ALUMNI NEWS
New Kappa League National Spokesman Introduces Kappa League TV
By Damon Peebles
but the critically acclaimed actor has now taken on a new role as Kappa League National Spokes- man, and his first endeavor is the newest National Guide Right initiative, Kappa League TV.
negative—pimps, and pushers and drug dealers. I just said, hey, I’m not gonna do any of that. I’m gonna do this positive stuff over here, because movies and TV shows get exported to the entire world. And, for most of the world, we are what they see on TV.” He has now taken that ideology and applied it to Kappa League TV. “Kappa League TV is a national YouTube chan- nel, where Kappa Leaguers from all over country will be producing news reports about what their Kappa League chapter is doing in their community—and those news reports will all go up on a national channel and playlist. So, if you go to a playlist for Kappa League Boston, it’ll show you all about Kappa League Bos- ton. So, auntie in Seattle, can go to the playlist of Kappa League Boston, and see what her nephew is doing…on the other side of the country,” said Jones. It’s a grassroots initiative that began in Los Angeles, which is also where in 1969, Kappa League was first conceived. Jones recalled, “I got together with a couple of brothers in LA, and we made a film to help Kappa League raise money, and that film was so successful, that it moved from LA Alumni to the Western Province, and finally showed at Grand Board meeting, and (in 2018) the board drafted me from there to be the Na- tional Spokesperson for Kappa League.” The ultimate goal, he said, is to help create the next generation of storytellers. They will have the skills to be able to capture what’s going on in their com- munity, which can become a part of history. “We are going to be able train these young men, to tell the story of the African American experience from their perspective, so that nobody else can ever tell our story again.”
Brother Jones is probably most
recognized for his role in the mid-nineties
sitcom, “Smart Guy,” starring actor Tahj Mowry as a 10-year-old genius who was skipped from 4 th to 10 th grade and
the challenges that it created
for him. Jones’s played his father, Floyd Henderson, a widowed single father and business owner. It was a groundbreaking show and he is proud for his part in it. “To my great pride, Smart Guy went out to 175 countries around the world, and still plays now; and so that image of the first ever African American genius on television, and his loving and protective, and competent father, went out to the entire world,” he said. media, he recounted, and decided to not portray negative images of Black men. “I wanted to have some input in creating some balance about the kinds of roles that we see African Americans in, in mainstream media. Most of it, when I came to Los Angeles, was really Early in his career, he was concerned about the images of Black men in the
F or nearly 50 years, Kappa League has been a premier mentoring program, and instrumental in providing guidance for young men all over the country. Through Kappa League, a subsidiary of Kappa Alpha Psi’s Guide Right ® Program, since 1970, young men have been provided lead- ership training that has helped them become successful in high school and college, and beyond. Now, another in- novative program, Kappa League ® TV, is underway; utilizing the power of social media help tell the story of these young men; and a celebrity member of Kappa Alpha Psi ® is one of the leaders behind it.
Many may know John Marshall Jones for his television, film and stage career,
To be successful, Jones said, there
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