The Braddock Youth Project participated in a spoken word event on April 18th sponsored by Propel Braddock Hills High School, “Let’s Raise Our Voices Against Violence”. Fifteen participants from Propel Braddock Hills, Propel Andrew Street, and BYP performed poems on the topics of community violence, bullying, discrimination, and non-violence. Sharvel Pulliam of the BYP media team says that he felt, “nervous at first, but after seeing everyone supporting me and so encouraging, I felt really confident with my poem.”
In preparation for the event, the BYP Media Team watched videos of experienced spoken word artists and researched musical works that they admired for inspiration. They also practiced their performances on stage at the Nyia Page Community Center.

BYP members show support for the performing youth.

Sharvel Pulliam looked to poet Maya Angelou and musical artists like Radiohead for the inspiration for his poem “The Waves Roll Tide”.

Autumn Wilson performing her piece “Goodbye”

Quadary Jackson performing “Pride”