Riotheart
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From Music to Movement
The Name: The name I use is very important to me on several personal levels and has been highly scrutinized as of late. Its origins are rooted in two different sources that have heavily influenced my life and predate any protest footage that I have captured. When I was growing up in the punk scene, it was common for your friends to give you goofy/edgy nicknames. SammySLAM, TedGEIN, BridgetteBLOOD, etc. The name chosen for me by my friends was JaredRIOT, an homage to my actual name, Jared Wright. It was just kids being kids. As for the “heart” aspect of my moniker, it originates from a dear friend who passed back in 2016. Bryan Puckett was the founder of Little Heart Records and spent his entire life managing chronic medical issues. He was also one of my primary business and life mentors as he ran his organization like a true family. Everyone was equal, everyone worked hard, everyone flourished. Although he was constantly struggling with his daily battle against his own body, you never saw him without a smile on his face. When he passed I was at that time going through a rebranding for my promotional group. It made sense then and it makes sense to this day that I should honor his memory.
The History: Starting in 2004 under the name Jato Promotions, I began booking music in my home town of Owensboro, Ky. Shortly after I began working with the International BBQ Festival. After moving to Louisville in 2007, I have worked with countless individuals, groups, and organizations to assist in facilitating live entertainment and non-profit events. Some of the groups that I work with on a regular basis include the Poorcastle Music Festival, Louisville Krampus Celebration, LouiEvolve Hip Hop and Arts Festival, and F*ck That Guy Festival, as well as offer consultation to a handful of local bars and music venues. I also organized and launched Louisville is Dead Music and Arts Festival, of which proceeds are annually donated to Girls Rock Louisville. Since my first show in 2004, I have collectively booked over 2500 independent musical performances to this date. For a number of years, I also hosted Keep Louisville Loud Radio on now-defunct WCHQ FM; spotlighting all local metal, punk, and hip hop music. I have always been a music promoter with the heart of an activist, but until now I’ve never had an opportunity to participate in any movement in such an important capacity.
The Present: On the evening of May 29th, 2020 a group of roughly 10 individuals, including myself, went to the protests happening in Downtown Louisville. We were there with the intention of assisting in the roles of street medics; basic medical attention, eye flushing, bumps, bruises, sprains, nothing serious. It was on that night, I was made witness to events and actions I never imagined I would have experienced in my lifetime, especially in the downtown district of my city. I watched in awe as the Louisville Metro Police Department used strategic militarized tactics to terrorize and intimidate protesters who were entirely non-violent. All forms of crowd control devices were severely misused with the obvious intentions of harming activists and protesters attempting to practice their 1st Amendment Right to Free Speech. LMPD used tear gas canisters as projectiles targeting protesters directly with the intentions to harm, concussion rounds were also fired directly into crowds, pepper shot (not spray) and rubber bullets aimed point-blank at the faces of protesters on their knees with their hands in the air yelling, “DON’T SHOOT!” I myself, on that night and many nights after, was exposed to tear gas and pepper shot.
I am NOT an organizer in the protests in any capacity. I AM myself a protester but don’t condone all actions of my fellow protesters. I definitely do believe it’s time for some serious reforms in our systems of enforcing laws here in the United States. I also truly believe the history of systemic racism is so deeply intertwined with the history of our law enforcement and corrections systems that we may need to strip it all down to be able to build it all back up. This is why I support the movement. This is why I stand up in protest. This is personally why I march.
