B Side News activist, poet, journalist, essayist, editor, hiphop historian Kevin Powell running for Congress

Fri, 24 Feb 2006 08:00:26 -0800



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Ingrid B
 
 
 
Good day to you, friend. I hope you and yours are well.

I am writing because I have decided to embark on an amazing personal and political journey. I am running, THIS YEAR, for a seat in the United States Congress in the 10th Congressional District here in Brooklyn, New York. AND I NEED YOUR HELP.

I've decided to do this because, as some of you know, I have been a public servant, in some form, for two decades, since my days as a teenage student leader at Rutgers University. I am completely committed to the ideals of freedom, justice, and equality, in America, and on this planet, and I am proof that much can be achieved if we are determined to make a change, personally and politically. For I am the product of a single-mother led household, extreme poverty, fatherlessness, and the kind of circumstances which have locked so many in a cycle of despair and hopelessness. But, for whatever reasons, God has made it possible for me to be a writer, and, as Dr. King put it, a drum major for justice. And running for Congress is simply a logical next step. I have watched America go through many changes over the past few years, because of September 11th, because of the war in Iraq, because of Hurricane Katrina, because of the exploitation and manipulation of our values and our differences, and I want to use my voice, in Washington, DC, on a national stage, in a way that affirms our humanity, not denies it. America is not the country it once was, but we are still not the country we can be either. It is time for new leadership, a new generation, to push us forward, and I want to be a part of that wave of fresh ideas, of new visions, for these times, for the 21st century.

The above said, I need to raise A LOT of money between now and March 31st, to be taken seriously as a candidate. Some of you may have seen the articles already written mentioning my candidacy, and know that there is quite a buzz. All of that is wonderful but, again, I need the help of prominent, well connected individuals like yourself who are able to write checks for $1000 or $2000. $2000, fyi, is the maximum you can give under federal law. WE REALLY NEED THE BIG CHECKS, but we WILL accept any and all contributions, for sure. And I ask, respectfully, that you share this note with your colleagues near and far. I am running against someone who has been in Congress for 24 years, yet has one of the worst voting and attendance records in the House of Representatives. This campaign is not just about me. It is about the kind of leadership we should have, that we deserve to have, in America. With your help, we can create a movement in that direction.

You can aid my bid for Congress by making checks payable to

Friends of Kevin Powell
PMB 198
138 Court Street
Brooklyn, NY 11201

And if you are interested in hosting a fundraiser for me, VERY SOON, in your home, in your city, on behalf of my campaign, where we can gather a number of folks able to write $1000 and $2000 checks, please reach out to Jennifer James, my Finance Director, at 718-757-0481 or via email at [EMAIL PROTECTED]

Below my signoff is a detailed BIO, in case your network of folks would like more background on my life and my life work. I am an honest man, will always be that way, mistakes and all, and I have made many, no doubt. Indeed, the kind of leadership we need more than ever must be leadership that is brutally honest, accountable, and transparent.

I thank you VERY KINDLY for reading this email, and I certainly look forward to hearing from you shortly, as time is of the essence.

Sincerely,
Kevin Powell

ABOUT KEVIN POWELL

Kevin Powell is widely considered one of Americaâ?Ts most important voices in these early years of the 21st century. Legendary feminist Gloria Steinem proclaims that "as a charismatic speaker, leader, and a very good writer, Kevin Powell has the courage...to be fully human, and this will bring the deepest revolution of all." Famed scholar and social critic Dr. Michael Eric Dyson has called Powell "a mighty wind of fresh air."

Kevin Powell is an activist, poet, journalist, essayist, editor, hiphop historian, public speaker, political consultant and fundraiser, and businessman. A product of extreme poverty, welfare, fatherlessness, and a single mother-led household, he is a native of Jersey City, New Jersey and was educated at New Jerseyâ?Ts Rutgers University. Kevin Powell is a longtime resident of Brooklyn, New York, and it is from his base in New York City that Powell has published six books, including his current title, Whoâ?Ts Gonna Take The Weight? Manhood, Race, and Power in America, which is an Essence magazine bestseller. His next project, Someday Weâ?Tll All Be Free, arrives in Fall 2006 and will feature essays on the 2004 presidential election, September 11th, and Hurricane Katrina and the Gulf Coast tragedy. Powell is also at work on his childhood memoir, homeboy alone, slated for 2008. Additionally, Powell is compiling his second volume of poetry, My Own Private Ghetto, and The Kevin Powell Reader, which will highlight the first twenty years of his literary career. Indeed, he has written numerous essays, articles, and reviews over the past two decades for publications such as Newsweek, The Washington Post, Essence, Code, Rolling Stone, The Amsterdam News, and Vibe, where he was a founding staff member and served as a senior writer. It was at Vibe that Powell profiled a number of icons including Colin Powell, Spike Lee, and the late Tupac Shakur.

A gifted and highly sought after public speaker, Powell has lectured on multiculturalism, American and Black American history, the life of Dr. King, civil rights, American politics, sexism from a male perspective, leadership, social activism, and the state of hiphop, among other topics, at hundreds of colleges and universities, community centers, religious institutions, conferences, and festivals, as well as in corporate settings. Furthermore, Kevin Powell routinely offers his insights on a variety of matters, to TV, radio, newspaper, magazine, and internet outlets in America, and abroad. Powell is presently producing a series of townhall meetings across America called the State of Black Men Tour, which will visit approximately 25 cities through the end of 2006, and culminate with Black Men in Americaâ?¦A National Conversation, in June 2007, in New York City. And his future political plans include either a run for office in his adopted hometown of Brooklyn, New York, or the launching of a new organization.

A fixture on the pop culture landscape the past fifteen years, Powell was a cast member on the first season of MTVâ?Ts â?oThe Real Worldâ?; hosted and produced programming for HBO and BET; written a screenplay; hosted and wrote an award-winning MTV documentary about post-riot Los Angeles; and was the Guest Curator of the Brooklyn Museum of Artâ?Ts â?oHip-Hop Nation: Roots, Rhymes, and Rageâ?â?"which originated at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum in Cleveland, Ohio, and of which Powell was the exhibition consultantâ?"the first major exhibit in America on the history of hiphop. Powell is now the founder, CEO, and president of True York Entertainment, LLC, a new multimedia company with interests in marketing, film, television, and music, including representation of the talented young singer Shannone Holt.

Of paramount importance to Kevin Powell, however, is his activism. He has been a leader in some form or fashion for the past twenty years, dating back to his days at Rutgers University. He was a participant in the student-led anti-apartheid movement, the drive to end racism in South Africa; he has been at the forefront of police brutality and racial bias cases; he has worked for years around voting rights; Powell has organized a number of concerts, mc battles, rallies, and forums that stress the use of hiphop as a tool for social change; he has become a very outspoken critic of violence against women and girls; Powell has taught, mentored, and counseled in schools, camps, prisons, and on the streets of urban America; he produces an annual holiday party every December in New York City that benefits the needy; and Powell has been a central figure in Gulf Coast disaster relief efforts, facilitating the delivery of goods and services to the affected regions, and being in on long-term rebuilding plans for the region, particularly as it concerns poor people.

Of his life work Kevin Powell says, simply, "My life-calling is to be a servant for the people, period. Money, fame, status, personal achievements, and all that means very little to me when pain and  suffering are still real on this planet. I am interested in the powerless becoming powerful."
 
 Ingrid B
On The B Side
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www.ingridbonline.com

" I sit on a mans back choking and making him carry all the while assuring myself and others that I am sorry for him and wish to ease his lot by any means necessary except getting off his back...Leo Tolstoy"

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