Queen Mother Falaka Fattah, humanitarian, award-winning journalist, and Founder of the House Of Umoja, Inc. (www.houseofumoja.net), an internationally acclaimed institution that has a fifty-four year successful track record of positively transforming the lives of at least approximately 3,000 urban young males and reducing gang violence through the 1974 No Gang War Campaign which she coordinated that saved hundreds of thousands of lives in Philadelphia, will be inducted into the South Philadelphia High School Alumni Cultural Hall Of Fame 2022 on Sunday, 15 May 2022 at 2401 Swanson Street in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Festivities which will include a banquet dinner in addition to an induction ceremony on Sunday, 15 May 2022, are scheduled to commence at 1:00 P.M. and conclude at 5:00 P.M. Queen Mother Falaka Fattah will be represented at the induction ceremony by her grandson, Mr. Anthony Bannister-Fattah..
When asked to identify role models who influenced her, Queen Mother Falaka Fattah, who will the only female African American to be inducted at the South Philadelphia High School Alumni Induction Ceremony on Sunday, 15 May 2022, pointed to two women – her Mother, an educator, and Mrs. Casey, a Latin teacher at South Philadelphia High School.
“As I accept the honor that my alma mater, South Philadelphia High School has bestowed upon me, my thoughts are turned to two role models who influenced me – my Mother and my Latin teacher, Mrs. Casey. My mother was a fully certified educator in an one room school in Virginia. When she relocated to Philadelphia, the Philadelphia School District refused to accept the certification she received in Virginia. She did not abdicate from her role as an educator and supplemented the education my brother and I received in Philadelphia’s school system. My Mother would ask us to share with her what we were learning in school. She would take us on a field trip that corresponded with a particular subject we were learning and employ her teaching skills to explore in great depth with us the particular subject we were learning at school during the field trip she created. The second individual who influenced me was my Latin teacher, Mrs. Casey at South Philadelphia High School. There are two things out of the many things that I learned from her that stand out. I learned the importance of words and words are very important. It is probably the reason that words mean so much to me. ‘Noblesse oblige’ one of the many Latin phrases I learned in Mrs.. Casey’s classroom, continues to resonate with me. Translated into English, ‘noblesse oblige’ means ‘noble obligation’ and ‘noble obligation’ is the obligation of honorable, generous, and responsible behavior. ‘Noblesse oblige’ is how I have approached everything in my life,” Queen Mother Falaka Fattah remarked.
During her award-winning journalism career, Queen Mother Falaka Fattah was a writer and editor for The Philadelphia Tribune and a writer for The Philadelphia Bulletin, The Philadelphia Independent, and The Philadelphia Afro-American. In 1968, she launched UMOJA Magazine.. It was during that same year, September 1968, that the House of Umoja, Inc. was founded to address rising and deadly violence driven by gangs in the fifth largest metropolitan area in the United States. For five decades, the internationally acclaimed institution has designed and implemented timeless solutions-based Global Models for eradicating violence, fostering community development, creating economic sustainability, and addressing many of the key challenges that prevent boys and adolescent males from reaching their full potential and maturing into productive and successful adults. In 2007, the House Of Umoja, Inc. became the City of Philadelphia’s organizer and leader for the National Million Father March an initiative created by the late Mr. Philip Jackson and headquartered in Chicago, Illinois (www.blackstarproject.org; www.fathersincorporated.com)/ that encourages Fathers to take a proactive role in the education of their children and continues to redefine and reshape Fatherhood in the United States Impressed with the House of Umoja, Inc.’s successful track record in reducing and eradicating gang violence and providing life lines for urban adolescent males. when Mr. Jackson decided to expand the National Million Father March to Philadelphia, he immediately offered the leadership and organizing role to the institution. The brainchild of the late Mr. Philip Jackson, Founder and Executive Director of the Chicago, Illinois-based Black Star Project (www.blackstarproject.org) which offers academic and mentoring programs for children, workforce development projects, and school services, the National Million Fathers March was created in 2003. Observed in hundreds of cities throughout the United States, the National Million Fathers March encourages Fathers to take a proactive role in the education of their child. The national leadership mantle for the National Million Fathers March has been donned by Fathers Incorporated (www.fathersincorporated.com) which is based in Atlanta, Georgia.
Currently, to address Philadelphia’s gun violence emergency, the House Of Umoja. Inc. is facilitating the UMOJA Youth Peace Corps, a component of the Fattah Peace Academy and the UMOJA Intentional Community. An after school program for youths that provides them with a well-rounded array of training ranging from conflicts resolution, communications, mental and physical wellness, Blockchain Basics, entrepreneurship, dog training, and art therapy, the UMOJA Youth Peace Corps is an influencer leadership initiative centered around peace, the family of community, culture, and healing. The initiatives designed by the House of Umoja, Inc. to help bring peace to the City of Philadelphia is based on a collaboration in the 1970s between the House Of Umoja, Inc., community organizations, and incarcerated individuals serving life without parole sentences in Pennsylvania correctional facilities. It was a collaborative effort that resulted in the orchestration of a peace conference attended by gang leaders throughout the City of Philadelphia on 1 January 1974 and a peace treaty negotiated by the House of Umoja, Inc. Facilitated by Queen Mother Falaka Fattah, gang leaders attending the peace conference signed the Imani Peace Pledge™ and ended decades of bloody and deadly gang violence that played out in Philadelphia’s schoolyards and streets. The pledge was penned by the late Mr. David Fattah, the patriarch of House of Umoja, Inc. In 2022, collaborative efforts among community organizations, the House Of Umoja, Inc., and members of SCI Phoenix LIFERS, Inc. (www.lifersincpa.org), a nationally recognized “inside-out” Criminal Justice Reform, Reentry, and Restorative Justice think tank that mirrors the collaborative efforts of the 1970s are focusing on moving a new generation of youths and young adults to peace and resolve Philadelphia’s gun violence emergency.
Over the years,
institutions that include, but are not limited to, the Office of
Juvenile Justice and Prevention and the Center for Disease Control have sought
the House of Umoja, Inc.’s expertise on gang violence reduction, youth
programming, and community organizing.
Former United States Presidents The Honorable James Earl Carter, Jr. and
the late Honorable Ronald Wilson Reagan recognized the House of Umoja, Inc. for
its pioneering work that has been documented in published articles such as “A
Summons To Life,” by Robert Woodson of the American Enterprise Institute (www.aei.org) in 1981 and “The
Violent Juvenile Offender,” by Paul DeMuro and Richard Allison of the
National Council On Crime and Delinquency (www.nccdglobal.org), in 1984.
For
further information about the South Philadelphia High School Alumni Cultural
Hall Of Fame 2022 induction ceremony and banquet dinner scheduled for Sunday,
15 May 2022 from 1:00 P.M. through 5:00 P.M. at 2401 Swanson Street in
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, call 267-861-0391 or visit the South Philadelphia
High School Alumni’s website at www.sphsalumni.org.
For further information about the
House of Umoja, Inc., visit the organization’s website at www.houseofumoja.net or call (215) 473-5893 or send an e-mail to: falakafattah@aol.com.
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