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Anthony Hamilton

Photo by Ted Wimbush

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Anthony Hamilton Is Fighting For Social Justice how-anthony-hamilton-using-his-voice-create-change-black-community

How Anthony Hamilton Is Using His Voice To Create Change For The Black Community

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"In my opinion, non-black people should speak out against what’s wrong and against police brutality and all the hurt that this country has endured by the hands of the old and new oppressors," the R&B great tells the Recording Academy
Ogden Payne
GRAMMYs
Jun 8, 2020 - 11:17 am

Anthony Hamilton's voice has always been used as an instrument for change. Throughout his nearly two-decade career, his lyrics have served as the soundtrack behind some of the most intense emotions people around the world experience daily.

But with the recent tragedy of George Floyd's death and the resurgence of conversations surrounding police brutality, Hamilton is using his influence to shed light on the harsh realities behind some of America's most unfathomable injustices.

"What I’m doing to activate and to advocate is using my social platforms and my celebrity to bring awareness, to speak up and out about injustice and prejudices that exist, to evoke change in those who may see me as a celebrity but not as black as they see my young brothers and sisters who they gun down," he told the Recording Academy.

Hamilton's words come just weeks after his latest single release—his first in over three years—"Back Together" featuring Rick James. In its purest form, the single is a rhythmic conflation of funk, R&B and hip-hop—some of the most popular genres fueled by black culture.

"I went in with 9th Wonder, someone I wanted to work with for a very long time," Hamilton explained. "We were cooking up and had done about three songs already, and he started playing the 'Fire and Desire' [by Rick James and Teena Marie] sample. I heard that and went in the booth and I just sang the first thing that came out of my mouth."

When asked why he felt his latest record called for a feature from funk icon Rick James, Hamilton said, "Why not? Rick James is one of my favorites. He’s very expressive, very free, very funky. Almost like Prince—they were just funky and they didn’t apologize about it. [James] still sings his behind off."

Collaborating with one of funk's most legendary figures isn’t the first time Hamilton stepped beyond his R&B roots to create timeless music. Even his sophomore effort, Comin’ From Where I’m From, was supported by decorated hip-hop producer Jermaine Dupri and his So So Def label, and earned him three of his 17 GRAMMY nominations.

As a songwriter, Hamilton relies on an innate ability to revisit some of the most impactful moments of his life. But during times of intense racial division, he looks to those inside and outside of the music industry for inspiration.

"I pray and collect my thoughts and build with people like David Banner," he said. "[I] listen to [those] like Killer Mike, Angela Rye, and Bakari Sellers to educate myself, then plan a course of action. The music community can use their voices to influence the masses and speak on topics that affect us directly [...] Create content that promotes better thinking and better living."

Though Hamilton’s music has brought people of various races under one roof all across the globe, an immense amount of change is necessary to begin the process of healing and progression. For Hamilton, that change begins with black ownership beyond the traditional mom and pop stores—from land to corporations and major sports teams. He believes change looks like having more opportunities to receive the best education, experiencing true peace of mind no matter where one walks, and applying for a bank loan without being denied despite meeting the qualifications.

The fight for social justice is an ongoing, uphill battle led by past, present and future generations. Whether one is a musician or not, Hamilton encourages all to use their voice to rebel against the racism that has plagued the black community for centuries.

"In my opinion, non-black people should speak out against what’s wrong and against police brutality and all the hurt that this country has endured by the hands of the old and new oppressors."

Want To Support Protesters And Black Lives Matter Groups? Here's How

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Yellow Days

Photo by Frank Felber

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Yellow Days Finds The Funk (And Gets Out Of One) yellow-days-george-van-den-broek-finds-funk-and-gets-out-one-day-yellow-beat

Yellow Days' George Van Den Broek Finds The Funk (And Gets Out Of One) On 'A Day In A Yellow Beat'

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GRAMMY.com talks to the indie-funk pioneer about his sprawling sophomore effort, which features generation-spanning guest appearances from Shirley Jones, Bishop Nehru and Mac DeMarco
John Norris
GRAMMYs
Sep 22, 2020 - 8:44 am

"They don’t want you to say what you want to say…but you got to be free!"

George van den Broek doesn’t mince words. Right out of the gate, on "Be Free," the opening track of A Day In A Yellow Beat, his second album as Yellow Days, the 21-year-old U.K. singer and songwriter makes it clear that he’s going to do things his way, and more than ever, he has. The result is thrilling.

His musical gifts are no news to anyone who’s followed the soul prodigy since his come-up four years ago, when, as a teenager working out of a garden shed-turned-studio in Haslemere, Surrey, he crafted Yellow Days’ debut EP, Hidden Melodies, and a first album, Is Everything Okay In Your World? Marrying a love of jazz, soul and the blues—Howlin’ Wolf, Etta James, and personal hero Ray Charles were early influences—with a Gen Z teen’s honest, poetic bouts with depression, anxiety, heartache and ennui, songs like "A Little While," "The Way Things Change," "A Bag of Dutch" (weed was a recurring muse, too) and "A Gap in the Clouds" resonated with disaffected youth. With R&B legends as inspirations and voice that often sounded well beyond his years, Yellow Days offered a fresh take on classic sounds. It was something to hear, and see—as sold-out crowds on several continents did. At the end of the day, though, save for a few players and producer Tom Henry, the project was, creatively, George, alone. But a new vision for Yellow Days soon developed—something more ambitious, collaborative, and as George began to discover the grooves of 1970s Curtis Mayfield, Marvin Gaye and Weldon Irvine, funky. 

Which brings us to A Day In A Yellow Beat, a sprawling sophomore full-length that in scale, sound and mood is on an entirely different level to those moving but modest garden shed creations, and will challenge any notions of Yellow Days as an unassuming indie-soul project, forever caught up in melancholy feels. The new album is being released on Columbia Records, partly because it takes behemoth Sony Music’s money to make an LP as ambitious as this one: 23 tracks recorded over two years in two cities—London and Los Angeles—with dual teams of seasoned musicians bringing the funk and soul heat, plus multiple engineers and production collaborators, all overseen by a musician who only this year turned 21.

