What You Need to Know About Kwame Rose

Mon, 05 Oct 2015 12:27:15 -0400
activism, activist, baltimore, critical-social-justice, csj365, what-you-need-to-know

As we count down to the Critical Social Justice: Baltimore 365 keynote event “Baltimore in Action: Always Rising” on Tuesday, October 20th, we’ll be profiling all of our keynote speakers in our “What You Need to Know” series.

Kwame Rose

Kwame Rose is a social activist and hip-hop artist who’s probably best known for his encounter with Geraldo Rivera of Fox News when he called out the mainstream media’s inaccurate representation of the city and the protestors during the Baltimore Uprising. Since then he’s emerged as a leading voice among those demanding justice and an end to racist policing.

There had been almost two weeks of peaceful demonstrations before the mainstream media poured into Baltimore, and it wasn’t until windows started being broken that anybody tuned in and gave a damn. †

Kwame’s passion for social justice advocacy is also evident in his music, particularly his track “State of Emergency,” which talks about the work to be done in Baltimore even after the cameras stop rolling.

As he’s grown into his role as a leader and community organizer at just 21 years old, Kwame has remained outspoken in his commitment to fostering civic engagement among Baltimore youth, and he’s currently developing his own youth-based advocacy group called VOICES (Vocalizing Our Intelligence Creating Effective Solutions).

For more on Kwame, check out:

His essay “Why I Protest” in City Paper

His blog and Twitter

His EP “Active(ist)” on Soundcloud