‘Blood’ – Music by Annie Benjamin © ℗ 2017 Rocket Girl Music (BMI)
27 Bones (Audio)
A performer, committed to social justice and raising awareness. At home in any venue, she believes that art has the power to heal hearts and minds, while inspiring us to bring about social change. Rio San Juan – Music by Mike Dawson © ℗ 2020 Beechers Brook Publishing, Inc. (ASCAP)
27 Bones
“3 bones will crush a neck
femur, tibia, patella
And the weight of 500 years
Of enslavement, of oppression and brutality
In 8 minutes 46 seconds
So many NAMES, held by 27 bones
As arm pushes up, punching through resistance
Deeply rooted and transplanted generation to generation
Defiantly stretching and reaching
Searching for Light
Together we hold the birthright
And breathe the NAMES into
Tightly clenched fingers folding into palms
Becoming hulls for safekeeping
Chrysalis . . .”
Excerpt from the book, ENOUGH “Say Their Names . . .”
Little Papa, My Papacito
Carefully choreographed
The telling of tales
Grandfather Stories
Curated in the front seat of a Buick LaSabre
On black top highways across the Lone Star State
Grandchildren of the Greatest Generation
In the back seat, ready for the ride
The adventures ahead
Little papa, my Papacito
The keeper of stories
Had a gun that he kept at his side
When he drove men and boys
Whose skin looked different than ours
To scout meetings and church
So children could change the future
In 1964, he was fighting Jim Crow . . .
Excerpt from the book, ENOUGH “Say Their Names . . .”
Rise Up
We’re gonna Rise Up
With EVERY NAME that we say,
Calling out Liberty and Justice
For Breonna, George, and Freddie Gray
We’re gonna Rise Up
With every step that we take
Marching in rhythm, beats in our hearts
For Treyvon, Atatiana and Tony McDade
We’re gonna Rise up
With every Freedom song we know
Singing as many, in an army of one
For Ahmaud, Emmett and Calin Roquemore . . .
Excerpt from the book, ENOUGH “Say Their Names . . .”
