Introduction by Kondwani Fidel
Story by Michelle E. Thomas
Your People
ARE HERE
In the wake of
some hard times
(and often in
spite of them),
Baltimore’s Black
arts community
is flourishing now
more than ever.
Baltimore is a city of several tongues. However, art is the
universal language of our land. With a Bachelor of Arts
in English from Virginia State University, I returned back
home to pursue a career as a spoken word poet and writer. I had
no mentors or blueprint to coach me on how to flip my words into
income, so I hit the ground running and shared my stories on every
stage that would welcome me. While I was running the streets
performing poetry to keep my stomach smiling, fire was loaded in
the faces of many Baltimoreans, including myself, due to the tragic
death of Freddie Gray, who we lost April 19, 2015.
Anger requires an exit wound, and it showed up in the form of
an uprising demonstrated by the people of Baltimore. National
and local media had a magnifying lens on our city, attempting to
create a narrative that revolved around violence and anarchy. This
magnifying glass also shed light on how Baltimore, for many years
before the uprising, used the arts to fight off phony narratives.
The art that we create in Baltimore isn’t limited to rebuttals; it is
used to express who we are, where we come from, and what we
mean. Arts and culture in Baltimore have often been neglected by
mainstream media, but we turned our home into a stage anyway—
a city where entertainment, fun, ceremony and milestones are
interpreted through music, film, photography and works on paper.
Today, we are showing the world what we do with art and that we
can create beauty in times of dread.
BLACK ARTISTS
Kondwani Fidel’s poetry is inspired by his experiences
in Baltimore, the city he grew up in. His published works
Hummingbirds in the Trenches and Raw Wounds have
been praised by literary and civil rights giants such as
Ibram X. Kendi, Eve L. Ewing and DeRay Mckesson.
28 BALTIMORE.ORG