Fatherhood & Divine Love

A family’s joy in representation

By Eva D. Coleman
Lifestyle & Culture Editor
Texas Metro News

Longtime educator Dr. Torrance Brooks has held a few titles across several Houston area school districts.

Over the past 28 years, he’s been a teacher, coach, assistant principal and is currently principal at Jones Middle School in Aldine Independent School District (ISD).

While he’s been instrumental in countless students becoming who they are destined to be, as a newly initiated member of Phi Beta Sigma Fraternity, Incorporated®, his growth in Greekdom has been rooted from home.

“My wife [Tanika], she pledged grad chapter Delta [Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Incorporated®]. Then, my oldest son [Jaylen], he pledged Alpha [Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Incorporated®] while he was at UTSA [The University of Texas at San Antonio] undergrad. So we’re proud of that.” Brooks said. “Tristan, my middle son, he pledged Omega [Omega Psi Phi Fraternity, Incorporated®] at Prairie View [Prairie View A&M University] undergrad. And then, the last one, just last year, my youngest son Trace, he pledged Kappa [Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity, Incorporated®].”

Yes, within his immediate family, five of the Divine Nine, the collective moniker given to the nine Black Greek-Letter Organizations (BGLOs), are represented.

Brooks also shared that both his sister Stephanie Barnes Riley and her daughter, his niece Taylor Barnes, are members of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Incorporated®.

Membership in the Divine Nine is steeped in tradition with many expressing deep pride in the extension of their legacy. “Undergrad” refers to the experience when members are initiated as college students into an undergraduate chapter.

Membership in graduate chapters is afforded to adults who are college graduates. With Brooks and his three sons being members of four different fraternities, he expressed his goal of raising his young men to create legacies of their own.

“I’ve always told them ‘You be you. You know, everything that I do as your father, I’m gonna do the very best that I can to be the best role model that I can be for you and show you and try to lead a positive life,’” Brooks said. “But I always tell them, ‘You don’t necessarily have to do what I do. You gotta be who you are.’” The selections of different fraternities seem to fit the Brooks men well.

“In my opinion, and everybody says it as well, they are exactly what they pledged,” Brooks said. “So, my Alpha son [Jaylen Brooks], he’s a true Alpha man. My Omega son [Tristan Brooks], he’s a true Omega man. My Kappa son [Trace Brooks], he’s a true Kappa man, and I’m just so proud that they pledged who they are and their personality and characteristics and are leading their own legacy and track and I’m proud of them.”

As a Mason fraternal organization member since 2009, service is in Brooks’ DNA. Attending events and watching his family increased his desire to go beyond masonry.

“I’m proud of them and going to all their different things, and I’m like, ‘Wow, I want to be a part as well.’ I was already serving as a Mason but I just always want to do more,” Brooks said. “I just always want to be the best person that I can be. So, I was like, ‘Well, if they’re all in the D9, then I want to be a part of the D9 so I can help serve in that capacity as well.’”

Being a two-sport student athlete and traveling with football and baseball during his undergraduate studies at Prairie View A&M University did not afford Brooks much time to be a part of a fraternity.

Holding both bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Prairie View and a doctoral degree in education from the University of Houston-Clear Lake, choosing to pursue Phi Beta Sigma Fraternity, Incorporated® came from Brooks carefully studying how the organization was in the “forefront” throughout his travels and attendance at numerous events as a school district administrator.

“I go to things around the district all day and I just support different kids, different schools, different programs that schools put on,” Brooks said. “Whether it’s my school or just a different school, I go to support the kids and the community, and it was on a few occasions where I went to different things and Sigmas were putting it on. And so, I would just sit back and I was very intrigued about that.”

With the Brooks men all going in different directions for their fraternity affiliations, what remains at the center is the guidance and fatherly love from the elder Brooks who shared the impact of having open discussions with his sons and being clear about who maintains ownership of the decisions they make.

“Always support your kids. Let them be who they are,” he said. “One thing I pride myself in, of course, I instilled in them right and wrong, but when they were facing options of life and as long as one of the options wasn’t a bad or negative choice that could impact the rest of their life, I allowed them to make the choice.”

Tanika Brooks is overjoyed at the Greek affiliations her husband and sons have made.

