Latest news with #KappaAlphaPsi
Associated Press
7 days ago
- Entertainment
- Associated Press
Respected Roots Celebrates Community, Culture, and Connection at the 2025 Atlanta Jazz Festival
Respected Roots united culture and community at the Atlanta Jazz Festival. Next stop: Phoenix, July 1–6, for the 87th Kappa Alpha Psi Grand Chapter event! 'It was beautiful to see our community come together through culture. It's about purpose, people, and giving back.'— Jason Hawkins, CEO of Respected Roots. ATLANTA, GA, UNITED STATES, May 30, 2025 / / -- This past Memorial Day weekend, Respected Roots proudly participated in the iconic Atlanta Jazz Festival, one of the city's most vibrant celebrations of music, culture, and community. As soulful jazz filled Piedmont Park, our team was thrilled to connect with festivalgoers and share the essence of the Respected Roots brand. From loyal supporters to first-time customers, the atmosphere at our vendor booth was one of joy, unity, and curiosity. Guests engaged with our all-natural grooming and skincare products, asked questions, shared stories, and left with more than just a purchase—they left with a deeper understanding of who we are and what we represent. 'It was beautiful to see our community come together through culture,' said Jason Hawkins, Co-Owner of Respected Roots. 'It's about purpose, people, and giving back.' The Atlanta Jazz Festival offered a perfect opportunity to showcase Respected Roots' mission: to empower and elevate through quality grooming essentials rooted in heritage and pride. Each interaction at the booth served as a reminder of why Respected Roots exists—not just as a brand, but as a cultural movement. We extend our heartfelt thanks to everyone who stopped by to support, connect, or simply vibe with us. Your presence fuels our passion. Next stop: Phoenix, Arizona. Join us at our upcoming event at The 87th Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity, Inc. Grand Chapter July 1st-6th as we continue to spread the Respected Roots movement nationwide. Stay connected with Respected Roots at and follow us on social media for updates, new releases, and future community events. Abeyon Gardner Respected Roots LLC +1 404-955-9484 email us here Visit us on social media: Instagram YouTube TikTok Legal Disclaimer: EIN Presswire provides this news content 'as is' without warranty of any kind. We do not accept any responsibility or liability for the accuracy, content, images, videos, licenses, completeness, legality, or reliability of the information contained in this article. If you have any complaints or copyright issues related to this article, kindly contact the author above.
Yahoo
18-04-2025
- Yahoo
Ohio fraternity suspended for 15 years after allegations of ‘nightly hazing rituals'
The Kappa Alpha Psi fraternity has been suspended from Miami University's campus after allegations that current members and alumni physically abused recruits. [DOWNLOAD: Free WHIO-TV News app for alerts as news breaks] A junior at Miami University and three other students were beaten by the fraternity's president, vice president, and other members, according to a media release by Cleveland lawyers Merriman Legal LLC, WCPO reported. The law firm said the junior it represents withdrew from Miami after five weeks of the alleged abuse. The press release details 'nightly hazing rituals' that allegedly happened at a campus apartment. TRENDING STORIES: 1 dead after school bus flips due to blown tire Gas station robbed at gunpoint; Can you help ID the suspect? Longtime Kings Island roller coaster gets new name honoring Cincinnati Kappa Alpha Psi alumni allegedly 'continued the beatings during unauthorized meetings at a house in a Dayton suburb.' The junior testified during a disciplinary hearing that the fraternity president and vice president "beat him with paddles and canes up to 60 times in a night, forced him to do wall sits and subjected him to constant verbal humiliation during lengthy hazing sessions, which would often last well past 3 a.m." Our news partners at WCPO obtained a letter from Miami University to Kappa Alpha Psi. That letter says the fraternity was initially fully banned for life from the campus after a hearing in February. However, after an appeal in March, Jayne Brownell, senior vice president for student life at Miami, changed her decision. Under the current ban, Kappa Alpha Psi will be barred from Miami University until March 15, 2040. Miami University sent WCPO the following statement on the ban: Hazing of any kind is illegal and strictly prohibited at Miami University. Miami seeks to promote a safe environment where students may participate in activities and organizations without compromising their health, safety, or welfare. More information can be found on our website here. Under Collin's Law and University policy, hazing is defined as doing, requiring, encouraging or coercing another, including the victim, to do: Any act of initiation into any student organization or other University sanctioned organization or athletic