters occur during the second component of each forum, providing the visual context of what a police traffic stop, community encounter and home visit looks like and how it should and should not go. The mock scenarios reinforce critical concepts, ideas and instructions through visual learning. Student volunteers are selected from each forum’s audience to participate in the staged scenarios. The forum concludes with an interac- tive police panel discussion that allows student and community attendants to dialogue with local law enforcement personnel in a non-threatening ques- tion and answer format. The initiative
attempts to comprise a panel of officers representing local, state and federal law enforcement agencies in addition to persons from the court system, includ- ing judges and or attorneys in every city we visit. Student and community participants are able to ask the panel any desired questions related to polic- ing policies, practices or procedures. This format also allows police intimate interaction and dialogue with the per- sons who they have sworn to protect and serve. It must be noted that this initiative is not an indictment, proclamation, sweep- ing generalization or statement of con- demnation on police or policing. Kappa Alpha Psi and NOBLE both acknowl- edge the need for and the importance of policing, recognizing the thousands of dedicated upstanding persons who wear a badge with honor and dignity throughout the United States. However, the historical systemic issues in policing and the consistent actions of those who dishonor the badge make initiatives like this one necessary. We had a chance to sit down and talk about Learn 2 Live with the initiative’s National Chairman and Kappa Alpha Psi’s National Director of Organizational Effectiveness, Jimmy McMikle, a Spring 1991 initiate of the Alpha Chapter, Indi- ana University. Q: You were tasked in 2015 as a member of the Grand Board of Directors with designing, developing and implementing a social justice initiative for the Frater- nity. As a result, the Learn 2 Live initia- tive was launched in 2016. When we last spoke to you in the spring of 2017 about the initiative, the committee had performed approximately 20 forums in 15 different cities and had trained close to 10,000 kids. How has the program progressed since then? McMikle: There has been a signifi- cant amount of movement since that time. When the initiative launched, our initial goal was to facilitate 100 forums by the 84th Grand Chapter Meeting
Learn 2 Live Forum in Fayetteville, North Carolina with FBI Agent, Brother Greg Jones.
168 | SPRING 2020 ♦ THE JOURNAL
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