26 August 2020
Americana band THE PINKERTON RAID from Durham, NC joins the rising outcry against
the disgusting, brutal way the police treat anti-racist protesters who come out in the street to condemn the recent killings of black people by law enforcement.
The band shared a striking video clip for their 2018 song JEFFERSON DAVIS HIGHWAY. That way they want to honor Southern activists like Superwoman Bree Newsome, the anti-racist defenders of Charlottesville, VA, and the people of Durham, NC, who kindled a movement, helping to take down a Confederate monument in an act of civil disobedience in their hometown back in 2017. But it’s also a tribute to all victims of cowardly police brutality.
Many of us outside the US look at the most powerful country on this planet (also the most dangerous one. Never forget that America is the one and only country so far who dropped THE bomb, actually two, killing 250.000 civilians) as a giant Hollywood movie.
Glam and glitter distraction. Entertainment for all people who dream the American dream. But the recent, awful events we all witnessed, confronts us again with the horrific reality of America‘s deep-rooted racism, endorsed directly and indirectly, without any shame, by that evil moron in the White House. Being born in the USA doesn’t mean automatically that the authorities will treat you like any fellow American citizen. It’s the color of your skin that determines whether you are a real American. That’s the USA 2020. Back to the ugly past!
Therefore, it’s tremendously important that as many artists – whatever their art is – as possible continue to raise their voice for equality, tolerance, humanity, and unity in the United States of America (and of course, in the whole wide world). THE PINKERTON RAID‘s contribution is a highly touching one. Confronting, gripping and soul-stirring. Let’s hum, whistle, sing, and scream along and cross our fingers for a much-needed change.
The video, by Chapel Hill filmmaker Ye Tun, celebrates the activists “who were fighting to remove the memorials to white supremacy. Most of the video footage came from the people’s uprising after the senseless murder of George Floyd by Minneapolis police.” says the band’s singer-songwriter Jesse James DeConto.
Watch/listen here…
THE PINKERTON RAID: Website
