musings and wanderings

I live in upstate new york and am about 4 hours or so from new york city- or ‘the city’ to new yorkers. yep. it is, apparently, the only one. anyhoo, a reader of my rantings sent me an email regarding kevin powell who is running for congress in brooklyn’s 10th district, i think, please correct me if i am wrong- i only know about the 5 boroughs- not how they work anyhoo, kevin is running against an incumbent who is looking at his 13th year in the house and apparently, according to many of his constituents, basically checked out. should be a done deal right? smart, charismatic young african american man in his mid 30’s or so running against an incumbent that is basically collecting a paycheck. ahhhh…. but it’s new york politics and it’s 2008 and nothing is ever as simple as we would like it to be. now, i am not going to rehash the whole sordid tale here- i will provide links and whatnot. apparently, kevin is a ‘recovering misogynist’ or something like that. he admits to having what we in human services like to call ‘anger management issues’ and he became physical with several women- and men- and has said that he has been working towards changing via therapy, spirituality and apparently, gloria steinem. the last known act of violence allegedly occurred in a nightclub with an altercation with stuff magazine contributor bart graham- however, the only place i could find any mention of the story was in the new york post- and links to the wildly popular ‘page six.’

so, of course, i started down the path where i doubt the emailer wanted me to go. because misogyny has been so much a part of the news over the last year or so- as has race- and both come into play in this scenario. kevin powell writes freely of his childhood upbringing on the streets of new york city- and i don’t know enough about him to know if he uses this as an excuse for his behavior or merely as background information. i do know that there is no excuse for committing violence towards another person or persons and i certainly don’t condone it. but i do think it is disingenuous to hold kevin powell to a different standard than john mccain, for example.

i mean mrs. buffalo chip? now, i don’t know if mccain ever laid hands or staplers on another person or persons. i do know that he treats people badly. very badly. and derives pleasure from it. i can’t speak for kevin powell- there are only his own words to do that:

“And, moreover, I APOLOGIZED to those few women I violated nearly twenty years ago, and they have accepted my apology and forgave me, as have all the males I have ever had conflict with, Congressman Towns, for the record. Human beings appreciate honesty, and they appreciate accountability. If a Malcolm X or a Bobby Kennedy, two of my heroes, could change, could grow, could learn to be fully human, self-critical, and accountable in their very short lives, Mr. Towns, why can’t I? If they both could grow into world-class humanitarians, Mr. Towns, why can’t I?”

so, i don’t know if kevin has truly changed but i do know that congress is made up of men- and a few women- who are pedophiles, cheaters, liars, misogynists, homophobics, drug and alcohol abusers, spouse and child abusers, and on and on…. i know that these people all share a common trait and that’s a lust for power. of that, i am sure kevin has no shortage. but then again… neither does john mccain.