Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.’s work wasn’t as simple as black and white, Kevin Powell said Thursday.
Following in King’s footsteps means being concerned not just about racism but also ageism, sexism and other ways of treating others as less than equal human beings, Powell said.
It’s not good enough to say you love all people if you discriminate based on sexual identity or preference, he stressed.
Powell, a Grammy-nominated poet and author of 16 books, was keynote speaker for Purdue University Northwest’s MLK Day recognition at the PNW campuses in Westville and Hammond. He spoke on Thursday in Westville.
“What kind of human being do you want to be? Do you care about love or do you care about hate,” Powell asked. He urged the audience to be bridge builders and not bridge destroyers.
He opposes the term “illegal alien,” which diminishes the value of others as fellow human beings.
“How dare you shut the door when you know the time Irish folks were called all sorts of names, Italian Americans were called all sorts of names,” he said.
Many Americans suffer from historical amnesia, forgetting what has happened in the past. Powell has encountered many people outside this country who know more about American history than a lot of Americans do.
Powell repeatedly urged the audience to read so they can understand other points of view.
He decried efforts to restrict what children can be taught. “We sometimes have to talk about racism. We sometimes have to have that uncomfortable conversation,” he said.
“We have some very serious things happening in our country and our world right now,” Powell said.
The civil rights movement, from 1955 to 1968, did much in just 13 years to change the nation, he said. Without it, attendee Angie Nelson-Deuitch could not have become Michigan City’s first Black female mayor, he said.
Nor could the nation have Kamala Harris as its first Black female vice president.
Still, there’s a long way to go.
“Hip hop wouldn’t even exist without the civil rights movement,” Powell said. The same poor people King worked so hard to help still exist. “It’s a multimillion-dollar industry now but it was created by poor people.”
In his travels, Powell sees poor people struggling in cities across the country.
King’s work emphasized uplifting poor people, regardless of their race. He moved to Chicago’s west side in 1966 to address issues there.
Powell’s own family was poor. “We didn’t have any books in the house except a Bible. Books were a luxury, We didn’t have any money,” he said.
Before King was assassinated in 1968, he was helping sanitation workers in Memphis, Tennessee. If you don’t speak to people like janitors and secretaries, you’re going the opposite direction of King, Powell said. “He never thought he was better than anyone. He thought there was dignity in all work.”
Powell wants to hear from all kinds of people, not just people like him. “I want to learn about all these folks. I want to learn all these histories,” he said.
Bob Dylan, who wrote “Blowin’ in the Wind,” was influenced by Dylan Thomas. Sam Cooke, who heard Dylan’s song, wrote “A Change is Gonna Come.” We are all influenced by others, Powell said.
“Have the courage to cross cultural boundaries,” he urged. “Vote, but also know what’s going on in your community. Be aware. You’ve got to change things.”
“Decide if you want to live a full life or if you want to live life in a box,” he said.
“Do something in your community,” Powell added. “Help them belong. Don’t ‘other’ them. Don’t act like they’re invisible.”
“One of the most interesting movies I saw in 2023 is this little thing called ‘Barbie,’ and they kept talking about the patriarchy, People were right; the film was right about that. You know, we gotta keep fighting all these different things,” Powell said.
Doug Ross is a freelance reporter for the Post-Tribune.
