I saw a spoken word show commemorating the 1919 Chicago Race Riots. The roster was superb, consisting of young firecracker poets of black American and Latinx descent. It proved so emblematic of the origins of slam and modern spoken word, born in Chicago in the '80s. Black and Hispanic working-class kids, influenced by hip-hop. It made me think of all the time spent deep-diving around Ireland's spoken word scene, and of all the people around the world watching videos such as the Button Poetry series, studying and emulating what's being called "the American style." Yet again, often with very little understanding of the origins of these artforms and practices. The origins of pain, of cracking concrete to expose heat, of feeling -- and systematically being -- left out of a society you and your continuously wailing ancestors built. Simply put, I'd love for privileged people to study up on appropriation in general. And if you find yourself using a fake black American, or Jamaican, or Caribbean accent during a performance, please stop. #chi1919 (at Pritzker Auditorium at Harold Washington Library) https://www.instagram.com/p/B1Opg4ln83s/?igshid=gluw3kbkoymm
