{"id":47127,"date":"2016-12-06T13:27:23","date_gmt":"2016-12-06T19:27:23","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/?p=47127"},"modified":"2016-12-06T13:27:23","modified_gmt":"2016-12-06T19:27:23","slug":"power-to-the-people-how-prison-abolitionist-ric-wilson-shares-his-work-through-music","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/power-to-the-people-how-prison-abolitionist-ric-wilson-shares-his-work-through-music\/","title":{"rendered":"Power to the People: How prison abolitionist Ric Wilson shares his work through music"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Thaddeus Tukes<\/strong><\/p>\n

Good luck trying to catch artivist Ric Wilson.<\/p>\n

Traversing the city of Chicago with wide eyes and a feather earring, his flutters<\/a> have already been making waves throughout the Chicago area.<\/p>\n

A native of Alsip, a suburb southwest of the city, his soul has \u201cbounced\u201d from the North Coast Music Festival in early September to private shows at the SoHo House. At every performance, he proclaims:<\/p>\n

“We love us.”<\/p>\n

[soundcloud url=”https:\/\/api.soundcloud.com\/tracks\/277561904″ params=”color=ff5500&auto_play=false&hide_related=false&show_comments=true&show_user=true&show_reposts=false” width=”100%” height=”166″ iframe=”true” \/]<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

He expands on it in his music. Soul Bounce<\/a>, his new EP, calls on fans who may be “a brother of the sister who killed by police, cousin of the cousin in the jail gates” that it’s about time to love ourselves.<\/p>\n

Wilson got his first performance opportunities at the Lyricists Loft, a weekly open mic event at the Harold Washington Library in Chicago, that was curated by hip-hop poet and entrepreneur Brother Mike who suddenly died at the age of 38.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was like the<\/em> YouMedia<\/a> kid, those nerdy people who like to write,\u201d says Wilson. He recalls going to the city\u2019s west side for this first time to meet with rapper Saba, but never left the train stations because \u201cthe west side just blew my mind.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe love us\u201d evokes the city streets where \u201cI see my bros getting locked in Chicago, 16 shots in Chicago<\/a>, can\u2019t walk 16 blocks in Chicago.\u201d<\/p>\n

Wilson came out of the Chicago Freedom School<\/a>, an educational institution dedicated to the leadership development of forward-thinking students ages 14-23. There, he was exposed to the teaching and philosophies of some of history\u2019s most influential revolutionaries.<\/p>\n

\u201c[There were] kids that were reading stuff that they weren\u2019t supposed to read when they were 15, or into things like Marcus Garvey or Malcolm X when they were 15,\u201d he says. During the summer, Wilson took identity workshops and developed community organizing skills. The school later hired Wilson as a youth coordinator.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo I was teaching oppression, campaigns, and all this stuff when I was like 17, 18.\u201d<\/p>\n