John and Sheila's World

Presenting the Bryant Family

Daniel Marsh Kennedy in Maui, Hawaii

Empowerment, A Family Affair

Recently I was asked to speak before a Community Town Hall meeting in Los Angeles hosted by KLJH Radio Station, owned by our friend Stevie Wonder. The topic was taking our community back, and one of the strategies this being the "silver rights" movement in 21st century America, as it relates to black folks. Needless to say, it was a lively discussion on this Sunday night, as part of a live broadcast, and I was honored that my sweetie, Mrs. Sheila Kennedy Bryant, and my nephew Daniel Marsh Kennedy, visiting from New York, decided to join us.

Onward, with HOPE

LEGENDS...In our Midst!

Professor James Scott Kennedy and Professor, and mother, and businesswoman, and writer, and ANGEL on this earth -- Janie Sykes Kennedy, are not only the incredible parents of my sweetie, Mrs. Sheila Kennedy Bryant, they are also two of the most amazing people I have ever met in my entire life.  And while this will ultimately be a multi-volume series on their lives and work, let me start with the ("incredible") basics...

Their fruitful union produced three incredibly gifted, and kind, children - namely James Kennedy, Jr., Sheila Kennedy (my sweetie!) and Teresa Kennedy. Based in New York, the Kennedy's were not about to defined by simply things like time, place and space, when it came to the issue of making a difference in the world.

Janie Sykes Kennedy has lived several lives, with the most important being that of caring mother to her children; but she also is an accomplished professional in her own right. From Manhattan gallery director, at a time when this was unheard of for an African-American anywhere, yet alone in the art center called New York City, to writer and publisher of a regular magazine, to college professor, to co-producer of the many, many theater productions the Kennedy family orchestrated with and for the people of Ghana, Kenya, and other parts of Africa.

Professor Kennedy is a graduate of New York University where he earned his M.A. and Ph., and also studied in London, Paris and Heidelberg. Dr. Kennedy also attended several professional schools of theatre and acting, and is an accomplished actor, producer, playwright, and dancer, as well as a teacher - as a member of the faculty of Brooklin College over several decades. One of Dr. Kennedy's many accomplished students is famed actor Denzel Washington.

Not satisfied with doing the minimum in life, the Kennedy family answered the call to serve others -- living in several countries over a 30 year period. In fact, while Sheila was born in New York, some of her earliest memories are that of growing up in Ghana, Africa. So tramatized was young Sunshine, as she was nicknamed by her father, that after returning from Ghana to the states her mother had to take her to Haiti for several weeks and "gently" re-introduce her to the Western hemosphere.

A few years later the Kennedy family was back in Africa, Kenya this time, producing and performing in local plays as a family, while Dr. Kenndy taught the African people that they could do whatever they wished to do in life -- with and through the power of education.

Over the course of her younger years Sheila and her family lived and traveled throughout Africa, were asked in 1973 by the then Prime Minister of Australia to come and introduce black culture to the continent, which they did, living there for several years. Sheila then ventured on her own to places like China and Spain where she did summer study, and later in her life, Germany, where she lived for more than a year and learned the language! What an incredible family....

And then there are all the extensions of this great family. Leaders and legends, like Sheila's uncle Joe Kennedy, who led the Peace Corps in Africa under President John Kennedy, and for Sargeant Shriver. Or her aunt Lilian, who lived and worked in Africa most of her adult life, again -- in service to the African people.

Accomplished entertainers such as actor and producer Leon Issac Kennedy, and an adopted permanent "cousin" through marriage, Jayne Kennedy-Overton, and yet another uncle who was a lead singer for the famed Ink Spots.

And then there is the legacy of all that came before Sheila and her siblings in their family, that persued education as a virtual right of passage. They understood that "education really was the ultimate poverty eradication tool." When you know better, you tend to do better.

Sheila Kennedy, now Sheila Kennedy Bryant, James Kennedy and his sister Teresa Kennedy, all went on to complete advanced degrees in college; with Sheila earning a Masters Degree in Interactive Telecommunication from her father's school, New York University, and Terri was a young graduate from Harvard University. James Kennedy has always been known as the "brilliant marketer" in the family, and his son, Daniel Marsh Kennedy, has certainly gotten his obvious smarts from his dad!

And the legacy continues... Until the next volume of the story.

Onward, with HOPE