Wanda Coleman reads: ‘The Riot Inside Me’, ‘Soon Ja’, ‘After the Rampage’

Note: Before she died in 2013, Wanda Coleman came to the KCRW studios to reflect on the LA Riots and to read some of her poems. This story was originally published April 26, 2012.

Wanda Coleman grew up in Los Angeles in Watts in the 1960s. She witnessed the 1965 Watts Riots, and the 1992 Rodney King riot. We invited her into the KCRW studios to share some of her poetry, which we are also playing on air this week as we look back on the civil unrest. “The Riot Inside Me” was published in 2003 and Coleman says she wrote it in response to the Watts Riot and the Rodney King Riot. Take a listen, below.