“Everybody just kind of carved their own path,” Tanika said. “It was no pressure; we didn’t have any legacies. Jaylen, the oldest one, when he pledged Alpha, we didn’t even know he was going through the process or anything like that, he just came home!”

Tanika loves having a family full of Greeks and said she knew in advance the organizations they would choose.

“I literally could tell you before they pledged what each one of them was going to be,” she said.

“Just based on their mannerisms, their personality, people that they hung out with… I wasn’t surprised.”

Tanika, also an educator as a counselor at Nimitz High School in Aldine ISD, weighed a couple of options for Torrance, yet figured his path would be different from their sons.

“I couldn’t see him as a Kappa. I couldn’t see him as a Que,” Tanika said. “The only thing I could see him as would be an Alpha or a Sigma, and then coupled with all three of your sons that pledged three different fraternities, are you going to be biased and pick one or carve your own path?”

Eldest son Jaylen Brooks, a middle school math teacher in Aldine ISD, holds a bachelor’s degree in political science with a minor in business administration from UTSA and is currently working on a master’s in business administration from Prairie View A&M University.

He shared that he chose to be an Alpha man because the organization stood out to him after doing his research and learning of the “history and brotherhood that it brought” and wanting to be of service to the community, especially at UTSA.

His father’s decision was not a surprise, says Jaylen, who said the family’s patriarch talked to him about wanting to pursue being a Sigma.

“I told him it was a great fraternity. Of course I promoted Alpha, but I let him choose where his heart was destined to go,” Jaylen said. “I told him it was a great choice and if that’s where your heart desires, give it your all.”

Tristan Brooks, the son in the middle, received his bachelor’s degree in criminal justice from Prairie View A&M University and is currently pursuing a master’s degree in education administration.

Tristan added that he is currently going through the hiring process with the Houston Police Department.

During his undergraduate studies, he said that after his research, Omega Psi Phi Fraternity “best fitted me and what I stand for.”

As for his father, Tristan did not try to sway his decision.

“I feel like everybody has to choose their own path and that’s just the path [Sigma] that he so happened to choose,” Tristan said. “I feel like everybody chose their specific organization and I feel like it’s a pretty cool thing.”

The youngest son of the Brooks family, Trace Brooks, is entering his senior year at Huston-Tillotson University, pursuing a bachelor’s degree in education. A member of
Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity, he hopes to one day become a principal like his dad.

Trace says he knew he had options with both of his brothers belonging to different organizations. His research and the Kappa motto of “achievement and the way our brothers carry themselves” was the basis for his decision.

“I am really proud of my dad for joining the D9 family and the fact that it was something different than us three is what really makes it interesting and excites me,” Trace said. “I have honestly never heard of a family going all separate ways like this which makes it funny of course, but it is honestly something great to see and be a part of.”

Brook’s sister, Stephanie Barnes Riley, has been a member of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Incorporated for more than 33 years. Seeing the accomplishments of her brother and his family makes her big sister’s heart happy.

“As a member of Alpha Kappa Alpha, I take pride in service to all mankind and love the way sororities and fraternities make it their mission to give back,” Barnes Riley said. “When my brother and my nephews became members of the Divine Nine, I had such pride because that is who we are. The brotherhood and sisterhood in fraternities and sororities is the best feeling ever and I am so happy they will all have that experience. I am one proud big sister and aunt!”

The lineage of care and support was passed down to Brooks before he became a father himself. He reflected on what he learned from his own dad, Curtis Brooks, Jr.

“One thing that I’ve learned from him that I try to pass on to my kids and hopefully they’ll do the same for their kids, is just you know, being present,” Brooks said. “Just being present. It’s no money amount… just being present. All my kids’ life, I’ve always just tried to be present and just be active and be supportive.”

Brooks is also a grandfather. When asked about the sorority he thinks his granddaughter would probably choose…

“With my wife being a Delta, I would think she would be a Delta,” Brooks laughed.

In the midst of sharing about a baby Delta and AKA onesie battle between mother, sister and niece, he added “But again, she would have choices and opportunities as well.”

Beyond fraternity and sorority affiliations or colors, the love in this family is divine.