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That a major label allowed a Zoomer who in the digital age really ought to be sitting at a computer making cost-effective music and staying in his lane to instead sow his musical oats like the old cats did half a century ago, at considerable expense, is a testament to Columbia’s faith in George's talent, a faith that has paid off beautifully. A Day In A Yellow Beat is an expansive ride that is not pastiche revivalism, but rather George's own modern addition to the legacy of funk, disco, jazz fusion and soul. There’s romance (the breezy "Let You Know," the wah-wah of a "drugged up ballad," "You"), a sexy, spacey jam ("Keeps Me Satisfied"), a dancefloor gem (“Love Is Everywhere”) and generation-spanning guest appearances: Shirley Jones, of '70s R&B trio The Jones Sisters, on three tracks; Bishop Nehru, on "!," an unlikely stoner rap track; and George’s do-anything inspiration, indie-rock everyman Mac DeMarco, playing guitar on highlight "The Curse."

Most of all, though, the new album delivers positivity. Even as he explored funk, George also emerged from one. That "Gap In The Clouds" he sang about through dark times in 2016 has given way to full beams of sunshine: you won’t hear a record this year that is more start-to-finish unrelentingly upbeat. The song titles alone are those of a man on a mission of optimism: "Keep Yourself Alive," "Let’s Be Good To Each Other," "Open Your Eyes" and "Love Is Everywhere." "It’s bout time I broke out this funk," he croons on "The Curse"; on "I Don’t Mind" he carries a "little bag of sunshine / just to keep those clouds away"; and the most full-throated statement of peace of mind comes in "Getting Closer": "It’s been a long time/ It’s been a while/ Since I spent the whole day/ With a smile," he sings. George calls it a track about "getting over a hump in life," and an "unapologetic ode to positivity and better days ahead."

There may be cynics greeting all this cheer—there always are—and George acknowledges as much on "Let’s Be Good To Each Other." But Yellow Days, for here and for now, is about peace, and offering something to hang onto. "You have to give them hope," the late, great Harvey Milk famously said. And in a year in which hope has often seemed in short supply, we’ll take it—especially when it’s delivered in as fun and funky a musical package as this.

George and I talked at length about A Day In A Yellow Beat, over two Face Time calls—one found him at an airport in Berlin and a second at a studio in London where he and his band, along with U.K. soul singer Lynda Dawn, were rehearsing a soon-to-be-filmed gig showcasing this electrifying, inspiring new album. 

George, I was gonna start by asking what is different about this impending release as compared to the last two. But then I thought—between the sound, the size, the expense, the guests, the locations, this COVID year, no tour—I guess pretty much everything is different?

Definitely. I would agree entirely. It’s been a transformation for me! I mean, I have now had a few years to write and to travel and to tour, and to be inspired. And I think those two years had a big effect on me, and I think coming back with this record, I think that people can hear that. I’ve signed my big deal, I’m hooked up with all these players, and I’m coming at it from a slightly older perspective. And my writing’s got better, my playing’s got better. I’ve been listening to Marvin, to my Curtis, listening to Al Green! I’ve just been so inspired by '70s fusion acts like Don Blackman and Weldon Irvine. And so all those things cumulatively have kind of caused this kind of change. But I think you can still hear me within it.

Doing something of this size, coming from a mostly D.I.Y. situation before—had you always had dreams of something on this level?

I toured the first two records for like two years, and we were just kind of surfing away having fun. And I think I became very ambitious from touring. I think maybe sitting and watching other acts, in their headline slots, and sitting back and thinking, "You know, I could write songs that put us up there." You know what I mean? I think I was sitting up there and I got very hungry, and ambitious. And I think you can hear that on this thing. I think that I am kind of amping myself up, firing myself up for something in a way that I haven’t done.

So the record began in London?

Yeah, with this fantastic producer called Blue May, he’s worked with Kindness, other people. He's a great guy, and a real gear head, knows analog gear in the studio. It was at Konk Studios in London, which is actually owned by The Kinks. I can’t remember which one of The Kinks, but so I used to see him kind of wandering around the studio. We would kind of bump into each other, and yeah he’s a real interesting character…

Ray? Or Dave?

I think it was…Ray? But anyway that was incredible, and it was his studio so we were using all his kind of stuff. And I mean he didn’t know who the hell I was—I was just that goofy kid smoking weed and running around the studio!

So you did the Konk sessions and is that kind of how it went, and then Blue moved to L.A. and then you ended up migrating to Los Angeles?

That’s correct. I love Blue, but he left me in a fairly sticky situation, moved from London to Los Angeles, which definitely added six months onto our plan, you know?

And so we had to re-approach. And funnily enough we ended up going with an American producer called Mike Malchicoff. And me and Mike just kind got on like a house on fire. I think it’s important to note that Blue and Mike, both of them took a very like old-school engineer approach, which I think really helped anchor the whole thing.

There's this beautifully designed booklet that comes with the record, and the care you take to actually offer some nice thoughts in there about each and every person on this near-30-person production, down to the engineer's assistant. It’s very thoughtful and, I think, too rare.

Definitely, man. You know, one thing for me—I am a self-taught musician. I’ve kind of come out of nowhere. I didn’t go to school for it, I didn’t train or anything, and I’m sitting with these amazing jazzers, and they respect me for what I do, because they know I can write. So, we kind of complete each other, and we had a great time. And I think I’ve been introduced to the L.A. community, a bit of London, a bit of New York. And I just love these people, and respect them so much. And they inspire me massively. And I am trying to do what other people don’t do right now, and kind of put them out there

Was there a difference between the London players and the L.A. ones, in terms of performance?

Definitely, I would say the U.K. players are incredibly authentic, incredibly vibe-y, and they have a great sound. But I would say there is something about the L.A. players where there is just a funkiness. That’s what I would say is the difference. I would say my U.K. players bring hold down such a warm, authentic, almost like maybe a '60s sound, or '70s. But the guys in L.A., they’ve just got the funk. It’s as simple as that. They’ve got the pocket and the feel—cause they’ve been playing on like, disco and stuff.

I imagine you learned a lot.

Oh yeah, I am a bit of a sponge. Just being around people like that, who’ve played with Kanye, Nas, Frank Ocean, Mark Ronson—they just change things. Just spending an evening playing with these guys, it’s something else. Because they come with so much authenticity, so much passion, so much talent. And for me, who’s a young musician who’s just progressing, they have helped me unlock so much and see beyond so many hurdles.

