Reader Jawar

Reader Jawar is a neo-soul artist from Tanzania.

Musically, he began professionally singing at 15 years old with the Familettes Gospel Group of Lamar, S.C., then later the Atlanta chapter of the Gospel Music Workshop of America, James Bignon and Deliverance and several other church and secular groups. To his credit he has also worked with the late J.C. Futrell who started the rap group The Fat Boys and served as road manager for Michael Jackson and Anita Baker. This connection led to studio work with Edsel Robinson Jr. of After 7 and Cameo fame. Currently he leads a jazz ensemble in Arusha, Tanzania. On the social justice front he has volunteered with organizations such as Hosea Feed the Hungry, Atlanta Harm Reduction and Habitat for Humanity. Immediately following seminary where he sang in choir, Reader was also blessed with a fellowship through the Samuel Dewitt Proctor Conference as a William “Bill” Lucy Fellow and eventually became the Director of Advocacy. In this position, he was tasked with establishing state justice commissions to investigate Mass Incarceration. He established 5 commissions in this capacity which culminated in a contributing effort towards a report entitled Nation in Chains (Carruthers, 2014). The data in this report was part of the basis for President Obama defunding of private prisons in the U.S. in 2016.