April is Black History Month

In honor of April being National Poetry Month, this episode of Beyond28 explores the influence of poetry and spoken word on Black culture in the Bay Area through four unique stories. Host Marc J. Spears of ESPN’s The Undefeated is joined by members and directors of Youth Speaks, a local Bay Area poetry and arts organization (4:25); Ralph Walker, the head of security of the Golden State Warriors (09:51); and Imani Cezanne, the 2020 Women of the World Poetry Slam champion (14:26). At the end of the show, Marc takes the listeners back to April 12, 1945, to revisit Billie Holiday’s performance of her timeless and impactful ballad “Strange Fruit” at the Geary Theater in San Francisco (24:22) where we speak with Bay Area jazz historian Marcus Shelby to dissect the impact of this historical period (27:26). Go to warriors.com/beyond28 to continue the conversation and learn more.