The Strand Theater welcomed an unmistakably palpable energy Thursday afternoon, as hip-hop and neo soul music by young Atlanta artists was punctuated by powerful readings by civil rights attorney and activist Mawuli Mel Davis.
The multimedia presentation encompassed weighty words from Davis’ book, “We Need You: Encouraging My Sons’ Generation for Black Liberation,” and was accentuated with spoken word poetics, and hard-hitting photography and film — cumulatively emphasizing the Black Man Lab’s (BML) declaration of Black liberation and love.
Created to “inspire young creators, innovators, and entrepreneurs to collaborate and create socially conscious content,” the We Need You Project encompasses a broad spectrum of artists and innovators from dance to fashion design, photography to tech development.
Thursday’s reading highlighted works from talented young spoken word and music artists; poetic narratives of what it means to be Black in Atlanta; to be at the mercy of trigger-happy, overzealous police officers, and to bear witness to hateful reactionaries following the peak of the Black Lives Matter movement.
“Our history is full of young people — who took a stand — whose names most of us do not know. Who found ways to contribute to our struggle, our movement, and who tried to change the world,” Davis said.
“Our resistance comes in different forms,” said Davis, “but it is always coming … It comes like rain; sometimes there is a drizzle, sometimes a downpour. Fortunately, it always comes. And it’s always refreshing and lifegiving. Resistance quenches our thirst for justice, safety, and security.”
Fittingly, while the audience sat hushed, carefully tuned into Davis’ words, rain poured down Oak Bluffs streets outside the Strand.
A sign of a new rain of resistance, said Davis, was “when young people poured into the streets of Ferguson, Baltimore, Chicago, New York, stood with local youth” in response to increasing incidents of fatal police brutality. But “there is still hope,” said Davis, as “this generation of friends and comrades will be the storm.”
Having been raised in Chicago, Davis said he was politicized in Philadelphia, and now resides, works and organizes in Atlanta, Ga. Davis and his wife Jana have two children, who have been exposed from early ages to social and cultural activism, and have been instilled with a deep sense of community-based proactivity.
“I wrote this piece so that I might urge my sons and their generation to imagine; to reimagine, to build a new world,” said Davis, “and to let them know, without question, how much we really, truly need them.”
Davis reflected on seeing several Black men walking down the street over the course of his Vineyard visit; it caused a feeling of elation for those men to be free to just be, without having to be fearful of being subjected to harassment. “In most of our communities, that’s not the case,” Davis said.
While Islanders indeed have the luxury of being somewhat removed from the realities of constant police brutality and justice inequities, Davis emphasized the need to create a safe space for organized social resistance, and for the younger generations to maintain pressure on the status quo.
