The Urgency of Now: A Spoken Word Experience

Nearly 60 years ago, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. spoke of the “fierce urgency of now” at the 1963 March on Washington.

Many of the issues that the revered clergyman and his comrades fought against — poverty, racism, police brutality — are just as prevalent today as they were in the 20th Century.

What positive action can today’s generation take to eliminate social ills, many of which have been exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic?

WHYY convened Black spoken word artists from South Jersey to explore what the urgency of now means to them.