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Page 17 » SPELMAN SPOTLIGHT October, 1988
KMT: The First
African Fraternity in the
United States
By Jocelyn R. Coleman
There is an obvious rise of African con
sciousness in the AUC. An abundance of
students are wearing African crowns and
garb and indulging in African thought and
culture. On March 23, 1988, KMT, the
first African fraternity in the United
States endured their Resurrection March,
which symbolized their rebirth to the
world of man, by carrying a tree on their
shoulders in a line to Spelman’s campus.
Once the ceremony in Spelman’s oval
was completed they became the 10 origi
nal lights of Ra. This organization is one
of the results of the upsurge of African
consciousness in the United States.
KMT, phonetically spelled Khemit, is
not an acronym but an African word for
“the land of the Blacks.” KMT explained
that in the ancient Egyptian or Khemitic
system of writing they did not have vow
els in their system of language as we
know it today so the closest translation is
“KMT”. Ancient Egypt or KMT “repre
sents the culmination of all the glory that
was Africa, it was the pinnacle of African
Civilization.”
There are many who do not know of
KMT’s existence, and for those who are
aware of it there is a consensus that their
emergence was instantaneous. Even
KMT perceives their conception as a
mystery considering the fact that out of
2400 students, in 1987, 10 came together
and decided to create an African frater
nity. They included: Eddie S. Glaude,
Jr., Paul C. Taylor, Charles W. McKin
ney Jr., Ronald S. Sullivan Jr., Mondibo
Kelsye, Samuel T. Lee, Kenneth Zakee,
William T. Crawley III, Jonathan I.
Gayles, and Thomas Bowen.
After this unification they proceeded to
create a foundation for a fraternity
through a vast amount of research and
study. Their primary concern was for
KMT to be “authentically African.” In
fulfilling this concern, they studied differ
ent rites of passage in the manhood from
culture groups all over the continent of
Africa and developed the bonds of
brotherhood while formulating the par
ticulars of their “crossing” process. When
asked who pledged the group, KMT
stated that the directorship of their cros
sing can be known only to the member
ship of KMT.
KMT was created because they per
ceived two fundamental needs: 1) the
need to inculcate African values and
philosophies into the African-American
psyche, and 2) the need to reviatlize the
ideal of fraternity. In Stolen Legacy, by
George M. James, it states that the Greek
philosophy was a stolen philosophy from
the forefathers of Africa. KMT has re
searched this proposition, and feels
privileged to have discovered this knowl
edge and strongly urges all of their broth
ers and sisters to become familiar with
this book and other texts that document
the glory of Ancient Africa. KMT agrees
that the Greeks had a fine civilization and
that Black Greek-lettered Fraternities
have been invaluable to the black commu
nity. But since the realization that “his
tory has been stolen and bastardized by
Greece,” they have come to the conclu
sion that “there is no reason for us to cel
ebrate Greece in doing something for
black people, by black people, and about
the concerns of black people.” KMT’s
goal is “to assert something positive back
into-something that was originally posi
tive that has become decadent and de
valued in its outlook. This is not to indict
any existing fraternities it is just to say
that things aren’t quite as they should be.”
KMT chose to use a fraternal structure
for their organization because they
wanted to inject themselves into an arena
that has the potentiality to be a viable av
enue for the liberation of black people.
KMT expounded that, “It allows us to
guide minds in a particular direction and
allows us to have a cadre of brothers
whose minds have been turned in a differ
ent direction than they’ve been socialized
to think.” As a result KMT stated that
“you have black men all of a sudden
being African men thinking in an Af-
ricentric manner holistically.” The com
monality in the way KMT thinks is that
they recognize the importance of think
ing. KMT states that they “are not in any
way the same presence 10 times
over. . .and that they are not afraid to dis
agree with each other."
KMT explained that in their venture
they “went back to the source - Ancient
KMT. the greatest civilization ever to
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Focus On Freshman:
Making Adjustments
By Eboni “Ebbie” Frazier
When for years you’ve had the pleasure
of waking up in your own room and using
an empty bathroom, how is one able to
face ten other people who look just as bad
as you do in the mornings? For those of us
who thought that our two feeet were for
the gas and brakes in a car, how do we
handle the “hazardous” task of walking to
and from destinations? Or what do you
say to genetically mutated roaches when
they try to rap to you in your own room?
Though exaggerated and slightly
humorous, these are only a sample of
some of the adjustments that most of us
Freshman are having to cope with in our
daily battle of transition to “college life.”
A personal problem of mine was the
undying thought that my parents had
brought me to Atlanta to die. It meant that
I would have to wash my own hair, sew
my own clothes, and not have Daddy
around to give me money to do some seri
ous shopping on weekends. Also, 1 just
knew that my roommate was some de
mented child who would steal my Santo-
Gold, Pro Wings, and Barbie doll collec
tion in the middle of the night and try to
lay the blame on pack-rats. And, on top
of all of this, there was the sad, sad fact
that I had brought all of this perfumed
bath oil only to realize that even if there
were bath tubs here, chances are I
wouldn’t want to use them.
However, after late night rap sessions
with my closer sisters, I realized that I
was not the only one who was having to
make adjustments. Some complained that
they were accustomed to unlimited phone
time and midnight raids on the re
frigerator. Some grimaced at the fact that
they couldn’t microwave popcorn and
play video games or watch the VCR in
times of severe boredom.
Plenty of complaints, however, came
from those of us who washed our clothes
for the first time and turned a dress or a
skirt into a mini; a white shirt of blouse
into a tie-dyed one; or realized that our
gym socks would never really be snowy
white again.
Lastly, the one adjustment that I think
we all have had to make was that of
loosening family bonds in order to start
new chapters in our young lives. In doing
so we have made the first step in achiev
ing the independency needed to cultivate
(Continued on Page 18)