Have you seen this picture (above)? It’s been all over our social media lately. That’s me in the bandana. And that’s Zach De La Rocha and Tom Morello from Rage Against the Machine in the middle, with their bandmates behind them. Wayne Kramer of MC5 is on the right. Just out of frame are Boots Riley from the Coup, Chadwick Stokes from State Radio, and, of course, my bandmates. And about 5,000 other people.
With us are a group of Iraq Veterans Against the War.
It was August 2008. The Democratic National Convention was being held in Denver. After a giant free concert, we led the audience into the streets to support IVAW as they walked to the Pepsi center in full regalia to demand that Barack Obama commit to ending the war. It was a powerful day. Everything went picture perfect. Except for one thing.
The audio was missing.
There we were, a group of political musicians, arm in arm, leading the populace. And we didn’t really know what to sing.
Not that we were completely silent. We cycled through a few standard anti-war chants, and even came up with some on the spot (there was one shining moment when Zach led us in a rendition of Twisted Sister’s “We’re Not Gonna Take It”) but it was a long march, and so for a lot of it we just talked. Which I certainly didn’t mind. I had some questions for Zach and Tom.
But the irony of the situation stuck with me. The power of our songs had gathered the people. But once the people gathered, where were the songs for that day's movements?
2008 was the year that most people got to know my group Flobots and our music, especially through the national release of Fight With Tools. 2008 was also a historic election year. Eight years later, as we prepare to release our album in 2016, the country is gearing up for another decisive election. And as division grows, some artists are singing out, and some movements are finding their refrains. This timing is significant.
When we look at the movements happening today, we see everyday people seeking to resist violence, racism, and destruction. We see raised voices crying out for transformation. It is critically important that they succeed. Over the last few years, we’ve been searching for what it means to raise our voices together. We’ve asked the question at churches, schools, prisons, protests, museums, senior centers, caves, tunnels, canoes, and abandoned water tanks.
We have found ourselves making music with poets, storytellers, second line marching bands, youth choirs, intertribal drum circles, symphony orchestras, drumlines, breakdancers, singing cowboys, and most importantly, regular people who don’t see themselves as musicians.
As Flobots, we have always aimed to make the biggest impact we can on the communities that have touched our lives, as a band and as human beings. We’ve determined that the best way for us to achieve this is by giving these movements new tools we use every day to build power and combat fear and greed in the world around us.
When we raise our voices together we remind ourselves that another world is possible — a more just, peaceful, and sustainable world — and that building this world will require participation from all of us.
Years ago, I audited a class by a man named Vincent Harding. Dr. Harding had been a friend and associate of Dr. King. I knew of him as “Uncle Vincent.” He was a close family friend of my friend Stephen and would go on to become a powerful mentor.
In teaching us about the Southern Freedom Movement, Dr. Harding went out of his way to emphasize the role of singing. He started classes by having us listen to Sweet Honey in the Rock. He closed by having us sing in real life. He brought in another professor named Art Jones to talk about the power of spirituals. He said it was no accident that the movement was a singing movement. He asked where the songs were for today’s movements.
Last year, Dr. Harding passed away and he is no longer here to ask that question. We don't want to forget his words. And now, more than ever, we want to be able to answer, "We're helping to make them."
This post originally appeared on the Flobots website and has been edited and adapted for Sojourners.
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