“...we can either capitulate ... or we can stand united and resist those who would trample our democracy.”

Seth Limmer, Ciera Bates-Chamberlain, Michael Pfleger and Otis Moss III are faith leaders in Chicago who have written statements together in the past about the problems facing Chicago and the larger society. This statement was first published in the Chicago Tribune.

The signs are all there.

We as a nation have invoked laws to determine that a certain people — based on their ethnicity, language, hat choices and tattoo styles — are enemies of the state. 

We are using a mega-prison far from the public eye, in a foreign nation, to incarcerate those determined by our president to be enemies of our people. While flouting the rule of law and the rulings of the judiciary branch, these falsely labeled enemies of the state are flown to this frighteningly real place without any of the due process purportedly guaranteed by our Constitution.

The faith community of St. Sabina Catholic Church should not be the only location in Chicago hanging the flag of the United States upside down: We are a nation in distress.

We are experiencing a terrifying imbalance of power in America.
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In the face of these threats, as we watch our nation dance to the echo of a Confederate vision of limited human rights, we are reminded of the courage of Dred Scott, who dared sue his enslaver Irene Emerson in 1846. A little over 10 years later, in 1857, the Supreme Court sided with his Emerson, stating that no person of African descent, enslaved or free, has any rights a white person is bound to protect or respect. This case set the stage for the long struggle toward the 14th Amendment, which finally gave Black people citizenship and also expanded “due process” beyond the classification of “white” to all who are part of the civic project we call the United States of America.
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Right now, we need to take back our power. We need to say that America’s future isn’t up to the politicians: It’s up to the people. We, the people, do have the power — it is ours for the taking. Let us take it and, together, restore our democracy.

Read the complete statement.

“You’ll see fear, you’ll hear hope.” 

Detroit Opera is performing Anthony Davis’s powerful opera, The Central Park Five. May 10-18 at Detroit Opera House. The opera tells the story of the incarceration of five innocent young Black and Latino men charged with the rape and brutal beating of a woman in Central Park.  Donald Trump published full-page ads in the four major newspapers in New York in 1989 calling for the death penalty for the Five.  At one point in the Opera a singer voices Trump’s words from the ads. 

In the wake of Trump’s election the composer and performers have spoken about why they feel it is so important to perform this opera.

The composer, Anthony Davis said ““They’re trying to erase history, whether it’s slavery or the civil rights struggle, or the history of racism…. I don’t think we can allow that. Particularly as African-Americans, we have to speak up.”

“We’re seeing now with deportation the casualties that happen when there is a rush to judgment, when they don’t follow procedure, when they ignore evidence, when you ignore the law, when you ignore the system that protects us…. That can be the cost of dissent. We’re allowed to say what we want, and that’s part of our country. That’s part of who we are.”

In an earlier interview February 7 on WFYI, Indianpolis, Davis said: “We are seeing the dawning of fascism in America, and that's very dangerous. We don't have the constraints. We don't have a Congress that's willing to stand up or resist. But I think if they're not willing to, we have to do it. Unless we push against it, unless we resist it, we'll have no one to blame but ourselves. So I think it's very important to push against it.”

In the days after their Coachella performance, Kneecap was viciously attacked, with their booking agency refusing to continue to represent them, attacks on social media, and with threats that their work visas would be cancelled. They issued the following statement:

Since our statements at Coachella—exposing the ongoing genocide against the Palestinian people—we have faced a coordinated smear campaign. For over a year, we have used our shows to call out the British and Irish’s governments complicity in war crimes.

The recent attacks against us, largely emanating from the US, are based on deliberate distortions and falsehoods. We are taking action against several of these malicious efforts. 

Let us be absolutely clear.

The reason Kneecap is being targeted is simple—we are telling the truth, and our audience is growing. Those attacking us want to silence criticism of a mass slaughter. They weaponize false accusations of antisemitism to distract, confuse, and provide cover for genocide.

We do not give a f*ck what religion anyone practices. We know there are massive numbers of Jewish people outraged by this genocide just as we are. What we care about is that governments of the countries we perform in are enabling some of the most horrific crimes of our lifetimes—and we will not stay silent.

NO MEDIA SPIN WILL CHANGE THIS.

OUR ONLY CONCERN IS THE PALESTINIAN PEOPLE.

THE 20,000 MURDERED CHILDREN AND COUNTING.

THE YOUNG PEOPLE AT OUR GIGS SEE THROUGH THE LIES. THEY STAND ON THE SIDE OF HUMANITY AND JUSTICE.

AND THAT GIVES US GREAT HOPE.

KNEECAP