Kevin Powell
Encyclopedia
Kevin Powell is an American
political activist, poet
, writer, and entrepreneur. Powell is also a nationally recognized activist who speaks against violence against girls and women, appearing on The Oprah Winfrey Show
in March 2009. After three unsuccessful runs for the United States Congress
in New York
's 10th congressional district
, it is unclear if he will run again.
Powell appeared in the first season of MTV
's reality television
series, The Real World: New York
in 1992. He was the oldest member of The Real World cast. From 1992 to 1996, he was a senior writer for Vibe magazine. In Spring of 2008, Kevin Powell was initiated into the Zeta Eta Chapter (Lower Manhattan Alphas) of Alpha Phi Alpha
fraternity, of which he is a prominent member.
. As a young man, he was a cast member on The Real World: New York
, the first season of the long-running MTV
reality television
series in which a group of strangers live together for several months. During the course of his stay in the house, Powell had a number of discussions with his housemates about stereotypes and race, some of which resulted in heated arguments.
, Newsweek
, The Washington Post
, Essence
, Rolling Stone
, New York Amsterdam News, and Vibe, where he was a founding staff member and served as a senior writer. He interviewed and profiled General Colin Powell
and Tupac Shakur
. Most recently, he has been a Writing Fellow for the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies
, as well as a Phelps Stokes Fund Senior Fellow.
Since 1993, Powell has published ten books, including the most recent title Open Letters to America (Soft Skull Press, 2009) – "a celebration of the sudden, mass political engagement of America's youth, and Americans in general; [and] his thoughts in the aftermath of Obama's magical and historic presidential campaign..." Powell's childhood memoir, My Own Private Ghetto, and The Kevin Powell Reader will be published in 2011 and 2012 respectively.
; written a screenplay; hosted and written an award-winning MTV documentary about post-riot Los Angeles; and, in 2001, was the Guest Curator of the Brooklyn Museum’s “Hip-Hop Nation: Roots, Rhymes, and Rage” — which originated at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum in Cleveland, Ohio
.
Powell has lectured in 48 states at hundreds of colleges, universities, community centers, prisons, religious institutions, conferences, and festivals, as well as in corporate settings (including Harvard University
and The United Nations
).
Powell is a frequent guest commentator on VH1
, MTV, BET, and other media platforms, where he offers insights on popular culture, political, and social justice issues.
, he participated in the student-led anti-apartheid movement – the drive to end racism in South Africa. Powell has worked on issues of police brutality and racial bias cases and he has worked for years around voting rights.
As a result of his own past struggles , Powell has committed his life to personal healing and professional therapeutic counseling. He is an outspoken critic of violence against women and girls, of violence in general, and he has been at the forefront of the movement to redefine American manhood away from sexism and violence.
Powell produced the 10-city “State of Black Men National Townhall Meetings” tour (2004), numerous Black male think tank sessions, and “Black and Male in America, a 3-Day National Conference” (2007) (www.blackandmaleinamerica.org). He holds an annual holiday party and clothing drive every December in New York City to benefit the homeless teenagers of the SafeHorizon non-profit organization. He co-founded the grassroots community townhall series Hiphop Speaks! (with social entrepreneur, activist, and writer April Silver), which he describes as "a series of forums and MC battles geared toward using hip hop as a tool for social change." Powell participated in Gulf Coast disaster relief efforts, facilitating the delivery of goods and services to the affected regions, and being a co-founder (with social commentator Jeff Johnson) of “Katrina on the Ground,” an initiative that sent over 700 college students to work in the devastated region.
African American social networking tool BlackPlanet featured Powell as ‘Riser of the Month’ in February 2011 for his support of the African American community.
but also by what ABC News
described as "big names from Brooklyn's 10th district". During the campaign, Towns made frequent reference to Powell's self-professed early history of violence against women, issues Powell has discussed in his early writings and has indicated he has overcome through therapy. These references were addressed by Powell in an open letter to Ed Towns, where he also appealed to Mr. Towns to focus on issues.
