Activism
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Beginning with his days as a teenager at Rutgers University, he participated in the student-led anti-apartheid movement – the drive to end racism in South Africa. Powell has worked on issues of police brutality and racial bias cases and he has worked for years around voting rights.
As a result of his own past struggles, Powell has committed his life to personal healing and professional therapeutic counseling. He is an outspoken critic of violence against women and girls, of violence in general, and he has been at the forefront of the movement to redefine American manhood away from sexism and violence.
Powell produced the 10-city “State of Black Men National Townhall Meetings” tour (2004), numerous Black male think tank sessions, and “Black and Male in America, a 3-Day National Conference” (2007) (www.blackandmaleinamerica.org). He holds an annual holiday party and clothing drive every December in New York City to benefit the homeless teenagers of the SafeHorizon non-profit organization. He co-founded the grassroots community townhall series Hiphop Speaks! (with social entrepreneur, activist, and writer April Silver), which he describes as "a series of forums and MC battles geared toward using hip hop as a tool for social change." Powell participated in Gulf Coast disaster relief efforts, facilitating the delivery of goods and services to the affected regions, and being a co-founder (with social commentator Jeff Johnson) of “Katrina on the Ground,” an initiative that sent over 700 college students to work in the devastated region.
African American social networking tool BlackPlanet featured Powell as ‘Riser of the Month’ in February 2011 for his support of the African American community.
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