Kinetic Affect combines the voices of Kirk Latimer and Gabe Giron. Initially, the pair enjoyed solo careers, performing at clubs and often against each other in spoken word competitions. They joined forces in 2007 to create a spoken word experience. In 2009, the pair founded Speak It Forward, Inc., a nonprofit youth enrichment program that encourages kids to tell their stories through spoken word art.
Speak It Forward works with alternative education programs in places like Lakeside Academy, the Kalamazoo County Juvenile Home and the Urban League of Battle Creek. Latimer says what started as an entertainment duo, has evolved into something bigger and socially relevant.
[Kirk Latimer] “Speak It Forward sprung from the original brainchild of Kinetic Affect, the combination of us digging deeper into ourselves through our artistic medium rather than a victimization or an attack or just entertainment, and that grew into realizing how impactful it was for other people to tell their own stories. In fact, it became more important for other people to tell their own stories, than for us to tell ours.”
Giron attributes their program’s success to the duo’s life and stage experiences. That includes Latimer’s eight years teaching English.
[Gabe Giron] “We use spoken word as a Trojan Horse in order to trick these kids into improving their literacy skills, improving their verbal skills, improving their writing skills, and most important, improving their quality of life by taking experiences they’ve had in their life that most of the people around them have looked at in a negative way and so they look at in a negative way and giving them the power back from those experiences.”
Kinetic Affect recently hosted an evening of spoken word performances in Battle Creek, highlighted by presentations from youth in the Speak It Forward program. Kyra Sichinga, executive director for the Urban League of Battle Creek, says the Speak It Forward program is making a difference.
[Kyra Sichinga] “Kinetic Affect has been working with our Focus Academy program with what they call the Soul Project. They come to the Urban League every Wednesday and work with the students on spoken word and give them a way of expressing themselves.”
Despite the sobering words uttered by these young teens, a truth emerged – a healing truth. Teen Ramone says the program helped him to express himself in constructive ways.
[Ramone] “I can finally express myself without having to worry about getting dressed up in handcuffs and being taken away. My life did a complete 180 twist. I’m not the same person I used to be and I’m actually proud of who I am now.”
Savonnah says she understands what Giron and Latmer are trying to achieve with the program.
[Savonnah] “It wasn’t just the poetry they cared about. They weren’t going to be happy if they left there with us just being good with our poetry. They wanted everything that our poetry was about to be better.”
Giron and Latimer say they have lofty long-term goals for their Speak It Forward program.
[Kirk Latimer] “We want an Interlocken for the broken; where those that supposedly are the toss-aways the passionately inappropriate and difficult can find out how all the things that are getting them in trouble are actually the things that will make them powerful, amazing people.”