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Who
Mentored Colin Powell?
Colin
L. Powell was sworn in as the 65th Secretary of State
on January 20, 2001. Prior to his appointment, Secretary
Powell was the chairman of America’s Promise —
The Alliance for Youth, a national nonprofit organization
dedicated to mobilizing people from every sector of
American life to build the character and competence
of young people.
Secretary Powell was a professional soldier for 35 years,
during which time he rose to the rank of 4-star General.
He was Assistant to the President for National Security
Affairs from December 1987 to January 1989. His last
assignment, from October 1, 1989, to September 30, 1993,
was as the 12th Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff
in the Department of Defense. During this time, he oversaw
28 crises, including Operation Desert Storm in the victorious
1991 Persian Gulf war.
***
When
I was a boy growing up in the South Bronx, my father
was the dominant figure in my life. A Jamaican immigrant
like my mother, who worked his way up to a foreman's
job in Manhattan's garment district, Luther Powell never
let his race or station affect his sense of self. West
Indians like him had come to this country with nothing.
Colin
Powell, age 6, with his father. |
Every
morning they got on the subway, worked like dogs
all day, got home at 8 at night, supported their
families and educated their children. If they could
do that, how dare anyone think they were less than
anybody's equal? |
That was
Pop's attitude, and it became mine, too. At home, my father
was the neighborhood Solomon--the village wiseman people
came to for advice, for
domestic arbitration or for help in
getting a job. He would bring home clothes, seconds and
irregulars, and end bolts of fabric from the company where
he worked, and sell them at wholesale or give them to
anybody in need.
He was totally unimpressed by rank, place, or ceremony.
Once, when I was a colonel stationed at Fort Campbell,
Ky., I invited my parents to join us for Thanksgiving
dinner. My father talked with generals as if he had known
generals all his life, and then table hopped through the
mess hall, like Omar Bradley mixing with the troops before
an invasion. I was struck by his total aplomb: Luther
Powell belonged wherever Luther Powell happened to be.
He was a short man, just 5 feet 2 inches tall; but, like
Napoleon, he was masterful.
Excerpted
from My American Journey by Colin Powell
with Joseph E. Persico
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