In a solid kickoff to Black History Month, Min. Louis Farrakhan has become a member of a Black Greek Letter Organization. The Grand Chapter of Omega Psi Phi Fraternity, Incorporated initiated Farrakhan as a member on February 2. 2019.
News hit social media like a firestorm when pictures of Farrakhan in paraphernalia were posted to the fraternity’s Facebook page.
On Twitter, Farrakhan posted this response:
“Thank you to my brothers of Omega Psi Phi Fraternity, Inc. for presenting me with an Honorary Membership. As long as we live, let’s strive for those fundamental principles that make an Omega man a man after God.”
Farrakhan’s connection to Omega Psi Phi is not new. According to the Watch the Yard, while he was a student at Winston Salem Teachers College in 1951, he attempted to pledge but was “blackballed” by members of the chapter after a harrowing pledge process where he stated he was hazed. When he received an Omega Psi Phi lifetime achievement award in 2011, he recalled the incident, sharing with members, “Boy they beat the hell out of me. I wanted to be an Omega so bad, the whipping didn’t matter.”
Sadly, members of the local graduate chapter heard about his pledging, opposed his membership, and dropped him from line one week into the membership process. Farrakhan would later meet his future wife and leave school to pursue his music career to support his family. He later joined the Nation of Islam and rose through the ranks to become the successor to its leader Min. Elijah Muhammad.
