On July 17th, Democracy North Carolina hosted a creative, youth-oriented, political event called Speak it Loud! The event was very well attended and the performers were talented. We were able to get 9 artists to come and either sing, rap, or do spoken word about the dysfunction of our current political system. It was very moving to hear what they had to say. They did a great job addressing many current issues in an artistic way, but of all these great performances, one especially got to me: an artist called Blu did a spoken word poem about Trayvon Martin and how our system needs change.
It was great to see so many young people speaking out about our political discourse. Speak it Loud was a great change to the normal political events we attend. Actually, in all my years of political activism, I had not gone to an event as engaging and awesome as Speak it Loud. It really showed that there are many young people who are passionate about many issues; they just need an avenue to express it. I hope Speak it Loud becomes an annual event for Democracy North Carolina, because I definitely want to attend more of these in the future!
Vibhav Kollu – Charlotte Team
