Former ”Real World” reality TV star and hip-hop journalist Kevin Powell has announced that he will not run for Congress in 2012.
“While I am still very much dedicated to the issues I raised in our campaigns, I will not be running for Congress or any other office in 2012,” he wrote on his website this afternoon. “For the immediate future my heart is with political and community organizing. For the past year, I have been working very quietly with diverse fellow leaders of my generation, the generation behind me, and my team to build a new national organization that will address the concerns of progressive, multicultural America.”
Mr. Powell challenged long-time Brooklyn Rep. Ed Towns in 2008 and 2010, and made an abortive run in 2012, and had previously told The Politicker that he was gearing up for a rematch this year.
Mr. Powell got around 30 percent of the vote both times, which didn’t seriously challenge Mr. Towns, but would have made him a factor in 2012, when a lot of attention has been placed on Assemblyman Hakeem Jeffries, who has all but announced that he will run against Mr. Towns.
The dropping out of Mr. Powell also means that Charles Barron, a City Councilman who nearly knocked off Mr. Towns in 2006, may run. He has previously told The Politicker that he would stand aside for Mr. Powell.
Kevin Powell’s full message to his fans is below:
KEVIN POWELL: I am not running for political office in 2012
October 2011
Greetings everyone. I pray that you and your families are well in these very exciting and, yes, difficult, days of change and action happening in America, and across the globe.
As many of you know, I ran as a Democrat for a seat in the United States House of Representatives from Brooklyn, New York’s 10th Congressional District in 2008 and 2010. I can truly say, after a long year of healing, self-reflection and, yes, self-criticism, too, that the experience was life-changing. I am truly glad I did it, twice, because my life work is dedicated to helping people to help themselves. We did not win either election, but we won in many other ways: by running clean and transparent campaigns; and by providing an alternative to the entrenched old guard leadership that has come to dominate not just Brooklyn, but American politics and communities in general.
I was deeply moved by the everyday people I met on the campaign trail, of the stories both of triumph and struggle, of people challenging and questioning leadership, politics, democracy, and me. And I remain deeply humbled by the too-many-to-count volunteers who sacrificed their time and energy to support what we called “our campaign.”
Indeed, I’ve received messages in multiple forms from Americans in their 20s, 30s, and 40s, particularly, who said they were so inspired by what we did here in Brooklyn that they have also run for political office themselves, or will do so in the coming years. I am very proud that our campaign inspired others to become more politically engaged. And that the effort tackled critical issues around jobs, small business development, education, healthcare, and how those of us who call ourselves leaders should serve the American people and practice what Dr. King termed a dangerous kind of selflessness.
While I am still very much dedicated to the issues I raised in our campaigns, I will not be running for Congress or any other office in 2012.
For the immediate future my heart is with political and community organizing. For the past year, I have been working very quietly with diverse fellow leaders of my generation, the generation behind me, and my team to build a new national organization that will address the concerns of progressive, multicultural America.
In the first quarter of 2012 we will launch BK Nation (”BK” stands for building knowledge). BK Nation’s simple mission is to be a bridge to information, resources, and services for people in America, and a space where the American people can have their say about the great issues of our times, either as leaders, or as citizens who simply want to see our nation live up to its promises and reach its full potential as a democratic society. BK Nation will focus on the same core issues we dealt with during our campaigns, and, over time, it will be based both in various communities and online. BK Nation will be headquartered in New York City, the borough of Brooklyn.
I am so incredibly excited about this new direction. As many of you may know, I have visited nearly all 50 states in the U.S., as an activist and as a public speaker, and these experiences, over the course of the past 20 years, have afforded me a really unique perspective on our country, on the people of America, and what is possible, if we work to be solution-oriented bridge-builders. That is what I aim to do, to be a bridge-builder, in Brooklyn, in America. Our new organization and I will work with anyone who is willing to work with us, as long as love, peace, sincere and respectful communication, and mutual cooperation are the foundations for our partnerships. And because we are clear that no one leader and no one organization have all the answers. If there was ever a time for people of different backgrounds to come together for the good of this nation and this planet, it is now. That is where my life work is taking me, and I embrace this monumental challenge, with love, and with humility.
Finally, I need to say that I believe in true democracy more than ever, and will do everything in my power, for the rest of my life, to move our nation, and this world, toward equal opportunities, equal rights, equal justice, and equal freedom for all people.
Respectfully,
Kevin Powell
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