AKA Leader Responds To Wax Figure Controversy

Barbara McKinzie, international president of the Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, says the recent allegations that she asked  for a $900,000 was figure statute of herslf are not true.

"The most outlandish misrepresentation is the so-called $900,000  wax figure of me," McKinzie said in a press statement.  " That amount was allocated by the AKA Board of Directors to help defry overall expenses for  our 2010 convention."

She said two wax figures-one of her as president at the time of the centennial and one of the sorority's first international president- were purchased for a total of $45,000 "to complement the wax figure of our founder created in 1996."

The issue stems from a lawsuit filed in June by eight AKA  members, alleging financial improprieties by McKinzie.

Edward Gray, the plaintiffs attorney, could not be reached.

Joanne Martin co-founder and CEO of th Great Blacks in Wax Museum in Baltimore, said the museum created the figures for the AKA.  But she said it cost a total of $45,000, not $900,000, as reported.

"My theory is somebody got confused, doubled the wrog figure, and got a decimal point in the wrong place," she told Jet Magazine.