I deliberated for while as to what I wanted to do about the Trayvon Martin case. First I thought, “who am I to think I need to add my voice to this incredibly divisive conversation.” There were all kinds of political leaders and talking heads at the ready taking care of all the effectual talking points. And I’ve already found that ‘speaking out,’ no matter what the grievance, can be disappointing and even risky in one way or another.
But something kept nagging me. What did my life mean in the face of what I saw as a huge injustice? I began to question if the reality I was raised to believe in was even mine.
I realized that people just don’t get that we’re all the same. Being the same means we look at life in very similar ways. We watch the same shows; we’re generally taught the same history, sadly; we like to do the same things like sports and music and art and dance, money and power; sex and the city, oh wait! we can even see why someone is attractive even if they are of another race. We are only different when we don’t know how we are the same.
It’s a shame when you consider how high above all other species we feel we are and yet how little we do to benefit each other. Just imagine what humans could be if only more able to except variances in appearance and beliefs.
So I wrote a song based on the testimony from the Trayvon Martin murder trial. I needed to write this song not only to speak out as someone who has felt racial bias but also as a way to say, “no, I won’t let my reality be denied because someone else can't see it.
It’s called Stand My Ground. Take it and go!