Black Lives Matter: Art after George Floyd

The Cultural Frontline

This week, a year since the death of George Floyd and the resurgence of the Black Lives Matter movement, writers and artists reflect on the impact of those events.

After George Floyd’s death, thousands of people took to the streets calling for change and an end to systemic racism. US Politician and voting rights activist Stacey Abrams has been working to bring about that change. She’s also an acclaimed author who has written her first political thriller, While Justice Sleeps. Reflecting on events of the last year, Stacey Abrams tells Sherri Jackson how storytelling is the common thread through her work and a powerful tool in politics.

During the Black Lives Matter protests of 2020, statues representing slavery and oppression were torn down and murals started going up in the US and all over the world. From the Kibera settlement in Nairobi, Kenya and the highways of Sao Paulo, Brazil, we hear why street artists near and far from the States have taken up the cause of Black Lives Matter and made it their own.

Hailing from Ferguson, Missouri, Grammy award winning jazz trumpeter Keyon Harrold ‘s powerful ‘MB Lament’ responded to the 2014 death of Michael Brown in his home town. In the wake of George Floyd’s death, Keyon Harrold has spoken out against racial injustice and turned to music to process trauma and pay tribute. Keyon speaks to Sherri about using jazz as a language when words fail him. And how do we talk about racism and anti-racism to children? Jason Reynolds, poet, author and the US National Ambassador for Young People’s Literature, explains how he tackles difficult subjects through his writing for teenagers.

Presented by Sherri Jackson

(Photo: Kenyan mural artist Allan Mwangi, also known as Mr.detail.seven, paints a graffiti mural in the Kibera settlement in Nairobi, Kenya. Credit: GORDWIN ODHIAMBO/AFP via Getty Images)