Police Brutality Song
B.L.A.C.K. Lawrence- Alex Kimball Williams, Co-founder, B.L.A.C.K. Lawrence
- Tai Amri Spann-Ryan, Co-founder, B.L.A.C.K. Lawrence
- Cia Cole, B.L.A.C.K. Lawrence
Project Description
This music video will tell regional stories of police brutality. The song describes the beautiful life and dreams of a young Black man whose life is taken too soon by police in his neighborhood. It speaks to the resilience, fear, and loss deeply felt by Black people each time a new hashtag is birthed. The content is gentle and sensitive, so that audiences of various ages (3rd grade and up) have enjoyed and understood it. Mellon funding will pay for videography costs, compensation to participating families for their time, the PI’s time for recording the song, narration, and spoken word poetry that make up the story, and the time of fellow artists from B.L.A.C.K. Lawrence who will provide a variety of voices and models for the video.
Partner Details
Alex Kimball Williams
Co-founder, B.L.A.C.K. Lawrence
Bio
Alex Kimball Williams is a multicultural artivist (artist + activist), musician, writer, & community organizer. Their work focuses on ethnopolitics, medical activism, & environmentalism. They received the 2018 MLK Dreamer’s award & 3rd place Community Leader/Hero (Racial Justice/Equity Issues) on Best of Lawrence 2021. Kimball Williams co-founded B.L.A.C.K. Lawrence (Black Literature & Arts Collective of Kansas).
Tai Amri Spann-Ryan
Co-founder, B.L.A.C.K. Lawrence
Bio
TAI AMRI SPANN-RYAN is an African American Universalist Quaker from Lenni-Lenape land in South Jersey, right outside of Philly. He is Lawrence, Kansas’ 2016 Langston Hughes Poetry Award Recipient, and is a co-founder of the collaborative group B.L.A.C.K. (Black Literature and Arts Collective of Kansas) where he organizes events and readings.
Cia Cole
B.L.A.C.K. Lawrence
Bio
Cia Cole is a mom, freelance creative, soul vocalist, and classical violinist that was born and raised in Kansas City, Missouri. Cia developed her love of music growing up, highly influenced by her parents who would often sing in local operas, church choirs and other musical ensembles. Cia would go on to join them in her first Opera in middle school as an acolyte and joining the children’s chorus in The Wise Women. In addition to joining middle and high school productions and talent shows, Cia continued her classical musical studies within the Youth Symphony of Kansas City. She even taught all 3 of her siblings the violin! Cia would go on to study professional voice with Tony Fishback at the Metropolitan Community College. Afterward, Cia transitioned to sing and study string intensively with the prestigious William Jewell College. Currently, you can find Cia singing smooth vocals with her new band The Soulful within local Lawrence Arts Collective Black Lawrence, the Kansas City Fringe Festival, or around other music hotspots in Kansas City. In addition, Cia has recently joined local orchestral ensemble, alongside her brother Victor with The Metropolitan Conservatory in Olathe, KS.