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It’s not every 19, 20-year-old who can get Columbia Records to sign on to a project that is this ambitious. How did that happen?

So the story is, my A&R from my very first deal [Scott Jason], he got a job over at Sony/Columbia, and we definitely were looking to sign a big deal and all the rest of it, but he came through and said, “Look guys, I’m here. Why don’t you come hijack the system with me, and we can take this thing for a ride? See what happens?"

So did you go into Sony and say, "Look, this is the kind of record I want to make. I am not going back to the garden shed, folks." Were you that blunt about it?

Definitely! Yeah I think I had to be, there were times when I had to say, "Look, this is it," you know. It kind progressed, honestly, though. It kind of was a long journey, to doing it. And really as things became clear exactly how it was gonna go, I’d say it was about one year before everyone was booked in and they were with me on this funky thing. I had to work harder as well. But I think musically, and in terms of production, I think the extra work has paid off massively. Because I’ve been doing this whole thing based on trying to pioneer something. That’s been the bottom line for me, is trying to bring a new sound. I’m not trying to recreate something that exists; it’s more an idea of trying to pioneer, trying push a genre in a new direction—to continue the story.

I mean you pretty much lay it all out there in "Be Free"—it’s kind of a shot across the bow of anyone who’s gonna try and tell you what to do.

Exactly. That was the most important thing for me was making that statement, straight away. You know, to them and to everybody, because creatively, you have to be free. There’s no two ways about it.

There are some amazing guests on here: Shirley Jones, kind of an unsung R&B legend; and you’ve got Bishop Nehru on "!" which, I have to say, I wasn’t prepared for a rap track in the middle of this funk 'n soul album!

Well, Shirley is just such an amazing lady. I started digging into The Jones Girls a few years ago, discovering them, and she is carrying the torch for her sisters who sadly have passed away in the time since they stopped making records. But Shirley has  been a huge inspiration to me. And then Nehru, we actually haven’t met because of this crazy lockdown—that was all done online. But there is such stamina to the way he raps, a young guy, but another one kind of carrying the torch, for hip-hop. And I just wanted to bring some Cypress Hill-type stoner beat, some "green energy" to the record.

And then of course there's Mac [DeMarco], who turns up on "The Curse" and who I know to be one of the nicest dudes in music. He was also a longtime hero, right?

For sure. I remember when I was a kid, like 11, watching the family computer, I was on YouTube, and there was a video for "My Kind Of Woman" [2012] and he was running around naked, and cross-dressing, all this stuff, and I was just a kid but I remember looking at it and thinking, "Wow, yeah, this is incredible. This guy represents everything I want to pursue in life." Like, he cared so little what people think and he was so sure of himself. And I remember thinking, "Yeah. This is it." And that was my moment with him. So to think that years later we’d become friends, I’ve opened shows for him, and to think that I would be sitting with him making music with him is just crazy.

Apart from the musical shift, I think some people who kind of thought they knew what Yellow Days was about will also be surprised at the happiness and positivity that kind of radiates from the record.

It’s definitely just a peaceful time for me, and I think it’s funny—you know, you talk about people not expecting this to be what Yellow Days is about. I think Yellow Days is whatever the hell I do! And I think anyone who says different is crazy, you know? But it’s funny, there is a real thing about that with kids at the moment, where they just can’t get their head around that someone does one thing and then they want to do another thing. You know you hear artists saying that all the time. You know, "I just wanted to try this, do that, and the kids are like.." with Mac they’ll say, "Where’s Salad Days?" or with Tyler [the Creator], "Where’s Wolf?" You know? It’s always the same. But yeah. I took inspiration from The Beatles, you know? Where on every single record they would reinvent themselves and progress and be inspired by a new thing.

For me there’s nothing more kind of blissed-out than "Getting Closer." And I love the way you described it as "an unapologetic ode to positivity and better days ahead."

That’s right.

So my only question about that is, why you use the word "unapologetic"? To me that suggesst that you anticipate there might be people going, "Why’s he so happy all of a sudden? What’s he got to be so happy about?"

Yeah yeah—that’s exactly the crux of it. It’s, you know, the expectation that people won’t be enamored with it. But no, I think "Getting Closer" is, to date, one of my most positive tracks ever. I was having a conversation with my manager, we were talking about it and looking back, and I think probably "Baked In the Sunshine" and "Gap In the Clouds" were maybe the only kind of feel-good tracks I had ever written to date, before this record. But to me, I’m not concerning myself with those kinds of things. The truth is, I’ve gone through spouts of depression and mental illness, since I was, you know, 14, 13. It’s just who I am. And I’m lucky to have had a girlfriend—we’re best friends—who has been there with me this whole time. But this is a good time.

Your honesty about that depression obviously connected with a lot of young fans. In 2018, you told VICE about a girl who told you she didn’t kill herself specifically because of Yellow Days music. That’s a lot. Are songs like "Keep Yourself Alive" meant for those people?

Definitely. It’s a message to them, and I think it’s a message to uninspired musicians—you know, those musicians who can’t quite finish that EP, or musicians who really need to work on stuff, or feel like, "Oh I really want to do this, but I just can’t write that song"—who are having trouble writing. And also to people in my life—to my girl, as well. You know, like saying, "Keep yourself alive, life’s just begun" kind of thing. You know, like, "Don’t get disheartened. You’ve only just started."

That’s a sentiment echoed by Shirley at the end of “Getting Closer” when she says, "Life may be tough, children. But don’t give up now! It’s only just begun." And I know you’ve said before that Yellow Days is a project for the youth, but as someone who is, let’s say, no longer a youth… I can tell you that your messages resonate with older people as well!

Yeah, I would genuinely say it’s for anyone who’s alive right now. Because we’re all subject to the craziness of this 21st century world, you know? No matter how old you are. And I think my crowds—they vary in age. We see all kinds of ages come through. Because we’re all living in a world where there is a camera looking at us on our phone all day long, a world where celebrity culture and reality TV is more prevalent than ever, where there’s a synthesis of everything, and corporate greed? There’s a lot to be worried about. And people are full of thoughts and anxiety, and nothing to do with them. I think we’re all in the same boat, you know?