team; or Any act to continue or reinstate membership in or affiliation with any student organization or other University sanctioned organization or athletic team that causes or creates a substantial risk of causing mental or physical harm to any person, including coercing another to consume alcohol or another drug. Failure to intervene, prevent or report any act of hazing may also constitute a or organizations found responsible for violating the code of conduct, endangering health or safety, and/or violating laws will be held accountable. This could mean, among other things, individual or organizational suspension or dismissal, disciplinary probation, or required attendance in a substance abuse program. We will continue to follow this story. [SIGN UP: WHIO-TV Daily Headlines Newsletter]
Axios
10-03-2025
- Politics
- Axios
D.C. begins removing Black Lives Matter Plaza near White House
D.C. began dismantling Black Lives Matter Plaza on Monday, less than a week after Mayor Muriel Bowser announced it would be transformed. Why it matters: The mural near the White House went up in summer 2020 to protest police brutality and as a rebuke to President Trump in his first term. Zoom in: Crews were jackhammering the asphalt and removing traffic bollards to begin transforming the 16th Street space. The work is expected to last six to eight weeks. The yellow mural spanned two blocks leading to the White House. D.C. spent about $5 million in 2021 making the plaza " permanent" and pedestrian-friendly. Bowser said last Tuesday it would be transformed into an art-driven celebration of America's 250th birthday next year — part of D.C.'s America 250 mural project. Members of Black fraternity Kappa Alpha Psi — one of the oldest Black fraternities in the country — honored the plaza Sunday before its removal, per NBC4. "You can erase this," member Richard Mattox said, "but you cannot erase our history." Friction point: Bowser's decision came after U.S. Rep. Andrew Clyde, a Republican from Georgia, introduced a bill last Monday that would withhold highway funds from the District if BLM Plaza remains. The bill would rename it Liberty Plaza. Bowser's office did not respond to Axios' questions about renaming the area.
Yahoo
20-02-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Given our history, perhaps Black Greeks should consider name changes for their organizations
Vice President Kamala Harris delivers remarks Nov. 6, 2024, at Howard University in Washington, D.C., after conceding the presidential race to Donald Trump. (Grace Hills/Kansas Reflector) In a speech at the University of Minnesota in 2002, the late Randall Robinson, best known for his anti-Apartheid and reparations advocacy, said the following: 'Herodotus, the Greek historian, wrote 500 years before Christ that everything Ancient Greece was: its calendar, its division of the year into 12 parts, its language, its math, its science, its gods, its mythology, its carving figures in stone, all of it … had been derived from older civilizations to the south, the civilizations of Egypt and Ethiopia.' Years before I found that speech, I met Asa Hilliard, an educational psychologist and Egyptologist, when he spoke at my church in Louisville, Kentucky. In 1976, Hilliard wrote the introduction for a much-maligned book originally published in 1954 titled 'Stolen Legacy.' The book argued that Greek Philosophy was stolen African philosophy. Given this, and years of reading on these subjects, I've long wondered why Black fraternities and sororities, recently highlighted via the presidential campaign of Vice President Kamala Harris, a member of Alpha Kappa Alpha, haven't dropped Greek letters from their names. Maybe the time has come for this discussion. I'm not attacking Black Greek organizations. Just the opposite. Some of the most consequential people in my life belong to these organizations. My brother is a member of Kappa Alpha Psi. My late journalism professor Samuel Adams, a trailblazing Black journalist and someone I called 'Daddy Sam,' was a member of Omega Psi Phi. Betty Bayé, my colleague at the Louisville Courier-Journal, whom I still call 'Queen' and greet with a peck on her cheek, is a member of Delta Sigma Theta. Bayé shared that while her sorority and the other 'Divine Nine' have Greek letters in their name, the practice is like everything Black people have done in our sojourn here in the West — we reshaped it and made it our own. We changed the culture. 'Some ate high on the hog and gave us the scraps,' she said. 