You can be like Obama

“Obama is not the exception to the rule. His achievements are not beyond the possibilities for you. Find your passion, find your cause, locally and nationally, and keep it moving…” – From the essay “Open Letter to Young America” by Kevin Powell

Noted writer, activist, and Jersey City native Kevin Powell aims in his new book, “Open Letters to America” (Soft Skull Press; Sept. 2009; 130 pages; $13.95) to not only mobilize the youth of this country to create a new multicultural movement, continuing what started during Barack’s Obama campaign, but also to mobilize public officials to be better public servants and to convince males to be better toward the women in their lives.
The 43-year-old Powell, who grew up on Bergen Avenue in Jersey City’s Greenville section, published letters including “Open Letter to Young America” and “Open Letter to An American Woman” in this, his 10th book.

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“Writing is as important to me as breathing.” – Kevin Powell
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He bares his soul and expresses the pain yet pride in his own upbringing as the son of a single mother. He grew up to become a student activist at Rutgers University, a founding staff writer at Vibe Magazine, and a cast member in the inaugural season of MTV’s The Real World. He also was a recent candidate for Congress, as well as an accomplished lecturer.
The pain comes from seeing his mother abandoned by his father having to raise a child on her own:
“Indeed, my father so emotionally devastated my mother by his irresponsibility, absence, neglect, that my mother turned her hurt on me, her only child. Yes, like many young people in your district, Mr. Towns, I was a victim of all manner of violence as a child, including physical and mental abuse.” – “Open Letter to Congressman Ed Towns”
His comeback against Towns, his opponent in the 2008 race for New York’s 10th Congressional District (where he currently resides), came after Towns attacked Powell’s past violence issues.
But Powell’s letter to Towns pales in comparison to the emotionally stirring passages in the final letter, addressed to an admirer of his work, who lost a best friend to domestic violence:
“And we must teach them, both the boys and girls alike, that it is not correct, nor human, for girls, for women, to be viewed and treated as second-class citizens, or sex objects, or punching bags, in our so-called civilization.” – “Open Letter to An American Woman”

Mom still lives in JC

Powell and Soft Skull Press held a release party for the new book on Nov. 17 at the Canal Room in New York City.
He thanked the 200-plus people who came as well as one person who was not in the room – his mom, who still lives in Jersey City. Powell then looked back at his hometown and beginnings of his life as a writer.
He said he and his mother would visit the Greenville Branch of the Public Library on Kennedy Boulevard when he was a young boy.
“I fell in love with words when I was 3, 4 years old because my mother taught me the importance of reading, of thinking,” Powell said.
Powell also looked back at over 20 years of plying his craft, which came from the philosophy he developed as a young adult: “No matter what, I am going to be a writer… writing is as important to me as breathing.”
He then took a momentary excursion to the activist side by taking to task those in the room who worked to get Obama elected, yet, “for the sake of a paycheck,” also worked to get Michael Bloomberg elected for a controversial third term as mayor of New York City.
Powell then issued a challenge to those listening to him to shape the political and social discourse.
“Just identify one thing that you are completely passionate about,” he said. “I don’t care what it is.”
Ricardo Kaulessar can be reached at rkaulessar@hudsonreporter.com.