I think the mind is an incredible thing. I think we’re all really lucky to have the most complex thing known in the universe, sitting inside our skull. And we live in a world that is completely overstimulating this beautiful organ, and we’re all struggling. But I think you have to express mindfulness, and there’s no better way to do that than to listen to some soul music. So that’s what I’m here trying to do.

Yellow Days’ A Day In a Yellow Beat was released Sept. 18. George and the band will tour the U.K and Europe beginning in March, and, COVID permitting, North America after that.

With A New Single, "Freckles," And Upcoming Album 'Pity Party,' Curtis Waters' Year Only Gets More "Stunnin'"

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Stax Museum

Photo By Raymond Boyd/Getty Images

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Memphis' Stax Museum Reflects On Its Mission midst-national-crisis-memphis-stax-museum-looks-provide-opportunity-empowerment-once

In the Midst Of A National Crisis, Memphis' Stax Museum Looks To Provide "Opportunity & Empowerment" Once More

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Stax executive director Jeff Kollath and his colleagues are taking this slower-than-usual season to reflect on their mission: to share the music of Stax and highlight the people, causes and communities that brought soul music into being
Hilary Hughes
GRAMMYs
Jul 16, 2020 - 9:07 am

Most museums have paintings, statues, dusty garments and a disintegrating document or two. Most museums are not the Stax Museum of American Soul Music, which has a tricked out peacock blue Cadillac Eldorado spinning on a turntable so visitors can savor every glamorous detail on Isaac Hayes' gold-plated ride.

The Cadillac—which was customized for Hayes as a contract negotiation perk in 1972—is the centerpiece of the Memphis institution, and arguably the main attraction of a treasure trove of instruments, outfits, posters, records and other memorabilia of the storied soul label and its artists. Otis Redding, the Staple Singers, Booker T and the MGs, Carla Thomas, Hayes and other talents cemented Stax’s legendary status as a foundational soul label back in the ‘60s and ‘70s, and its place in pop culture has only grown more precious thanks to the timeless appeal of its greatest hits.

But down the hall from the Cadillac stand two modest wooden bookcases, and those contain slim, white cardboard boxes with the names of various Stax artists written on the front and sides—William Bell, Rufus Thomas, Redding, Hayes. The boxes are less flashy than the Caddy, but they are perhaps the most important pieces in the museum: These hold the “brain” of Stax records, as these are the masters that the staff hastily grabbed and brought to a safe location when Memphis erupted into unrest following the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr. in 1968. (Though much of the neighborhood surrounding the Stax studio was destroyed, the original site—where the museum stands today—was left untouched.)

The history of Stax is entwined with the Civil Rights Movement, and these artists not only gave voice to some of the most powerful protest anthems of the 20th century, but to the time and place that informed their art. This through-line is a crucial one for the Stax Museum, which operates under the umbrella of the nonprofit Soulsville Foundation, as do local music education initiatives through the Stax Music Academy and Soulsville Charter School—and one that strikes a poignant chord in 2020 as thousands of people across the country take to the streets in the wake of senselessly lost Black lives, just as they did in 1968, in 1971 and far too many times since.

For Jeff Kollath, the executive director of the Stax Museum, he and his colleagues are listening to the needs of their community and taking this slower-than-usual season to reflect on their important mission: to share the music of Stax, but highlight the people, causes and communities that brought that music into being.

I’m so struck by the parallels between this moment and the struggles that shaped the early days of Stax. In the Stax Museum, we literally walk through the history of the label, and the curation of it is anchored in a broader conversation about what was happening in the country, and popular culture, at the time.

Jeff Kollath: Stax as a record label didn’t have this social, political awakening—at least one that was publicly evident—until 1968. It didn’t start to take hold until after the death of Dr. King in Memphis, just a few miles from the Stax studios, at [the Lorraine Motel], a place that was sacred to Stax Records in so many ways. It was one of the few places where Black and white [Stax] employees and musicians could hang out. They would record in the morning, take a break in the early afternoon when it got hot because the studio didn’t have air conditioning, hang out by the pool, eat some lunch, write.

The artists and the employees were certainly aware of everything—they just had more freedom to express it, and the company was more willing to put it on a vinyl record. You start to see that with the rise of Isaac Hayes, the signing of the Staple Singers, and the establishment of new artists and new sounds, and you especially start to see that after 1969 with Hot Buttered Soul, which marked a new era for Stax n terms of the music it was going to put out. The artists [became] much more socially, politically active.

How have the last few months changed, or deepened, the mission of the Stax Museum and the Soulsville Foundation?

For us, it’s been this moment of a lot of listening, seeing what’s going on in our city around us and the world around us—much like Stax did—and also finding good places where we can draw parallels. In October 1971, a 17-year-old by the name of Elton Hayes was joy-riding in a pick-up truck with some friends. They got pulled over by Shelby County sheriff officers, and there was an incident. Elton was beaten and eventually succumbed to the injuries at the hand of a number of Shelby County sheriff's officers. And so the city responded to that, and eventually there were protests in the streets, protests in the neighborhood, which is northeast of where Stax is.

Isaac Hayes was a key part of those protests. He was already involved in the community, but he was asked by Mayor [Henry] Loeb to sort of help keep the peace, to talk to the young people, because there’s rioting and widespread unrest. Isaac goes out and tries to be the voice of reason, the voice of calm. He's planning a large benefit concert around that same time, and Loeb and the city had imposed a curfew. In order for that concert to happen, the curfew needed to be lifted. Isaac learns through the machinations of Mayor Loeb and the city council that he’s basically just being used by the city to calm this predominantly Black neighborhood. He goes out on a limb for them, and then the curfew doesn’t get lifted until the last minute. They hold this concert, it doesn’t go the way that it’s supposed to, they don’t raise as much money as they wanted for a charitable cause, and Isaac basically throws up his hands at that point and realizes that it’s almost impossible to work with the city.

