by Sonya Hollins, editor
editor@comvoicesonline.com
KALAMAZOO (Mich.)-To a man who is an internationally recognized authority in the areas of civil rights, civil liberties, and issues relating to race, ethnicity, poverty and the law, race is a complex issue. To John Powell, race is more than the color of someone’s skin.
“Racism is like putting a ball on the hill, once it picks up momentum, it will keep going down hill and keep picking up speed,” said Powell. “Race has been a very powerful part of us; even before the United States was a country,” Powell said in a phone interview. “It’s a part of our history and it won’t just go away without potential work.”
Powell, executive director of the Kirwan Institute for the Study of Race and Ethnicity at The Ohio State University will present the keynote address during the Summit on Racism. The annual community conference will be held from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 7 at the Radisson Plaza Hotel. The event is free, however reservation is required.
Powell is not a stranger to Kalamazoo. While a college student he had friends who attended Western Michigan University and often came to the campus for parties and a girlfriend. The native of Detroit founded and directed the Institute on Race and Poverty at the University of Minnesota and served as director of Legal Services in Miami, Florida. He also holds the Williams Chair in Civil Rights and Civil Liberties at the Moritz College of Law.
During his presentation he will address the history of racial issues unique to Kalamazoo from health care and housing to education and criminal justice. For the younger generation, Powell will address how they see race compared to their parents and grandparents.
“One of the mistakes of the younger generation is the thought that having friends of multi-cultural backgrounds means race is not important,” said Powell. “That type of thinking is counterproductive.
“In our society gender matters, age matters, disabilities matter, being American or not matters, and race matters as well. If we ignore the dynamics that come with issues of race, it will only play out in various ways. Because race has been such a scar in America, we want to get beyond it, but ignoring it can be a fatal mistake.”
Powell said racism in American has three levels: historical, unconscious, and structural. He said people make the mistake of believing that racism ended with slavery and the Civil Rights Movement.
“We make a mistake when we feel racism has subsided based on historical grammar,” Powell said. “We didn’t’ have Jim Crow during slavery; we didn’t need it. It wasn’t until slavery ended that Jim Crow (and we didn’t know what to call it at first) was introduced.
Powell said after more than 100 years of legalized slavery ending during the Civil Rights Era, people are still thinking of race in the terms of slavery.
“Even when we deal and understand the present dynamics of racism, new dynamics will implode; it’s a process,” Powell said. “The good news is, through exhibits, discussions, we can make sense of it, use race as a discussion, and begin to make conscious changes.”
Powell has written extensively on a number of issues including structural racism/racialization, racial justice and regionalism, concentrated poverty and urban sprawl, opportunity-based housing, voting rights, affirmative action in the United States, South Africa and Brazil, racial and ethnic identity, spirituality and social justice, and the needs of citizens in a democratic society.
He has worked and lived in Africa, where he was a consultant to the governments of Mozambique and South Africa. He has also lived and worked in India and done work in South America and Europe and is one of the co-founders of the Poverty and Race Research Action Council and serves on the boards of several national organizations. He has taught at numerous law schools including Harvard and Columbia University.
“I believe if the Civil Rights Act was up for vote today, it would fail,” Powell said. “Most people think (race) issues for our society are based on Black, Latino…they don’t think it’s an American issue. The Civil Rights Movement was about the South. The American Midwest, Northwest, did not have a Civil Rights Movement and we are seeing the results of that.”
For more information regarding the Summit on Racsim or to register, call 269-345-5595 ext. 314.
