Responsibility for Self: Kevin Powell

The book that I chose to talk about is “Who’s Gonna Take the Weight” by Kevin Powell. This book breaks down African Americans in society today in three different but very essential categories that is explained through essays about his life and what he went through. My reactions about each category were distinctive as I continued to read each section. For example, the section titled “The Breakdown,” he talks about how after the Real World he went to work for Quincy Jones’ Vibe magazine and he was surprised about the lack of African American editors or those that were in a head position. As I read that, I was not too surprised at the fact that a Black owned magazine company is actually operated by Whites. During the 90s and even now a lot of Black owned companies are really operated predominately by whites. Although, it is less common now because African Americans are now getting a better education, life, job opportunities, etc, they are now seen as counterparts in the company and even have more say as to what happens inside the corporation.

When Powell was employed at Vibe and he pointed out the fact that even though it was owned by a Black man, that Whites were still running the company. He also stated that there were not many Blacks who were there that had credentials to be in management or one of the head editors. Those factors made me look around at my surroundings and question how many Blacks are the dean of a certain school, how many Black professors this school has, and how many Black students this school has. By doing this, I fully understand what he went through and how he felt working at Vibe. I feel as though we are given the opportunity to achieve many things many take these opportunities for advantage. Then I also wonder why there are not as many Blacks who have some clout here being professors, deans, or students, as other schools that have the same amount of student or lesser than our school.

Kevin Powell has qualifications to write about this subject because of the fact that a) he is an African American male living in the United States, b) he has lived through a lot of oppressions against the genders, race, and power, and c) he was raised as a product of the Hip-Hop generation. Powell during his life lived and breathed Hip-hop by learning the newest, latest dance move and acting in it. However, reading this book I had a sense of repetition. Even though he used his own essays about his life, I felt as though I already heard everything he talked about in his essays. I realize that a lot of males can and/or are womanizer or even misogynists, and even that stems from their childhood. At times as I was reading this book I had to reread that particular section due to the fact that it was a little bit confusing and also to see how he came to a certain point in that part of the essay. Kevin Powell wrote this book not just because he is an African American male or for Black people but because and I quote, “But for the human race (22).” Powell now wants to revamp his life and become a truth seeker and teller, to have self-love for oneself and not self-hatred because of his skin color or for those who look like him, and also “not to be stuck on the treadmill of emotional underdevelopment and confusion forever (22).” He wants not only himself but all African Americans and other people to look at their lives and put under a microscope and dissect