Famous past participants include Chance the Rapper, Nate Marshall, Kevin Coval, Eve Ewing, Noname, and Jamila Woods.
[6] He was accused of another sexual assault in 2020 that allegedly occurred in 2018,[7] prompting the survivor and the facilitator of the 2015 community accountability to release statements expressing their disappointment and anger.
[2] In response to the YCA statement, the president and founder of Button Poetry, Sam Van Cook, released a statement on March 3, 2021 disputing Hunter and Coval's claims "that they were not knowingly protecting and promoting serial abusers" and stated that it was "unconscionable to me that someone who dismissed serial rape allegations made by high school and college students for a full decade is still being enthusiastically celebrated as an organizer for young people".
He then met with staff at Young Chicago Authors, Haymarket Books, Button Poetry, and other community members and told Coval that he had directly spoken with numerous college students who said they had been raped, and groomed as minors, by Bonair-Agard.
[8] In his statement, Van Cook recounted that, "throughout the conversation, Coval showed disinterest in the allegations and was dismissive of the issue, the specifics and the risk to his own students".
[8] Van Cook elaborated that he was left with the impression that, "Coval and his associates were fully aware of the numerous allegations against Bonair-Agard and willfully protecting, employing, and supporting a serial predator and rapist" and that in the years following the 2015 meeting, Kevin Coval and Young Chicago Authors "have not only continued to shelter Bonair-Agard but have publicly promoted his career and helped him maintain ongoing access to vulnerable minors".
[9] That same month in March 2021, Chicago Public Schools suspended its partnership with Young Chicago Authors due to the allegations against Bonair-Agard, the outcries from the poetry community, and Van Cook's statement alleging that YCA leadership knew Bonair-Agard was a genuine threat you the safety of youth speakers and staff, but continued to promote him.
This led to extensive investigative journalism from the Chicago Reader that detailed 20 years of survivors' accounts of serial abuse from predators affiliated fostered within YCA.
[1] The festival was put on pause and renamed after allegations of systemic coverup of serial sexual abuse were levied against Young Chicago Authors and its leadership.
The poem the shoes were based on was inspired by the police murders of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor and 100% of the proceeds made from the sneaker go to GoodKids MadCity, Black Lives Matter, and Young Chicago Authors.