LTAB are black, but more Latinos and Asians are becoming passionate about the art as well. Jamila worked with a few white suburban schools that started their version of the poetry slam called Louder Than A Lawn Mower, to reflect their own personal struggles. But some of their participants felt that they needed to have a certain type of story similar to their city counterparts to be authentic. “You don’t have to have a certain struggle to be authentic,” she explained. “As we move forward we want to talk about celebrating who you are. I think that will lessen the pressure from others that have different struggles and bring more people into the conversation.”
LTAB helped Jamila develop her voice not only as an artist, but as a person. “I didn’t have many spaces to affirm me as a young person to be authentic. The culture at my school had a lot of cliques and there were prevalent class and race differences. Nothing was done structurally to break down the environment. YCA and LTAB provided an alternative space that tries to counter the dominant narrative of what you need to succeed or to be beautiful. I’m not isolated in thinking that I’m the only one who feels this way,” she reflected. Jamila sees herself as a future musical artist and wants to start a program at YCA for female poets that are also singers. She’s excited to see LTAB grow nationally to other cities, but hopes each one reflects the uniqueness that their city brings.