On July 9, 2008, comedian David Chapelle failed to appear at a Powell fundraiser, despite promises to the paying guests. This was followed by Powell hosting an event at Brooklyn favorite haunt Junior's, where he invited the media to witness him respond to what The Brooklyn Paper
described as a "mean spirited column" in the Daily News focusing on his history of violence. As reported by "Page Six," at a dinner on July 28, 2008, Powell "slipped up" when he told an audience of some "40 representatives of Williamsburg's ultra- Orthodox Satmar (Orthodox Jewish) community" that if elected, he would "bring home the bacon." Bacon is not permitted as part of a kosher diet.
On September 3, media reported that the Kevin Powell campaign had received a notice from the Federal Election Commission
informing them that Powell was not officially registered as a candidate for Congress. As he was not a candidate, his continued fundraising efforts constituted a violation of FEC regulations, and the Powell campaign was asked to disavow such activities within 30 days. As of September 4, the Kevin Powell for Congress campaign had not filed its mandatory Pre-Primary report of all campaign contributions to the FEC, though the report was due August 28.
The same day these stories broke, local periodical The Brooklyn Paper announced its endorsement of Powell over 13-time incumbent and sitting congressman, Edolphus "Ed" Towns. But in light of these revelations, a Paper reporter broke news of the FEC letter and missed deadline and contacted the Powell camp for comment. This paper noted, "Powell did not return repeated requests from The Brooklyn Paper for comment about the FEC letter and his missed filing."
Powell lost this race 67%-32%, receiving 11,046 votes compared to 22,586 for Edolphus Towns. Powell announced that he would run again in 2010.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
political activist, poet
Poet
A poet is a person who writes poetry. A poet's work can be literal, meaning that his work is derived from a specific event, or metaphorical, meaning that his work can take on many meanings and forms. Poets have existed since antiquity, in nearly all languages, and have produced works that vary...
, writer, and entrepreneur. Powell is also a nationally recognized activist who speaks against violence against girls and women, appearing on The Oprah Winfrey Show
The Oprah Winfrey Show
The Oprah Winfrey Show is an American syndicated talk show hosted and produced by its namesake Oprah Winfrey. It ran nationally for 25 seasons beginning in 1986, before concluding in 2011. It is the highest-rated talk show in American television history....
in March 2009. After three unsuccessful runs for the United States Congress
United States Congress
The United States Congress is the bicameral legislature of the federal government of the United States, consisting of the Senate and the House of Representatives. The Congress meets in the United States Capitol in Washington, D.C....
in New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
's 10th congressional district
New York's 10th congressional district
New York's 10th Congressional District is a congressional district for the United States House of Representatives located in Brooklyn, New York City. It includes the neighborhoods of Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn Heights, Brownsville, Canarsie, East New York and Ocean Hill, as well as parts of Fort...
, it is unclear if he will run again.
Powell appeared in the first season of MTV
MTV
MTV, formerly an initialism of Music Television, is an American network based in New York City that launched on August 1, 1981. The original purpose of the channel was to play music videos guided by on-air hosts known as VJs....
's reality television
Reality television
Reality television is a genre of television programming that presents purportedly unscripted dramatic or humorous situations, documents actual events, and usually features ordinary people instead of professional actors, sometimes in a contest or other situation where a prize is awarded...
series, The Real World: New York
The Real World: New York
The Real World is the first season of MTV's reality television series The Real World, which focuses on a group of diverse strangers living together for several months in a different city each season, as cameras follow their lives and interpersonal...
in 1992. He was the oldest member of The Real World cast. From 1992 to 1996, he was a senior writer for Vibe magazine. In Spring of 2008, Kevin Powell was initiated into the Zeta Eta Chapter (Lower Manhattan Alphas) of Alpha Phi Alpha
Alpha Phi Alpha
Alpha Phi Alpha is the first Inter-Collegiate Black Greek Letter fraternity. It was founded on December 4, 1906 at Cornell University in Ithaca, New York. Its founders are known as the "Seven Jewels". Alpha Phi Alpha developed a model that was used by the many Black Greek Letter Organizations ...
fraternity, of which he is a prominent member.
