On April 17 and 18, Keith LaMar called in to the 5C Prison Abolition Collective’s Freedom First concert series from death row in Youngstown, Ohio, to perform original spoken-word poetry.
“If I had to capture his essence in just a few words … Keith is love, light and laughter,” Ken Wright, a childhood friend of LaMar’s, said in a speech to concert attendees.
Wright was one of many who spoke and performed during the evenings of jazz, poetry and prose in Balch Auditorium. Abolitionist Poetry Night on April 17 featured performances by LaMar and five other poets, while April 18’s Freedom First Jazz Concert included LaMar reciting his poetry over live jazz music.
LaMar, who has been on death row for thirty-one years, is currently being held in solitary confinement and is scheduled to be executed by the state of Ohio on January 13, 2027. According to the Justice for Keith LaMar website, LaMar was wrongfully convicted by the state of Ohio following the 1993 Lucasville Prison Uprising.
From solitary confinement, LaMar has written an autobiography, titled “Condemned,” and organized book clubs in high schools and universities around the country, in addition to developing his practice as a poet.
LaMar and pianist Albert Márques produced their album “Freedom First” in 2022. At the Freedom First Jazz Concert, LaMar called in to perform his spoken-word poetry over the instrumentals of Márques and three other New York-based musicians — tenor saxophonist Salim Washington, drummer Zack O’Farrill and bassist Yosmel Montejo — in real time.
According to LaMar’s campaign, the “Freedom First” album is the first in history to be recorded and released by an artist while on death row. Since 2022, it has been performed on three continents, and previously came to Claremont on Oct. 7, 2023.
The instrumentalists and LaMar performed three pieces off the album — “Calling All Souls,” “Be Free” and “The Drowned and the Saved” — in addition to covering the John Coltrane pieces “Alabama” and “Acknowledgement.”
Mary Valdemar, a longtime community organizer in the Inland Empire affiliated with San Bernardino Valley College, opened the concert with reflections on the meaning of freedom.
“We’re here today to talk about freedom,” she said. “But we can’t do that until we get really honest … about who is free and who isn’t.”
Valdemar emphasized the need to center legacies of settler-colonialism in conversations about liberation like LaMar’s, while Lucy Waggoner-Wu SC ’25, a leader of the 5C Prison Abolition Collective, grounded LaMar’s fight in the prison abolition movement.
“Keith should not only be released because he is innocent and wrongfully convicted, but because prisons are unjust to their core,” she said.
Waggoner-Wu emphasized the power of the written word in fighting systems of oppression.
“We find in writing our opportunity to create value that opposes mass devastation,” Waggoner-Wu said. “We believe that every attempt at expression is an attempt to survive.”
Jose Guttierez, a member of the Los Angeles chapter of the abolitionist organization Critical Resistance, highlighted the commonalities that unite LaMar’s story with millions of others.
“If Keith LaMar was here today, he would urge us to not only fight for his release, but for everyone,” he said. “Because we know that it’s not just about Keith LaMar. We know that it’s about … a bigger system that he’s a part of, and it’s about getting everyone free.”
“We believe that every attempt at expression is an attempt to survive.”
According to the Prison Policy Initiative, U.S. criminal legal systems incarcerate nearly two million people.
Maria Riker PZ ’28, a member of the 5C Prison Abolition Collective, spoke about her time in a book club hosted by LaMar in high school.
“More than anything, Keith has taught me that we can choose the people that we become and the ways we show up in the world,” she said.
Despite a sometimes-tenuous phone connection, LaMar’s voice was unwavering. He spoke directly to students in the audience toward the end of the performance.
“Remember your agency,” he said. “Check on each other. Show each other love.”
After the performance, Amy Gordiejew, campaign manager of the 501(c)(3) Justice for Keith LaMar, provided ways for audience members to become involved with the campaign. Márques encouraged listeners to use their voices in the service of liberation.
“I noticed talking to a few of you here that there have been serious attacks on freedom of speech,” he said. “And you have seen the consequences of fighting. I do believe that when you have this kind of retaliation against activism, it just confirms that you are doing the right thing.”
Frances Currie SC ’26, a member of the 5C Prison Abolition Collective’s steering team and one of the event’s organizers, said that they hope audience members are moved by Keith’s commitment to life.
“I really hope that people … recognize the life that is on death row and recognize that the state is trying to take away that life,” they said.
At the end of the performance, Balch Auditorium erupted in an uproar of applause. Leila Riker PZ ’25, a leader of the 5C Prison Abolition Collective, took a photo of the standing, cheering audience to send to LaMar.
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