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Photo By Raymond Boyd/Getty Images

At the same time, there’s a trial by which the officers were acquitted of any wrongdoing in the Elton Hayes case. This is something that happened almost 50 years ago, and that’s been at the forefront of my mind, and Stax’s role in that. What Stax tried to do was provide a voice for the Black community and try to [support it] in so many ways, and try to maintain a positive role and image—not just for the company, but for the Black community in general. You see that with the Wattstax Festival in 1972: They pulled off something that nobody thought could happen, which was a concert in the L.A. Coliseum that cost $2 [to attend]. 110,000 overwhelmingly African-American attendees, and the concert goes off without a hitch—there’s no violence, no unrest, no protests, no nothin'. It’s just this beautiful moment for the company, especially coming after the Civil Rights Movement and the Black Power movement. For us, it’s what we can contribute, and we’re trying our best to figure out how to do that when so much of the ways we’ve been able to do it—through the museum, through 30-40 free programs a year, providing a venue for Shelby County public schools to tour our museum at a free or discounted rate—all of that stuff is on hold right now. A lot of these museums, it's planning for the future, but it's also figuring out how to respond in this moment, too, in a genuine and meaningful way.

The altruism at the heart of Stax made it a hotbed of creativity, and it was such a welcoming label—one that was integrated from inception. It isn't lost on me that Stax provided much of the soundtrack to the Civil Rights Movement.

The threads, for us, that run through past to present are opportunity and empowerment. What Stax did in the past is what Soulsville Foundation and the charter school and music academy are doing today, which is to provide young people with an opportunity to learn, create, to work, and then empowering them to forge their own path. The path that was school of hard knocks, learning on the job, learning in the studio and mailroom or publicity office at Stax Records, now it’s in the classroom, orchestra suite and choir suite, and providing these young people with the tools they need for lifelong success. Stax did the same thing. It sounds cliche and trite, but it’s legitimate: Everybody had an opportunity at Stax records. If they thought you could contribute in some way, you got the opportunity to contribute. The Bar-Kays were being groomed to be the next rhythm section at Stax when the majority of them were killed in the plane crash with Otis Redding in 1967. All of those kids were from the neighborhood; they all lived within walking distance of the studio.

That’s one of the parts of [Stax] that we love so much, why we’re so protective of it and why we think it has so much resonance: it’s hyper-local. This is what really drives us going forward, and something we need to recalibrate during the time of the pandemic. We’ve been so tourist-driven, and sharing the story with people outside of Memphis, that it’s really important that people in this city know it, too… Everybody knows Elvis; everybody knows Sun Records and Johnny Cash, and people know Otis and Isaac and so on, but to me it’s these stories of young people getting an opportunity, getting a chance, that are really powerful. Those are the stories we can really share with young people and help them understand that what we’re providing has roots in the past. It isn’t some new thing.

Are there any pieces of memorabilia in the Stax exhibits that’s all the more precious to you or relevant because of the context of our current moment?

It’s a William Bell fan club card. Nobody notices this thing, but I noticed it pretty much when I interviewed for the job. It has an acronym for SOUL, and the acronym is Strength Opportunity Unity and Leadership. Those are four words that are very important right now, and four words that you could argue are lacking in a lot of ways. For us, it’s using those four words as an inspiration for doing what we can for our community. I think that if we could all find a bit more of that, maybe we could get out of this situation.

Read More: Houston Rappers Talk George Floyd's Musical & Community Legacy

What about the label’s place in protest music, and the artists who have had the freedom to say these things? I’m curious about some of the more prominent voices of protest that were championed at Stax, and how they’re represented in the museum.

Artists can write a protest song, certainly: they can sit down and respond to a moment; they can respond to George Floyd, to anything that’s happening in the world around them. [The music of Stax] is still so relevant and impactful today. These songs took on lives of their own a lot of times after they left the studio. They could be inspired by things that are happening in the everyday world, but as soon as it gets out into a 45 and a jukebox and radio and an LP at home, whatever it is, and the listener juxtaposes that music to the moment that they’re in, that’s when it takes on a new meaning.

That’s one of the things about Stax that makes our place so powerful: People are coming from all over the world and these songs mean something to them. It’s sacred ground in so many ways. I think of songs like "Soul Man," which was not an explicit protest song: it was one of the first times that Stax actually used the word "soul" in a title, and was inspired by the spray painting of SOUL on black-owned businesses in Detroit during the 1967 riots. That’s what inspired Isaac Hayes and David Porter to write that song. But if you read the lyrics, straight, and don’t know the moment in which it was recorded, it’s not going to read like this overt protest song. When it hits and it starts to gain some steam and more people are listening to it, it becomes an anthem of Black pride in so many ways: I’m a soul man, this is me. It becomes so much more in that moment because of everything that was going on in the world. It becomes this anthem of Black pride. "Respect" by Aretha is the same way. These two songs, which were not written as overt protest songs, become two of the most powerful songs of that moment for Black Americans in the late ‘60s, and they still have resonance today.

I think that’s the moment where it really begins, 1967 with "Soul Man," and then when the Staples come to town in '68, and they would do Soul Folk In Action... You start to see those records, and that’s what gets you "Respect Yourself," "I'll Take You There" and so on. Even a song like "The Weight," which was on Music from Big Pink by the Band, an anthem, really, it’s a legendary song, it’s been covered a bajillion times—but listen to the Band’s version, and then listen to the Staple Singers' version, and then tell me what you feel… That’s one of the things I think Stax was particularly good at: the talent of their artists, vocally, certainly, but the songwriting talent, and just the company understanding the moment they were in. They got it. Deanie Parker is our founding CEO and she was the director of publicity there, and she’s modest about things, but Stax didn’t put out a full-on company newsletter until 1969. If you go to Staxarchives.com, you can see all of these issues, because we have them scanned. The first time that Stax explicitly is juxtaposing their company’s politics with stories or anti-war stories, about racism in the recording industry, stories about abortion, next to adds for Johnnie Taylor records. It’s a brilliant, brilliant thing that they did that, and of course it’s just a treasure trove for scholars and researchers.

One of the things it did—you talk about shut up and sing—they did get some backlash from people who thought they were just subscribing to the Stax newsletter and all of a sudden they’re getting stories about current events along with their stories about Johnnie Taylor and Albert King. Stax was in that moment too, a little over 50 years ago, where they had to sort of work hard to justify why they did that. I think that’s really what set the company on the course it had heading up to Wattstax. That’s the company understanding that there’s this moment here, this is our time to step up, this is our time to make our voice heard, because this is what our buying public, our customers, the people that are keeping us in business, and the people in this community that we are serving, this is what they’re saying. Al Bell's thought was, we’re going to take care of the people that take care of us. The record-buying public that takes care of us, we’re going to take care of them, and that’s why Stax invested so heavily in charities and causes: they felt it fulfilled their value and mission in Memphis and all over the country.

