Hasan Davis, J.D. began writing poetry at an early age with the encouragement of his mother, who he refers to as the international word wizard, Alice Lovelace, and his father, local Reggae Legend, Charles "Jikki" Riley. Following them across the city of Atlanta, I witnessed the birth of spoken word from two pioneers of the art. Initially, I think it was intended to occupy my time and energy, keep me out of trouble. But there was no place that I would rather have been than in the front row mouthing along to their lyrical celebration of life, pain, and struggle like I was lip-syncing Stevie Wonder. This was how I learned to make sense of the chaos in the world I was navigating every day. Growing up experiencing ADHD and Dyslexia, I first created works with a natural cadence meant to be heard more than for reading.

Hasan's mentor and forensics coach, Harry Robie, encouraged him and helped him believe that he had a gift for telling full, well-rounded stories in just a few minutes. Throughout college and law school this gift won me open mics, talent shows, poetry, and speech competitions to help pay the bills. In time Hasan began to feel as if the issues and experiences that had sparked the anger and the creativity that fueled his pen had passed. He put away his words and began new work through living history interpretation and advocacy work focused on the pressing issues facing disconnected and disenfranchised communities. Recently, Hasan pulled his old poetry notebooks out and to his disappointment realized the experience of his early writing was as relevant to the issues of justice, access, and opportunity in 2021 as they were in 1990.