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By Sarah Mirk, for Bitch Media
January 18, 2016
Photo by Katherine Wright
We feature new music from female-fronted bands every Monday. Today, we’re excited to debut the new music video for “Freedom,” by Taina Asili y la Banda Rebelde.
“‘Freedom’ is a musical contribution to the #BlackLivesMatter movement, and it was inspired by the organizing work I do in my community to end mass incarceration and state violence,” says Asili. The video shows a young Black woman running from police after a protest, interspersed with scenes of the same woman portraying a runaway slave fleeing along the Underground Railroad.
Taina Asili has been making music for 20 years—you might have gotten to know her when she fronted the punk band Anti-Product. This song is off her most recent album, Fruit of Hope, which came out in 2014 and is made with La Banda Rebelde, an eight-piece ensemble that combines rock, reggae, and Afro-Latin sounds. While working as a musician, Asili has also been an anti-incarceration activist. She currently organizes with the Capital Area Against Mass Incarceration in Albany, New York. Members of the group are actors in the music video, too. Asili explains that her activism comes from a personal place, as the the daughter and sister of two formerly incarcerated men. “I have seen up close the ways the U.S. prison system negatively effects families and communities of color. With this song and video, I hope to bring more awareness to the racism inherent in the prison system, and to inspire people to fight for an end to mass incarceration in this country,” says Asili.
The song also features Chicano/Mexicano poet and emcee Michael Reyes. Check out the powerful video below and read the lyrics to the song.
<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/tfwDEebbQ-E" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe><iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/tfwDEebbQ-E" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
Lyrics to "Freedom"
What do we want? Freedom.
When do we want it? Now!
Prisons are our freedom thieves
decimate communities
destroying our families
leaving no opportunities
Racial caste alive and well
now we’re called a criminal
and we’re seen disposable
millions stuck in America’s hell
Cannot eat the myths they’ve fed
hi-tech cages trillions spent
say no money for children
schools the pipeline to prison
Discriminate legally
employment, to vote, housing,
permanently locks the key
stealing our humanity
But we will evoke the lightning to strike injustice down
we will bring the thunder to break our family out
we will bring the lightning to strike injustice down
we will bring the thunder to break our family out
From the freedom of the beat
to the chains on the feet
to the mass incarceration
family separation
immigration
got me chasing liberation
new slaves in a new slave nation
modern day plantation
making products for a corporation
black cold chain
gang gang
bang guns
bang bang
dope sales
sling that thing
ropes hang
still slit bang insane
four walls bars chained
two million names
struggled not in vain
so we fight for those things
that we can’t change and so we sing
freedom of the mind
freedom of the soul
freedom of the heart and freedom here we go
battle for the lives and the folks that we know
battle for the seeds and the future that we sow
planting seeds so w can see ‘em grow
lighting through the sky so everybody know
thunder crash live, live from death row
can’t tame the spirit of the fire of the soul
breaking down the laws of the new Jim Crow
But we will evoke the lightning to strike injustice down
we will bring the thunder to break our family out
we will bring the lightning to strike injustice down
we will bring the thunder to break our family out
What do we want? Freedom.
When do we want it? NOW!
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