Is there a particular song that’s offered comfort or been a rallying cry that people have been responding to from Stax lately that feels on the nose for you right now?

When you go into Studio A, there’s the loop of stuff from outtakes, and there’s Otis that sings, and there’s a "Dock Of The Bay" thing,” and a Bar-Kays thing, but then there’s a Rufus Thomas thing, and it’s Rufus singing "starting all over again," which is the Mel and Tim song. For me, when you’re in the studio, and you turn it on, and you’re doing work, and you hear that loop over and over again, to me, that’s the thing that always sticks in my head. When we had decided on our opening date on June 18 and we were all working remotely and doing Zoom calls like everybody, and we were trying to think of some pithy things to put on the marquee to make good social media, the only one I could think of was "Starting all over again on June 18." We put that on the marquee and we used that to announce our return to the world. I think that song has really resonated with me, because I’ve had to share it with staff, too—we closed on March 17, and I’ve told them multiple times, the museum you left on March 17 is not the museum you’re coming back to. It’s different. There are obvious things that are going to be different—acrylic shields, our guests will have to wear masks, there are hand sanitizing stations everywhere, decals that say don’t get near each other, and any number of things. But our mission is still the same. Our story is still the same. What we want people to get out of a visit to the museum. Starting all over again is going to be rough, so rough, but we’re gonna make it: that’s the line from the song. To me, this has just been hard, and it’s been hard for so many businesses and so many people. I think, for us, it’s like, it’s going to be rough, but we’re going to make it, because our story, our legacy, our history is what carries us through. As long as that’s around, we’ll be around.

Fire In Little Africa: Tulsa’s Journey Of Prosperity, Loss & Redemption Told Through Hip-Hop

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Aretha Franklin in 1970

Aretha Franklin in 1970

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Artists Who've Amplified Social Justice Movements aretha-franklin-public-enemy-heres-how-artists-have-amplified-social-justice-movements

From Aretha Franklin To Public Enemy, Here's How Artists Have Amplified Social Justice Movements Through Music

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We also examine powerful protest songs from Mahalia Jackson, Harry Belafonte, Pete Seeger, Bob Dylan, James Brown and N.W.A
Ana Monroy Yglesias
GRAMMYs
Jul 2, 2020 - 10:39 am

The year 2020, as difficult (and deadly) as its been for so many, has become a moment of reckoning. The nation is facing the shutdown and health crisis of coronavirus, pervasive acts of racist violence against unarmed Black people, and countless injustices for people of color, LGBTQI individuals and women and those within the intersectionality of these identifies. Today, in this climate of social unrest, powerful protest music of the past resonates once again.

As we stand in this pivotal moment, let's look back on some of the songs and moments that defined the civil rights movement and beyond, as Black artists and allies reflected the dire need for justice and inclusive representation, and protestors took their music to new heights.

Mahalia Jackson

Known as the Queen of Gospel, Mahalia Jackson is credited as one of the first artists to take gospel music out of the church. She used her powerful voice to record a massive catalog of religious music during her career, choosing to never dip her toes in secular music. Jackson befriended Martin Luther King Jr. at the 1956 National Baptist Convention and later performed before many of his speeches, in Selma, Montgomery and, most famously, immediately before his famous "I Have A Dream" speech at the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom in 1963, which she directly inspired.

She was the final musical guest during at the March, singing "How I Got Over," a powerful gospel song, popularized by the Famous Ward Sisters, about overcoming racial injustice. Not only did the song have deep resonance with the Black audience members, it was Jackson herself who moved King to improvise the most famous "dream" passage of his speech. According to King's adviser Clarence Jones, Jackson shouted out; "Tell them about the dream, Martin! Tell them about the dream!" King pushed his notes to the side and Jones told the person next to him, "These people out there, they don't know it, but they're about ready to go to church."

Given its power, Jackson sang the song many times during her career, earning a GRAMMY for Best Soul Gospel Performance at the 1977 GRAMMYs for it.

Did You Know That Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Won A GRAMMY?

Aretha Franklin

18-time GRAMMY winner Aretha Franklin was one of the many successful soul and gospel singers inspired by Jackson and the path she paved, even performing at her funeral in 1972. The Queen of Soul got her start in music singing in her minister father's church. It was there where Franklin was introduced to civil rights activism. While many of her most beloved hits were covers, she had a unique power to reimagine a song all her own and resonate with so many. "Respect," originally recorded by Otis Redding in 1965, is one of these, which became her first No. 1 hit when she released it in 1967. A powerful anthem asking the listener for "a little respect," it became a protest song for both the feminist and civil rights movements of the time. As Pacific Standard states, "it captured a cultural moment Franklin had herself been fighting to achieve."

The outlet also notes that "Chain Of Fools," an original song, followed in 1967 as another feminist anthem, but found new meaning among Black U.S. soldiers fighting "a white man's war" in Vietnam. In 1972, Franklin recorded a rousing rendition of Nina Simone's 1969 civil rights anthem "Young, Gifted and Black," giving her album the same name, a powerful symbol of Black pride. That same year, Franklin later released live gospel album, Amazing Grace, including renditions of "How I Got Over" and "Amazing Grace." "Respect," "Chain Of Fools, "Young, Gifted and Black" and "Amazing Grace" all earned Franklin GRAMMY wins, evident of how deeply they resonated with America.

'Black Gold' At 50: How Nina Simone Refracted The Black Experience Through Reinterpreted Songs

Harry Belafonte

At 93, Jamaican-American actor, singer and activist Harry Belafonte has been a powerful force and barrier-breaker in U.S. culture since the '50s. Inspired by the emerging social justice-minded folk music of the turn of the century, he made it his life mission to "sing the song of anti-racism," as he said in 2017, to use his voice to highlight the music of the oppressed. Seeing Woody Guthrie perform lit this fire within the Harlem-born artist, inspiring him to visit the Library of Congress in Washington, D.C. to listen to Alan Lomax's field recordings.

