Banned books given away at black student congress

TAMPA, Fla. – The historic Omega Psi Phi fraternity opened its 84th International Grand Conclave at the Tampa Convention Center on Wednesday, and members say they will give away numerous books that are banned in Florida schools.

“Our motto here is ‘Conclave with a Purpose,'” said local member Rick Kinsey. “Omega Psi Phi is at the forefront of this and we are taking on the issues that affect our community.”

He said the goal is to give away 8,400 books for the 84th Conclave. The fraternity has collected more than 7,000 books and Kinsey said he expects the fraternity to reach its goal by the end of the conclave.

“It is very important to the men of Omega Psi Phi that history is not forgotten,” he said. “We think it is very important to address this.”

The fraternity has purchased nearly 1,300 books from the Black English Bookstore in Tampa, according to owner Gwendolyn Henderson, who is also a Tampa City Council member for the 5th District. She said she personally donated 200 books to the organization.

“I just want to give the Omegas and the children the opportunity to have a large amount of books,” she said. “It gives them the opportunity to not only enjoy reading, but also to tell great stories.”

Henderson is a veteran educator at Hillsborough Public Schools and has put together each package of 25 books from a variety of categories, including six books that are banned in Florida schools.

“The hard stuff that would be considered forbidden, what we call ‘liberated’ books here at the Black English Bookstore,” she said. “I curate these books to talk about how racism hurts everyone.”

The purchased and donated books are transported to the Walton Academy For The Performing Arts in Tampa, where co-founder and director Tanika Walton helped sort and store the books.

“We will be giving away these books with the brothers of Omega Psi Phi,” she said. “So every family can start building their home library.”

The Omega Psi Phi Fraternity convention is expected to attract nearly 30,000 visitors to Tampa and have an economic impact of $20 million, said Santiago Corrada, president and CEO of Visit Tampa Bay.

Kinsey said they would ensure some of the money was distributed to locally owned black businesses.

“We’ve made a list of black organizations that we support and that have supported us,” he said. “We want to make sure they get a piece of that pie.”

Last year, the NAACP issued an official travel warning for Florida, saying the state was openly hostile toward African Americans. A number of groups and organizations boycotted the state, but Kinsey said the fraternity decided not to cancel its convention because it wanted to address the issue head-on.

“We wanted to come here and address these issues,” he said. “To address the issues that the state of Florida has here.”

The books will be given away throughout the convention, which ends on July 2nd.