Though many politicians remain silent about the shooting death of teenager Michael Brown by a police officer in Ferguson, Missouri, countless members of the music community have expressed their outrage.
At the 10th annual Afropunk fest in Brooklyn, New York, msnbc.com spoke with several artists — including members of Sharon Jones and the Dap-Kings, Shabazz Palaces, ThEESatisfaction, and Tamar-kali. The two-day long festival started on Aug. 23 and, this year, served as an opportunity for communities to speak out about recent shooting deaths of young black men.
An experimental hip-hop group from Los Angeles known as “clipping.” performed their latest track, “Knees on the Ground,” which was written in response to the death of Brown.
“Even though I’ve been actively avoiding the news coverage because it makes me too sad, I still couldn’t think about anything else, ” said Daveed Diggs of clipping. “We’re not a band that deals with feelings very much but this was unavoidable. We showed up in the studio one day to make a club track and couldn’t. So we wrote the song that we could write.”
Amid world music, avant-garde fashion, and feel good vibes, Afropunk participants stood firmly in support of Brown, Eric Garner, and other alleged victims of police brutality. this was right before @thedangelo's set at @afropunk. #handsupdontshoot #ferguson https://t.co/QTQh1NWAfV Take a look at msnbc.com’s recap of the 10th annual Afropunk fest.
Drew Katchen
Alicia Maule Recommended