Early life and career
Kevin Powell's hometown is Jersey City, New JerseyJersey City, New Jersey
Jersey City is the seat of Hudson County, New Jersey, United States.Part of the New York metropolitan area, Jersey City lies between the Hudson River and Upper New York Bay across from Lower Manhattan and the Hackensack River and Newark Bay...
. As a young man, he was a cast member on The Real World: New York
The Real World: New York
The Real World is the first season of MTV's reality television series The Real World, which focuses on a group of diverse strangers living together for several months in a different city each season, as cameras follow their lives and interpersonal...
, the first season of the long-running MTV
MTV
MTV, formerly an initialism of Music Television, is an American network based in New York City that launched on August 1, 1981. The original purpose of the channel was to play music videos guided by on-air hosts known as VJs....
reality television
Reality television
Reality television is a genre of television programming that presents purportedly unscripted dramatic or humorous situations, documents actual events, and usually features ordinary people instead of professional actors, sometimes in a contest or other situation where a prize is awarded...
series in which a group of strangers live together for several months. During the course of his stay in the house, Powell had a number of discussions with his housemates about stereotypes and race, some of which resulted in heated arguments.
Writings
Kevin Powell has written for publications such as EsquireEsquire (magazine)
Esquire is a men's magazine, published in the U.S. by the Hearst Corporation. Founded in 1932, it flourished during the Great Depression under the guidance of founder and editor Arnold Gingrich.-History:...
, Newsweek
Newsweek
Newsweek is an American weekly news magazine published in New York City. It is distributed throughout the United States and internationally. It is the second-largest news weekly magazine in the U.S., having trailed Time in circulation and advertising revenue for most of its existence...
, The Washington Post
The Washington Post
The Washington Post is Washington, D.C.'s largest newspaper and its oldest still-existing paper, founded in 1877. Located in the capital of the United States, The Post has a particular emphasis on national politics. D.C., Maryland, and Virginia editions are printed for daily circulation...
, Essence
Essence (magazine)
Essence is a monthly magazine for African-American women between the ages of 18 and 49. The magazine covers fashion, lifestyle and beauty with an intimate girlfriend-to-girlfriend tone.-History:...
, Rolling Stone
Rolling Stone
Rolling Stone is a US-based magazine devoted to music, liberal politics, and popular culture that is published every two weeks. Rolling Stone was founded in San Francisco in 1967 by Jann Wenner and music critic Ralph J...
, New York Amsterdam News, and Vibe, where he was a founding staff member and served as a senior writer. He interviewed and profiled General Colin Powell
Colin Powell
Colin Luther Powell is an American statesman and a retired four-star general in the United States Army. He was the 65th United States Secretary of State, serving under President George W. Bush from 2001 to 2005. He was the first African American to serve in that position. During his military...
and Tupac Shakur
Tupac Shakur
Tupac Amaru Shakur , known by his stage names 2Pac and Makaveli, was an American rapper and actor. Shakur has sold over 75 million albums worldwide as of 2007, making him one of the best-selling music artists in the world...
. Most recently, he has been a Writing Fellow for the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies
Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies
The Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies , headquartered in Washington, DC in the United States, is a national, nonprofit research and public policy institution or think tank...
, as well as a Phelps Stokes Fund Senior Fellow.
Since 1993, Powell has published ten books, including the most recent title Open Letters to America (Soft Skull Press, 2009) – "a celebration of the sudden, mass political engagement of America's youth, and Americans in general; [and] his thoughts in the aftermath of Obama's magical and historic presidential campaign..." Powell's childhood memoir, My Own Private Ghetto, and The Kevin Powell Reader will be published in 2011 and 2012 respectively.