His third album, 1956's Calypso, was led by one of his most beloved songs, "Banana Boat (Day-O)," a call-and-response Jamaican folk song sung by dock workers (he spent part of his childhood living with his grandmother there). His version took the U.S. by storm, hitting No. 5 and inspiring five other artists to cover it, who all earned Top 40 hits in 1957. The album, as its title suggests, was filled with upbeat calypso music, a genre with roots stemming from those enslaved by the 17th century Caribbean slave trade. At a time when Elvis Presley and other White rock artists ruled, Belafonte's Calypso outsold both of his records that year, spending thirty-one weeks on top of the Billboard 200.

Belafonte also became a pivotal member of the civil rights movement, as a close friend of King, performing at many of his events and offering financial support to fund voter-registration drives, Freedom Rides and even the March on Washington. "I was angry when I met [King]. Anger had helped protect me. Martin understood my anger and saw its value. But our cause showed me how to redirect it and to make it productive," Belafonte writes in his 2011 memoir.

Pete Seeger

"For Mr. Seeger, folk music and a sense of community were inseparable, and where he saw a community, he saw the possibility of political action," the New York Times wrote in Pete Seeger's obituary in 2014. "His agenda paralleled the concerns of the American left: He sang for the labor movement in the '40s and '50s, for civil rights marches and anti-Vietnam War rallies in the '60s, and for environmental and antiwar causes in the '70s and beyond."

In the '50s, the folk artist adapted "We Shall Overcome" with several other activist, including Zilphia Horton, who taught an updated version of the gospel spiritual "I'll Overcome" to union organizers. Seeger's version became an important rallying cry of the civil rights movement. Many other activist/artists of the time recorded and sang the powerful song at various events, including Jackson and folk acts Peter, Paul and Mary and Joan Baez, the latter who sang it during the March on Washington.

Seeger always used his music to speak up on the big issues of the time; in 1941 he wrote "Talking Union" with members of The Almanac Singers (both acts recorded it), "an almost literal guide to union-building," as Time put it. During Vietnam and the Cold War, respectively, he released anti-war anthems "Waist Deep in the Big Muddy" (1967) and "Where Have All The Flowers Gone" (1955). The latter has been covered many times over the years by Earth, Wind & Fire, Dolly Parton and more, with folk/pop act Kingston Trio's 1962 version first hitting the mainstream and reaching the Top 40.

Bob Dylan

"How many roads must a man walk down / Before you call him a man?" a 21-year-old Bob Dylan begins on his beloved 1963 song, "Blowin' In The Wind," another anthem of the civil rights movement. It is the opening track of his second album The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan, which also features "The Death of Emmitt Till," "Oxford Town," "Masters of War" and other explicitly political songs examining injustices of the time.

Like Belafonte, he was inspired by Guthrie's political brand of folk, but it was his then-girlfriend, Suze Rotolo (pictured on The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan album cover), who moved him towards activism and playing political rallies. He wrote "The Death of Emmitt Till" in 1962, about the Black teen that was brutally murdered by White men for alleged whistling at a White woman, shortly before singing it at a fundraiser for the Congress of Racial Equality, which Rotolo was involved with.

During the March on Washington the next year, Dylan performed several songs, including "Only a Pawn in Their Game," which he had recently written about the civil rights activist Medgar Evers killed just months earlier. He also performed the heart-breaking song at a voter registration rally for Black farmers in Mississippi later that year. In January 1964 he would release the track on his next album, another socially conscious project, this one earning a GRAMMY nomination, The Times They Are A-Changin'.

Bob Dylan Announces New Double Album 'Rough And Rowdy Ways,' Releases New Single "False Prophet"

James Brown

In August 1968, a year before Simone released "Young, Gifted & Black" and just four months after King was assassinated, the Godfather of Soul James Brown delivered the funky Black pride anthem "Say It Loud – I'm Black And I'm Proud." As UDiscoverMusic notes, "The tone of the civil-rights movement had so far been one of a request for equality. Brown, however, came out defiant and proud: he isn't asking politely for acceptance; he's totally comfortable in his own skin. The song went to No. 10 on the Billboard [Hot 100] chart and set the blueprint for funk. Like later Stevie Wonder classics of the '70s, it was a political song that also burned up the dancefloor; an unapologetic stormer that would influence generations."

In 2018, on 50 years after the song's release, Randall Kennedy, a Black law professor at Harvard, explained the power of the song in that moment, and today: "It was precisely because of widespread colorism that James Brown's anthem 'Say It Loud, I'm Black and I'm Proud' posed a challenge, felt so exhilarating, and resonated so powerfully. It still does. Much has changed over the past half century. But, alas, the need to defend blackness against derision continues."

The iconic song recently saw a massive boost in streaming numbers as part of Spotify's Black Lives Matter playlist.

Black Pride Anthems From Kendrick Lamar, Childish Gambino, 2Pac, James Brown & More See Big Streaming Spikes

N.W.A, Ice Cube & Dr. Dre

When N.W.A released "F*** Tha Police" in 1988, their hometown of Compton, in South Los Angeles, was rife with police brutality and racial profiling. One of the hardcore rap group's most controversial songs, it struck a chord with in their community, as well as with other Black people living in over-policed inner-cities around the country and frustrated youth of all colors. Directly denouncing the police's abuse of power, the song was largely condemned by the mainstream, causing the group to receive a cease-and-desist letter from FBI and to be arrested for playing it at a Detroit show in 1989, as shown in the Straight Outta Compton biopic.

"We had lyrics. That's what we used to combat all the forces that were pushing us from all angles: Whether it was money, gang-banging, crack, LAPD. Everything in the world came after this group," Ice Cube said in an interview. "We changed pop culture on all levels. Not just music. We changed it on TV. In movies. On radio. Everything. Everybody could be themselves. Before N.W.A … you had to pretend to be a good guy."

In 1992, Rodney King was brutally beaten by LAPD officers who were later acquitted, sparking the 1992 Los Angeles uprising. This not only highlighted the truth and urgency of N.W.A's lyrics, it further solidified it as a rallying cry against the daily violence and racism Black people across the country faced. That year, Ice Cube released his third solo album Predator, along with its biggest hit, the laidback "It Was A Good Day." As HuffPost notes, "he raps about how to cherish moments like chilling with your homies to enjoying your mom's food to NOT get harassed by the police." Dr. Dre followed with his 1debut solo album The Chronic in 1994, and on "Lil' Ghetto Boy" he and Snoop Dogg rap about the dark challenges faced by a formerly incarcerated Black man on parole, powerfully sampling Donny Hathaway's 1972 classic "Little Ghetto Boy."