'We took the leavings and created 'Soul Food.' The white folks gave us their version of the Bible to create docile slaves. What did we do? We gave birth to Nat Turner and Black Liberation Theology. We went into newsrooms as suspects unworthy of our jobs. What did we do? We created NABJ to encourage and honor our own.' NABJ is the National Association of Black Journalists. Mentor Charles F. McAfee, the famed Kansas architect and a member of Kappa Alpha Psi, sponsored my entrance into Sigma Pi Phi, a professional fraternity also known as the 'Boule,' after college. I didn't follow a traditional path into Black fraternity life (I've been inactive for years), but I have some standing in this discussion. Black Greek Letter Organizations' emergence, according to the National Museum of African American History and Culture, coincided with 'the rise of Jim Crow laws, the popularity of scientific racism, and widespread racial violence.' Today, the nine BGLOs comprise the National Panhellenic Council. Nationwide, these organizations have created community, mentored young professionals and raised scholarship money. These networks uplift entire communities. But I've felt an incongruity with the organizations maintaining connection to the Greeks, who we know traveled to Africa to study. As the 1990s hip-hop group, The X-Clan, said: 'I am an African, I don't wear Greek. Must I be reminded of a legendary thief who tried to make Greece in comparison to Egypt?' This isn't disparagement. I'm invoking a common paradox for African Americans: managing the 'twoness' that W.E.B. DuBois described of people trying to inhabit a larger, hostile society while retaining a sense of self. I'd experienced this sort of cultural awakening as a young adult. I'd read the 'Autobiography of Malcolm X' before my junior year in college. In my dorm room, I played my mother's old Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. records on a loop. Researching a term paper for my History of American Journalism class, in which we each wrote about the year of our birth, I discovered the Black Panthers and the fire-breathing H. Rap Brown. My campus friends and I brought Malcolm X's widow Betty Shabazz and educator Jawanza Kunjufu to campus. We travelled to Kansas City Kansas to hear Yousef Ben-Jochannan, known as 'Dr. Ben.' I earned a journalism degree with an African and African-American Studies emphasis. In Louisville, where I landed my first post-college job, I joined St. Stephen Baptist Church, still led by the Rev. Kevin W. Cosby, who guided me toward more knowledge. St. Stephen offered an Afrocentric lifestyles ministry, where we could adopt African names. But for my father's pride in our family history, I would have taken the surname 'Makalani,' which among varied definitions means 'writer.' We had a 'Rites of Passage' program for youth that I helped lead. We named our Family Life Center after activist Fanny Lou Hamer. We flew a red, black and green flag out front. But meeting Hilliard there left an indelible mark on Mark. Hilliard introduced me to historian John Henrick Clarke's work. Clarke once famously said it was 'impossible to continue to oppress a consciously historical people.' My fraternity brother named his son Asa after Hilliard. Some Black people reject the term African American. They've argued they've never been to Africa and know nothing of it. They consider themselves American, not African. Still, African Americans have increasingly embraced their African heritage. It is no longer unusual to see Jesus depicted as Black in Black churches. More Black people now wear their hair naturally or braided. They wear Ankhs and Kente cloth. Amid this reawakening, maybe it's time to discuss this name change. A 'Stolen Legacy' review included this passage: 'The greatest crime Europe committed against the world was the intellectual theft of Africa's heritage. Empires were stolen, whole countries snatched and named after pirates, rapists, and swindlers. Palaces and monumental edifices destroyed could be rebuilt, but when you steal a people's cultural patrimony and use it to enslave, colonize and insult them, then you've committed unforgivable acts bordering on sacrilege.' Enslavers tortured our names, language, and culture out of us. Few of us can trace our lineage beyond the slave trade. A name change for Black Greek organizations could help with cultural reformation. I recently ran across a 1963 radio interview with Malcolm X where the interviewer asked about his 'X.' Malcolm explained that enslavers ripped away their captives' names, replacing them with a slave master's surname connoting ownership. 'X' signifies the unknown in mathematics, so he replaced his slave name with 'X.' Malcolm said if you saw a Japanese or Chinese person named Barney Murphy (I inserted a first name), it likely would confuse some folks. The same holds true for African Americans with names like Murphy or O'Kelly or McCormick. These names don't reflect our African origins. They typically reflect the horrors we've endured. The humiliations we suffered. The swaths of history torn away. Why should we wear such names? Exactly. Mark McCormick is the inaugural executive director of the Kansas Black Leadership Council, the former executive director of The Kansas African American Museum and chairman of the Kansas African American Affairs Commission. Through its opinion section, Kansas Reflector works to amplify the voices of people who are affected by public policies or excluded from public debate. Find information, including how to submit your own commentary, here.
