Cleveland Adult Entertainment: Residents use art and activism to pay tribute to 11 victims found at Imperial …
Billed as “an elegy for Imperial Avenue,” the performance featured original poems by local writers including Mary Weems, Douglas Hoston Jr., R.A. Washington and Kisha Nicole Foster.
The poems didn’t mention the victims specifically but returned over and over to the theme of unfulfilled and broken lives. In her rapid-fire piece “Watch Your Back,” Foster implored the audience to love, pray and “be proactive, for an active change.”
Midway through the performance, the names of all 11 victims slowly appeared on screen, accompanied by a tenor sax solo by Odell Brown.
The show ended with a moment of silence led by emcee Lisa Zaid, a relative of victim LaShanda Long. She said she appreciated that the show “didn’t focus on blaming. I think it was more for healing.”
Female volunteers who call themselves “Because of the 11″ headed onto the streets of Cleveland and East Cleveland Friday evening to minister to prostitutes.