Poetry as protest at 'Black Poets Speak Out'

Black Poets Speak Out reading at the Penumbra
Sarah Ogutu performs her poem "Hey Lady" during Black Poets Speak Out, July 13, 2016. "If words have the power of life and death then when no one speaks, this must just be death."
Tom Baker for MPR News

Fifteen local poets gathered for a community reading Wednesday night as part of Black Poets Speak Out, a poetry-driven protest that began after the death of Michael Brown in 2014.

Photojournalist Tom Baker captured the performances at the Penumbra Theatre in St. Paul held in response to the shooting death of Philando Castile last week in Falcon Heights, Minn.

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