"Fight The Power": 7 Facts Behind Public Enemy's Anthem | GRAMMY Hall Of Fame

Public Enemy

New York political hip-hop outfit Public Enemy originally recorded "Fight The Power" at the request of then-emerging filmmaker Spike Lee, for his 1989 film Do The Right Thing. It plays a prominent role in the poignant film that explores racial tensions in Brooklyn's Bedford-Sty neighborhood, as the only song character Radio Raheem plays from the boombox he proudly carries at all times. As HipHopDX writes, the song is "indisputably a call to action, [as] Chuck [D] commanded people to stand up against systematic oppression." "Elvis was a hero to most / But he never meant sh*t to me you see / Straight up racist that sucker was / Simple and plain. / Mother f*** him and John Wayne / 'Cause I'm Black and I'm proud," Chuck D raps with authority, both calling out White heroes and nodding to a Black hero, the Godfather Of Soul.

The powerful track finds inspiration from both Brown and the Isley Brothers, who released a song called "Fight The Power" in 1975, it also takes direct influence from them. According to Genius, it features around 20 samples, including Brown's "Say It Loud" and "Funky President (People It's Bad)," and interpolates The Isley Brothers' song. "I wanted to have sorta the same theme as the original 'Fight the Power' by the Isley Brothers and fill it in with some kind of modernist views of what our surroundings were at that particular time," Chuck D explained. The music video (watch above) begins with news footage from the March on Washington, followed by Public Enemy organizing their own march and rally in Brooklyn.

The song was released on the film soundtrack and on their 1990 album, Fear Of A Black Planet, on which they also called out racism in Hollywood and in the police on "Burn Hollywood Burn" (featuring Cube and Big Daddy Kane) and "911 Is A Joke," respectively. This summer, Public Enemy returned with the fiery "State Of The Union (STFU)," calling out the rampant racism of the current White House administration.

How Black Trans Artists Are Fighting To Achieve Racial Justice & Amplify Queer Voices

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Black Lives Matter Protest in New York City

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How To Safely Film Police Misconduct live-tape-how-safely-film-police-misconduct

Live To Tape: How To Safely Film Police Misconduct

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As racial justice protests continue to thrive across the country, the Recording Academy has compiled a list of ways to safely and ethically film incidents involving police misconduct
GRAMMYs
Jun 10, 2020 - 1:58 pm

Over the past few weeks, protests have been staged across the nation in response to the deaths of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, David McAtee and many other Black people at the hands of police. Due to increased police presence and the deployment of the National Guard to several major cities, thousands of protesters have been arrested, and many violent incidents involving the police have been filmed and subsequently gone viral. 

Palika Makam, who works at the human rights organization WITNESS as senior U.S. program coordinator, writes in Teen Vogue: "Using the camera in your pocket can be a valuable way to ensure the world bears witness to abusive policing and systemic racism, help hold authorities accountable, and advocate for the real safety of our communities."

As protests continue amid the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, the Recording Academy has compiled a list of ways to safely and ethically film incidents involving police misconduct.

Record With The ACLU Mobile Justice App

Depending on which state you live in, you can download the ACLU’s Mobile Justice App (for example, in California, the app is called “Mobile Justice CA”). The ACLU’s app lets you record and report interactions with law enforcement, and all footage and reports submitted are sent immediately to your local ACLU affiliate.

Understand Your Rights

As WITNESS explains on its website, laws around filming authorities vary by country, so it helps to understand your rights before you hit “record.” In the U.S., you have a 1st Amendment right to record law enforcement in public spaces as long as you don’t interfere. Check out these tips from Makam:

  • Whether or not you are interfering is totally up to the police officer in the moment (and later up to a judge or jury), so it’s best to keep at least six feet of distance (or a car’s length) between you and the incident while filming, especially during social distancing.
  • If the police officer tells you to back up, comply with their orders. You can even film your feet as you’re backing up and say aloud, “I’m complying with orders.”
  • If the police officer tells you to stop filming, you can assert your right to film if you feel comfortable doing so.
  • You can stay safe and still film critical footage from a distance, like from a window, balcony, rooftop, or fire escape.

Verify That You Are The One Recording, And Where You Are

WITNESS recommends speaking into the camera to verify that it’s you doing the recording. “Alternately,” they write, “keep a written record with the original video file. If you need to be anonymous for security reasons, use a code name.”

WITNESS also recommends that you document where and when the incident is occurring. “Your media is easier to verify if you capture the date, time and location of your footage. If possible, turn on automatic date, time and GPS location capturing features. Alternately, film newspapers, intersections, street signs and landmarks.”

Prepare Your Device

If your phone does not have a six-digit passcode, it would be wise to set one up—in addition to a touch ID, face ID and/or pattern lock. As Makam writes, “You have a 5th Amendment constitutional right to not give up your cell phone passcode during a legal search. But that right is murkier when it comes to touch ID, face ID, or pattern lock, and courts have ruled both ways in the past. So it’s safest to just stick with a six-digit passcode for now.”

Also, Makam recommends that you set your phone to automatically back itself up to the cloud, be it Dropbox or Google Drive. Therefore if you were to lose or break your device, anything you record won’t be lost.

Know The Right Tools To Bring

WITNESS recommends a checklist of tools for capturing your surroundings, should you be out at a protest: an external microphone to potentially record interviews, extra memory cards, headphones, a tripod, a notebook and pen for recording dates, times and locations, and an extra battery and charger.  

Have Help Readily Available

WITNESS also recommends bringing a partner or friend with you to protests to help keep you safe and watch out for important situations to document. “Memorize emergency contact information, or keep it written in a secure location,” they write on their site. “Use a camera strap or tie your camera to your wrist. Know your equipment. If you can’t run with it, don’t bring it.”

For more information for how to safely and ethically film police misconduct, visit WITNESS’ site, the ACLU or read Makam’s Teen Vogue piece in full. 

Want To Support Protesters And Black Lives Matter Groups? Here’s How

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