Initiating the first white man into the Utah chapter of the historically all-black fraternity Omega Psi Phi wasn’t a question of race, members say, but of heart.
And Loki Mulholland’s is in the right place.
Mulholland is a Lehi-based filmmaker whose mother was a Freedom Rider in the 1960s civil rights movement. His documentary about her showcased his commitment to race issues as did the organization he created with her — the Joan Trumpauer Mulholland Foundation, which focuses on ending racism through education.
His latest documentary, “After Selma: The Fight for the Right to Vote Continues,” is further evidence of his lifelong focus on justice for African Americans.
It was Mulholland’s work and activism that prompted Robert Burch, an Omega member since 1980, to invite the white man to apply.
“Ours is a service organization,” Burch says, “and we are always looking for men who will get out and do something for the community. Loki’s documentary filmmaking about race is a good attribute to commit to the black community.”
The chapter’s vice president, Marlin Lynch, the independent pastor of Kingdom Huddle in Salt Lake City, echoes that sentiment.
“Loki represents our principles,” Lynch says. “There’s nothing he wouldn’t do for this community. He has dedicated his life to the civil rights movement.”
The group welcomed its first white member “with open arms,” the pastor says. “It’s about friendship and brotherhood. We judged his heart, not his race.”
Lynch did acknowledge, though, that Mulholland “will bring diversity and inclusion.”
How they got here
The Omega Psi Phi fraternity was founded Nov. 17, 1911, at Howard University in Washington, D.C., according to the group’s website. It was “the first black national fraternal organization to be founded at a historically black college.”
The frat’s “cardinal principles” — manhood, scholarship, perseverance and uplift — led to the creation of a national social action program “to meet the needs of African Americans in the areas of health, housing, civil rights and education.”
Omega has grown now to include more than 700 chapters throughout the United States, Bermuda, Bahamas, U.S. Virgin Islands, Korea, Japan, Liberia, Germany and Kuwait.
How did it land in the Beehive State, which has a relatively tiny African American population?
Omega established its first undergraduate chapter at Weber State University in 1983, says the Utah group’s website, but within a couple of years, many members had graduated. So, in 1990, several older members, who had come from other states, decided to launch a graduate chapter to be known as Iota Iota Iota or Tri Iota.
It currently has about 30 members, of which 26 are active. The men meet as a group monthly, while the numerous committees huddle more often.
“Although a small chapter, we continue to have a big impact” across Utah, the group’s president, Emmette W. Cornelius IV, writes on the website. “Many brothers are members of the United States armed forces stationed at Hill Air Force Base and Fort Douglas in Salt Lake City. Others hold prominent positions in education and medicine with the University of Utah and other institutions of higher education.”
Tri Iota brothers are leaders with Big Brothers Big Sisters of Utah, the Afro-American Historical and Genealogical Society and numerous churches. Other projects include voter registration, health efforts, fatherhood initiatives and the annual back-to-school barbecue/backpack giveaway.
Born for this
Mulholland absorbed the fraternity’s principles from his earliest days, he says. It was a natural draw for him.
His mother was one of the white students who joined a sit-in at a Woolworth’s segregated lunch counter in Jackson, Miss., where she was spit upon by a crowd of angry white townspeople.
(Fred Blackwell | The Clarion-Ledger via AP file) A group of white people pour sugar, ketchup and mustard over the heads of Tougaloo College student demonstrators at a sit-in demonstration at a Woolworth's lunch counter in Jackson, Miss., on May 28, 1963. Seated at the counter, from left, are Tougaloo College professor John Salter,and students Joan Trumpauer and Anne Moody.
Though her Southern parents taught her racial superiority, her Christian beliefs pushed Mulholland to reject such discrimination.
She was the first white student to integrate Tougaloo College in Jackson, Miss., a historically black school, and is recognized as the first white “sista” in the largest and most prestigious all-black sorority, Delta Sigma Theta.
Delta and Omega are brother/sister organizations.
Omega was founded “in a time when lynchings were prevalent,” Mulholland says, and when Jim Crow laws were still in effect.
He wanted to belong to a fraternity that shared his values: “brotherhood and coming together for a common cause and purpose of uplifting the community.”
So the filmmaker put in membership papers and the group vetted his application.
“Loki saw leadership and friendship,” says William A. Smith, who was the chapter president when Mulholland pledged several weeks ago. “He saw men of similar attainment and ideals.”
For their part, the Tri Iotas saw a man who had been working toward uplifting the African American community and had exhibited clear leadership on that goal.
“We have never had a policy against anyone based on race," says Smith, chair of the department of education, culture and society at the University of Utah and an Omega member since he was an undergraduate at Eastern Illinois University more than three decades ago.
The historic all-black (now mostly black) fraternity “has stood the test of time at the forefront of service to humanity,” Smith says. And it expects to be around for another 100 years “doing the same thing.”
