AKA Sorority Lawsuit

President of black sorority Alpha Kappa Alpha sued by members over funds, including $900,000 wax statue

McKinzie, Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority and its current and some former board of directors members are targeted in a lawsuit filed by eight sorority members last month.

Members of Chicago-headquartered Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority are suing to oust their president -- former Chicago Housing Authority comptroller Barbara McKinzie (center).

Among the allegations:

— AKA directors violated the group’s rules when they approved a four-year “pension stipend” for a total of nearly $192,000. They also purchased a $1 million life insurance policy for McKinzie.

— McKinzie used the group’s American Express card to buy designer clothing, lingerie and jewelry, then redeemed points racked up on the card to get a 46-inch HDTV, gym equipment and other items for personal use.

— The president started a campaign to raise $100 million for an endowment fund to be run by her management firm — BMC Associates.

McKinzie denied any wrongdoing Tuesday, saying the lawsuit was backlash to “enforced stringent financial standards as part of a professionalization of our organization.”

“Change never comes easy,” she said. “The malicious allegations leveled against AKA by former leaders are based on mischaracterizations and fabrications not befitting our ideals of sisterhood, ethics and service.”

McKinzie’s likeness, along with one of the first national AKA president Nellie Quander, cost a total of $45,000, she said. All other figures are of group founders or first national presidents. The $900,000 “was allocated by the AKA board of directors to help defray overall expenses for our 2010 convention,’ McKinzie said.

The wax figure of McKinzie is being prepped at the National Great Blacks in Wax Museum in Baltimore, where it will be in a growing exhibit of predominantly black fraternity and sorority representatives.

What’s the deal with these Illinois black folks and “posterity” – You got Senator Burris with his well stocked Mausoleum, and now Barbara McKinzie with her wax bust…

I mean, after you are dead…

Isn’t it up to somebody else to say something good about you?

Second – if these allegations are true, isn’t this a criminal case?