Panama Soweto speaking at TEDxCSU in 2017.
Poet and political activist JC Futrell — known by the stage name Panama Soweto — is an acclaimed spoken-word poet who will be the keynote speaker at Colorado State University’s Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Day celebration on Monday, Jan. 16.
Panama Soweto played a key role in successfully leading a grassroots campaign to rename Denver’s Stapleton neighborhood, which was named after former Denver Mayor Benjamin Stapleton, who was a member of the KKK in the 1920s.
He sat down with SOURCE to discuss his poetry, his grandfather John W. Mosley — a Tuskegee Airman and CSU’s first Black football player — and Dr. King’s influence in the 21st century.
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Day celebration
Jan. 16
- March: 11 a.m., Washington Park (301 Maple St.).
- Keynote: 12:45 p.m., Lory Student Center.
For the latest on event information, visit lsc.colostate.edu/involvement/campus-activities/dr-martin-luther-king-jr-march-celebration.
Q. When you think of Dr. Martin Luther King Day, what memories come to mind?
Panama Soweto: To be honest, a lot of them are kind of rooted around CSU. I’ve performed during MLK Day at CSU I think on three different occasions over the course of the last 10 years or so. And it’s always an honor.
Initially, I was asked by a good friend of mine who worked up at CSU to participate based on my lineage and my grandfather (John W. Mosley), who was the first Black student athlete at CSU back in 1939, and his legacy as a Tuskegee Airman. It’s just an honor to be up on campus and to kind of live through his legacy and to build a legacy of my own.
Q. Speaking of your grandfather, John W. Mosley, what was his impact on the state and Northern Colorado?
Panama Soweto: My grandfather is known as a Tuskegee Airman. He’s also known as a celebrated member of a very brave group of African American men and women who were not just pilots, but engineers and worked in aviation, and helped bring World War II to a close.
He went on to help draft some of the early policies for the Head Start program, and so nationally, he had such an impact because education was his focus and his key. He worked very hard to make sure that children of all colors and creeds got a fair shot when it came to education because he knew that hard road, personally, and he had to pave his own way to make sure that others — including his own children and his own grandchildren — didn’t have to face some of those same hardships that he faced.
Nationally, he was really thinking about what people of color had to endure, and what students and young people had to endure in order to get a fair shake and fair opportunity and success. And so, his impact is felt almost every day in most classrooms and most schools across this country, as that was his primary focus.
Q. When you led a grassroots campaign to rename Denver’s Stapleton neighborhood, what influence did Dr. King have on your efforts?
Panama Soweto: My grandparents raised myself and my siblings under the teachings of Dr. King and Ralph Abernathy and a lot of the other freedom fighters during the Civil Rights Movement, specifically in the 1950s and ’60s. And I often think of Dr. King’s teachings when I’m doing this kind of work.
When I’m doing activism work, I think of the idea of nonviolent protest. I think of the idea of never backing down and bringing all voices to the table.
When you’re trying to negotiate change, I think those are all things that I consider. And especially when my wife and I were running that campaign to change the then Stapleton neighborhood’s name to Mosley Park, I thought of my grandparents. I thought of Dr. King’s legacy.
I thought of all the hard work that people have done to bring people together as opposed to separating them and tearing them apart, especially, you know, during that time when the George Floyd protests were happening. It was a very tumultuous time in Denver and nationally and internationally.
“When you’re trying to negotiate change, I think those are all things that I consider. And especially when my wife and I were running that campaign to change the then Stapleton neighborhood’s name to Mosley Park, I thought of my grandparents. I thought of Dr. King’s legacy.”
— Panama Soweto
And really thinking about what we could do to bring people together as opposed to tearing them apart. Those are things that really were at the forefront of my mind.
Q. Can you share a little bit about your path to becoming an acclaimed spoken word poet?
Panama Soweto: I’m a multidisciplinary artist. I got my degree in fine arts from Metropolitan State University of Denver, where my grandmother actually graduated as one of the first graduates of that college at the time back in 1969-1970. And, yeah, painting and drawing has always been my passion. I had a dream to draw for Walt Disney Studios when I was a kid.
But then, I took that passion into arts education, and I’ve had a fortunate career as an arts educator in Denver and beyond for a long time.
But my true passion is spoken word and performance poetry. I’ve also mixed them with a little bit of music and hip-hop. And so, it’s been exciting being able to tour around the country being a spoken word artist for the past 17 years, and even winning a National Poetry Slam title with the Denver Mercury Cafe team back in 2006.
Q. Can you describe your poetry and what people can expect during your keynote?
Panama Soweto: I’ve been really thinking about what kind of long-lasting message I want people to kind of have. So, I’m really thinking about my art in a real hopeful and inspiring way. I have, you know, quite a few poems that I’ve been thinking about. I just recently did an event for the ACLU, and that was more of a more militant, you know, pro-action tone that I took with that particular crowd.
And then after that, I did another performance for a Women and Gender Equity Summit, which also had some overtones of that kind of activism. But I think I’m going to shift my tone (at CSU) to kind of go more heavily on hope and inspiration, as opposed to, you know, activism on a political scale.
Q. Lastly, when it comes to Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Day, what’s one thing people should do or be thinking about on that special day?
Panama Soweto: I think that when we think about other holidays, there are certain calls to action. For Martin Luther King, I think that there’s something a little bit more nuanced there, because what Dr. King stood for was equality and justice and freedom for all —not just American citizens, but global citizens.
He took his lessons from Christianity and from Mahatma Gandhi, and those who really explored what social change could look like.
I think that one thing that I would love for people to look at as a call to action on Dr. King’s Day, is some kind of civic engagement, some kind of civic duty, whether it is volunteering your time to feed those who are less fortunate than us, or maybe it’s an opportunity to get involved in local politics. Maybe it’s an opportunity to do something nice for others and pay it forward. I think any of those things celebrate the spirit of what Dr. King embodies, and what we remember the most about him.
Outside of the “I Have a Dream” speech, there were so many other things that he fought for, including equity for workers, and fair pay, not just for men, but for women. So, I think that engaging in civic duty in some way, shape or form is a way that we can really honor Dr. King’s legacy and take some steps forward to becoming more unified as a nation.
