The idea of Black manhood is at once complex and reductive, and through his latest film, When We Free The World, renowned journalist-author Kevin Powell explores the concept in all of its multitude.
The film, which Powell presented during the World Premiere at Harlem’s First Corinthian Baptist Church Wednesday night, features “70 male voices across 5 generations, and various identities, to ask and answer that age-old question, WHAT IS A MAN?”
Over the course of over two hours, that answer unfolded, from its institution-prescribed definition to the living, breathing documents that are literal men — trans men, cis men, gay men, disabled men. Black men. Scholarly men. Incarcerated men. Righteous men. Flawed men. Ordinary men. Human men.
As emotional as it is comprehensive, Powell’s documentary is one that deconstructs stereotypes while illuminating realities. It’s possible to be a drug addict and a willing father. Trans manhood is as much manhood as any manhood. Expanding these definitions is a journey interlocked with the mission of understanding our own blackness.
“We need to know our history,” Powell told LEVEL outside of First Corinthian. “We need to know who we came from. We need to be able to define ourselves for ourselves, and we actually need to do something.”
As Trump prepares to enter office for the second time, Powell thinks it’s as important as ever to work toward actionable measures to counteract an era where misinformation is just as rampant as bigotry.
“I mean, it's in our history,” Powell said of the need to organize. “I've been an activist for 40 years since I was a teenager. So there's no rocket science here. We need to have strategies in place. You see what's happening, Altadena, Pasadena folks are like, we're not going to wait for anyone to rebuild. We're going to figure out how to rebuild ourselves, and that's what we need to do around the country because literally they've turned back the clock.”
You can watch the trailer for When We Free The World here.