Do Black People Wear Belts? Kemp Powers On Creativity And Tackling Stereotypes At Pixar

When Kemp Powers seized the world’s attention in 2020 with two
blockbuster movies — 'One Night In Miami,' which he wrote, and
'Soul,' which he co-wrote and co-directed — he was 47 years old.
His envious achievements are the culmination of an un-envious
journey, a hard slog filled with tragedy and self-doubt. A
recovering journalist, Kemp and Art of Power host Aarti Shahani
talk about how the newsroom almost killed his creativity and how he
salvaged it one snowy night when he nearly died. Powers became the
first Black director in the history of Pixar, an American cultural
institution that is … very white. In the process of writing and
directing Soul, Pixar's first feature film with a Black lead
character, Powers found himself on the forefront of changing the
company culture. He had to educate his white colleagues who
believed things like “all black people hate cats” and “black people
don’t wear belts.” He says his work at Pixar has taught him the
importance of “managing up.”