Media appearances and lectures
Powell has hosted and produced programming for HBO and BETBlack Entertainment Television
Black Entertainment Television is an American, Viacom-owned cable network based in Washington, D.C.. Currently viewed in more than 90 million homes worldwide, it is the most prominent television network targeting young Black-American audiences. The network was launched on January 25, 1980, by its...
; written a screenplay; hosted and written an award-winning MTV documentary about post-riot Los Angeles; and, in 2001, was the Guest Curator of the Brooklyn Museum’s “Hip-Hop Nation: Roots, Rhymes, and Rage” — which originated at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum in Cleveland, Ohio
Cleveland, Ohio
Cleveland is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and is the county seat of Cuyahoga County, the most populous county in the state. The city is located in northeastern Ohio on the southern shore of Lake Erie, approximately west of the Pennsylvania border...
.
Powell has lectured in 48 states at hundreds of colleges, universities, community centers, prisons, religious institutions, conferences, and festivals, as well as in corporate settings (including Harvard University
Harvard University
Harvard University is a private Ivy League university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States, established in 1636 by the Massachusetts legislature. Harvard is the oldest institution of higher learning in the United States and the first corporation chartered in the country...
and The United Nations
United Nations
The United Nations is an international organization whose stated aims are facilitating cooperation in international law, international security, economic development, social progress, human rights, and achievement of world peace...
).
Powell is a frequent guest commentator on VH1
VH1
VH1 or Vh1 is an American cable television network based in New York City. Launched on January 1, 1985 in the old space of Turner Broadcasting's short-lived Cable Music Channel, the original purpose of the channel was to build on the success of MTV by playing music videos, but targeting a slightly...
, MTV, BET, and other media platforms, where he offers insights on popular culture, political, and social justice issues.
Activism
Beginning with his days as a teenager at Rutgers UniversityRutgers University
Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey , is the largest institution for higher education in New Jersey, United States. It was originally chartered as Queen's College in 1766. It is the eighth-oldest college in the United States and one of the nine Colonial colleges founded before the American...
, he participated in the student-led anti-apartheid movement – the drive to end racism in South Africa. Powell has worked on issues of police brutality and racial bias cases and he has worked for years around voting rights.
As a result of his own past struggles , Powell has committed his life to personal healing and professional therapeutic counseling. He is an outspoken critic of violence against women and girls, of violence in general, and he has been at the forefront of the movement to redefine American manhood away from sexism and violence.
Powell produced the 10-city “State of Black Men National Townhall Meetings” tour (2004), numerous Black male think tank sessions, and “Black and Male in America, a 3-Day National Conference” (2007) (www.blackandmaleinamerica.org). He holds an annual holiday party and clothing drive every December in New York City to benefit the homeless teenagers of the SafeHorizon non-profit organization. He co-founded the grassroots community townhall series Hiphop Speaks! (with social entrepreneur, activist, and writer April Silver), which he describes as "a series of forums and MC battles geared toward using hip hop as a tool for social change." Powell participated in Gulf Coast disaster relief efforts, facilitating the delivery of goods and services to the affected regions, and being a co-founder (with social commentator Jeff Johnson) of “Katrina on the Ground,” an initiative that sent over 700 college students to work in the devastated region.
African American social networking tool BlackPlanet featured Powell as ‘Riser of the Month’ in February 2011 for his support of the African American community.
Politics
In 2006, Powell launched his first bid to unseat Edolphus Towns in New York's 10th congressional district, located in Brooklyn, discontinuing his campaign in July of that year. In 2008, Powell ran for Congress again, in a campaign that was backed not only by celebrities such as Chris RockChris Rock
Christopher Julius "Chris" Rock III is an American comedian, actor, screenwriter, television producer, film producer and director. He was voted in the US as the 5th greatest stand-up comedian of all time by Comedy Central...
but also by what ABC News
ABC News
ABC News is the news gathering and broadcasting division of American broadcast television network ABC, a subsidiary of The Walt Disney Company...
described as "big names from Brooklyn's 10th district". During the campaign, Towns made frequent reference to Powell's self-professed early history of violence against women, issues Powell has discussed in his early writings and has indicated he has overcome through therapy. These references were addressed by Powell in an open letter to Ed Towns, where he also appealed to Mr. Towns to focus on issues.
