Kevin Powell, journalist, community activist, poet, and hip-hop historian will present a lecture, “Keepin’ It Real: Black Images in the Media and Popular Culture” on Thursday, February 9, at 7:30 p.m., in Garrison Theater of the Scripps College Performing Arts Center. A reception will follow the lecture; both are free and open to the public. This event is sponsored by SCORE, Scripps Communities of Resources and Empowerment, and the Alexa Fullerton Hampton Speaker Series, “Voice and Vision,” made possible through the bequest of Scripps alumna Alexa Fullerton Hampton ’42. For more information, please contact the Malott Commons office at (909) 607-9372.
Along with the six books Kevin Powell has published, he is a senior writer for VIBE and a contributing writer to The Washington Post, Essence, Newsweek, and Rolling Stone. Powell’s most recent book, Who’s Gonna Take the Weight: Manhood, Race, and Power in America, was published in 2002. A commentator for BET, VH1, MTV, and NPR, Powell has also hosted and produced programming on HBO and BET. In 2000, he was the guest curator of the Hip-Hop Nation: Roots, Rhymes, and Rage at Brooklyn Museum of Art, which explored the rise of hip-hop in America, featuring hip-hop fashion, videos, and artifacts.
Kevin Powell has been a political activist since his undergraduate days at Rutgers University in New Jersey. In 2001, he co-founded the nonprofit hip-hop organization, Hiphop Speaks, to offer communities an opportunity to use music as a tool for nonviolent protest for social change. In the fall, he has been active in Gulf Coast disaster relief and rebuilding efforts. Through his participation in demonstrations and his lectures across the nation, Powell has urged public discussion on social justice, racism, multiculturalism, disenfranchised voters, and violence against women.