Chicago Tribune
12-02-2025
- Sport
- Chicago Tribune
19 step teams to perform at Southland College Prep in Richton Park
Nineteen teams from six states will travel to the south suburbs for what is billed as the biggest non-Greek middle school and high school step show in the United States. The Evergreen Park Alumni Chapter of Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity, Inc., which has about 70 members including Chicago, Chicago Heights and Richton Park residents, hosts the third annual Kappa League Step Show on Feb. 15 at Southland College Prep Charter High School in Richton Park. 'I've been involved with Kappa League for over 20 years,' said Corey Levy, director of operations at Southland College Prep and director of Kappa League at the high school. 'Kappa League is our mentoring program.' Kappa Alpha Psi states on its website that Kappa League is a career-development program for the educational, occupational and social guidance of male students in sixth to 12th grades. The majority of Southland College Prep's Kappa League consists of male freshmen to seniors from the school, but some step team members come from Homewood-Flossmoor High School, which Levy said typically has an all-girls team, and St. Laurence High School, a former boys school that went coed in 2017 in Burbank. 'We all do community service,' said Levy. She said about 38 of the 58 Kappa League members at Southland College Prep are nonstepping. 'One of the things we really try to focus on is that self-dignity piece. What does it mean to be a good citizen?' she said. Jadyn Erves, a Southland College Prep junior and one of the step team's three captains, said Kappa League members encouraged him to join. 'I enjoy the brotherhood bonding the most and also enjoy competing with the step team,' said Erves, 17, of Park Forest. 'I've gained responsibility definitely. I hold myself accountable more — leadership skills, caring for others on my team. The school aspect and the mentorship aspect help me a lot.' He was part of their 'Phantom of the Step Show' exhibition performance at the 2024 Kappa League Step Show, which drew 1,400 attendees. 'The complex movements and the way the team has to interact with each other to make the moves form properly, the way the entire team has to be in unison and the performance has to be the best it can be, is what's different from any type of dance style or performing art,' Erves said. With Southland College Prep being the host, the high school's 20-member step team cannot compete but will present an exhibition routine of 'The Cinderella Story.' The event also features Kappa Alpha Psi members DJ Malik Shabazz and DJ Knowledge, both of Chicago's South Side. 'We try to find a theme that we haven't seen done before. We try to be as unique as possible,' said Levy, director of Southland College Prep's step team. 'There's gonna be that little twist. In the original Cinderella story she loses her slipper whereas with the Kappa League twist she loses her step show jacket.' Stepping has deep roots in African American culture and has always been about unity, pride and powerful expression, according to Southland College Prep. '(You) use your entire body, not only your feet and hands. You're verbalizing as well. It's an expression of dance using the entire body,' said Levy, who started Kappa League programs at other schools including O.W. Huth Middle School in Matteson and Calumet Middle School in Calumet Park. The show has grown from nine teams at the inaugural event in 2023 to 12 teams in 2024 and 19 teams ranging from all-boys and all-girls to coed from Illinois, Indiana, Louisiana, Missouri, Kentucky and Virginia this year. There are middle school and high school divisions. A Homewood-Flossmoor High School team will compete for the first time. The show will also feature returning high school division competitor GenXsis Step Team, of the south suburbs, and its middle school team called Childish Behavior returning to compete in the middle school division. 'It's a warm, welcoming environment,' Levy said. 'The big thing is word of mouth. We try to make sure we have our eye, our pulse on all the little details, making sure everyone is comfortable, giving them their own space.' Each team performs one 10-minute routine and trophies are awarded for first, second and third place. Levy said a cash prize of $250 goes to each division's second-place winner, $500 to the first-place middle school winner and $1,000 to the first-place high school winner. The event also features exhibition performances by two middle school teams that Levy said are not at competition level, and an inaugural guest performance by Devastating Divas of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc. His wife, Tasha Levy, is president of the sorority's Chicago Metropolitan Alumnae Chapter. 'Seeing the progression of levels is going to be a good thing for the audience to see,' Corey Levy said. 'It will be a fantastic time for everyone.' Southland College Prep's step team, which recently did a half-time routine at Loyola University Chicago, performs for Big Brothers Big Sisters of Metropolitan Chicago on Feb. 22 and before an April staging of 'Bust' at Goodman Theatre in Chicago. The team will compete at the national Stomp Wars on April 5 in Texas. Corey Ballenger, a Southland College Prep senior and one of the step team's captains, said older friends prompted him to become part of Kappa League and try stepping. 'We have a bond that is not just stepping. We can talk with each other. We're all really friends. That's a big part of it,' said Ballenger, 17, of Matteson, who is also a member of the Soul Children of Chicago, which incorporates some dance moves into its choir performances. Ballenger, who said it was challenging to prepare 11 new Southland Charter Prep step team members during practices six days a week for the Kappa League Step Show performance, praised Levy's leadership. 'He's a great mentor. He's taught us a lot of things. He's just a great person to talk to,' Ballenger said. 'For everyone he's there to talk with you and he's just been a great role model through the years.' Kappa League Step Show