On July 9, 2008, comedian David Chapelle failed to appear at a Powell fundraiser, despite promises to the paying guests. This was followed by Powell hosting an event at Brooklyn favorite haunt Junior's, where he invited the media to witness him respond to what The Brooklyn Paper
The Brooklyn Paper
The Brooklyn Paper is a small, weekly broadsheet that covers news related exclusively to the New York City borough of Brooklyn. In existence for twenty-nine years, The Brooklyn Paper covers news and cultural events that have taken place throughout the borough, using different mastheads for...
described as a "mean spirited column" in the Daily News focusing on his history of violence. As reported by "Page Six," at a dinner on July 28, 2008, Powell "slipped up" when he told an audience of some "40 representatives of Williamsburg's ultra- Orthodox Satmar (Orthodox Jewish) community" that if elected, he would "bring home the bacon." Bacon is not permitted as part of a kosher diet.
On September 3, media reported that the Kevin Powell campaign had received a notice from the Federal Election Commission
Federal Election Commission
The Federal Election Commission is an independent regulatory agency that was founded in 1975 by the United States Congress to regulate the campaign finance legislation in the United States. It was created in a provision of the 1975 amendment to the Federal Election Campaign Act...
informing them that Powell was not officially registered as a candidate for Congress. As he was not a candidate, his continued fundraising efforts constituted a violation of FEC regulations, and the Powell campaign was asked to disavow such activities within 30 days. As of September 4, the Kevin Powell for Congress campaign had not filed its mandatory Pre-Primary report of all campaign contributions to the FEC, though the report was due August 28.
The same day these stories broke, local periodical The Brooklyn Paper announced its endorsement of Powell over 13-time incumbent and sitting congressman, Edolphus "Ed" Towns. But in light of these revelations, a Paper reporter broke news of the FEC letter and missed deadline and contacted the Powell camp for comment. This paper noted, "Powell did not return repeated requests from The Brooklyn Paper for comment about the FEC letter and his missed filing."
Powell lost this race 67%-32%, receiving 11,046 votes compared to 22,586 for Edolphus Towns. Powell announced that he would run again in 2010.
Books
- In the Tradition: An Anthology of Young Black Writers Edited by Kevin Powell and Ras Baraka (1993) (ISBN 0-86316-316-5)
- recognize Poetry by Kevin Powell (1995) (ISBN 0-86316-324-6)
- Keepin' It Real: Post-MTV Reflections On Race, Sex, and Politics Essays by Kevin Powell (1997) (ISBN 0-345-40400-9)
- Step Into a World: A Global Anthology of The New Black Literature Edited by Kevin Powell (2000) (ISBN 0-471-38060-1)
- Who Shot Ya? Three Decades of Hiphop Photography Photographs by Ernie Ernie Paniccioli, Edited by Kevin Powell (2002) (ISBN 0-06-621168-9)
- Who's Gonna Take The Weight? Manhood, Race, and Power in America Essays by Kevin Powell (2002) (ISBN 0-609-81044-8)
- Someday We'll All Be Free Essays by Kevin Powell (2006) (ISBN 1-933368-57-8)
- No Sleep Till Brooklyn, New and Selected Poems Poetry by Kevin Powell (2008) (ISBN 1-564538-67-8)
- The Black Male Handbook: A Blueprint for Life edited by Kevin Powell (2008) (ISBN 978-1416592242)
- Open Letters to America: Essays by Kevin Powell (2009) (ISBN 978-1593762148)