Ask Willie Johnson about himself, and you may not get a lot of details. But ask him about his passions, and you will discover an articulate, thoughtful individual.
Willie thinks about big things. He’s an artist, a poet, and a subversive, using his creative skills to make his points to those around him. He’s also known as Captain Recycling for his efforts on behalf of the planet. Whatever he’s doing at the
moment, he’s passionate about it.
Poetry is the most important means Willie has of helping others discover what he is saying. He explains, “Poetry, it’s like a verbal play where I cast out the characters, and extend the potential of what could be, and what some of the changes are that may
have to take place to get it done. Almost every piece has a secret message in there. I don’t know who it is for or what it is for, but there’s a bunch of them in there, and it’s going to catch people if they are acute enough to see. So I always try to add an extra
layer of secrecy.”
The goal, says Willie, is to help his readers discover a truth for themselves, rather than him explaining it to them. “I’m not trying just to plot out stuff to people, and bombard you with my message. I’m trying to get you to trick yourself into, ‘Wait a minute.’ Then
you become one of the engines to get things done.”
His desire to help people uncover truths for themselves supports his recycling efforts too. As he puts it, “I just don’t get it,
why we’re destroying our world like this. Captain Recyclng is a big deal for me because it’s all about how we have to live
now. I just want to promote people to get out there and try to find friends to cooperate with and to do things with to help
the community, because we don’t have much of a chance. We have to work hard to team up and to get things done. We
can’t just say, ‘Oh, they did it, and blah, blah, blah.’ No, we’ve got to fix it.”
As you’ve probably realized, Willie doesn’t want to be a lone crusader, and he doesn’t want others to feel like he is looking
down on them. Instead, he wants to bring people together. “I’ve had a very stressful life. I’m not too upset about it, but I just
wish we had more unity on the planet. Look at all the wars, and the violence, and the scams, and the lies. It’s just too much.”
For those who do want to know about Willie, he was in the army. He came to Minnesota in 1990, spent time in the wilderness of Northern Minnesota, and then came to the Twin Cities. He left briefly to look for his son on the East Coast, but was unsuccessful. He isn’t trying to hide his past; he’s just focused on the things that are most urgent to him now.
“I’m always a citizen, but I’m not happy with the history of this country,” he explains. “It’s taken too long for them to stop hurting us. Not just us, people of color, but people who are being depressed by society.” Rather than falling into depression and self-pity, Willie continues to use his skills and passions to bring people together to reshape the world.