Fever 333: If You Don’t Show Up for Black People, You’re Not Supporting Rock Music
The Fever 333 held a live demonstration on Facebook Live to spread awareness of the Black Lives Matter movement and to raise money for the Minnesota Freedom Fund. During the immersive concert, vocalist Jason Aalon Butler made powerful speeches about being black in America and how the music industry can be an ally for black artists.
After performing “Only One,” Butler began his first speech of the night. “I’m so tired. I’ve been walking for miles everyday. I’m yelling for hours every single day about what I know we believe and what I know we deserve. I thought I was tired from all the walking. I thought I was tired from all the screaming and shouting, but I was talking to my wife today and I realized I’ve been tired for years, ever since I realized what it meant to be black in America,” he passionately stated.
“I’m asking you watching this, especially those in rock music, I’m asking you to show up for what I believe in my generation to be the first fucking time. You want to take music that was black music, that still is black music? You want to benefit from black music? You want to enjoy black music, black culture, black art, black excellence, but you don’t want to celebrate it? You don’t want to show up when we’re dying in the streets? Then you are not supporting rock music. You are not supporting black people. You are exploiting black people.”
Butler continued speaking after “One of Us,” while rolling a long list of black individuals who were senselessly slain.
“For years we’ve been fighting, due to ideals, constructs known as ‘race’, and the fear of each other. Right now in America, there is a fire that is being stoked, flames that are being fanned by people in power. The people are relinquishing their power – the very power that we possess, simply by existing, as a people, as a nation, as a constituency. We are giving up our power to someone, and to people, and to a system, that does not care about us – not the way it cares about itself.
“I don’t care where you sit on this spectrum: if you’re able to watch the atrocities that are happening every single day – much like our brother George Floyd being slain on the streets in front of a camera – and you don’t think that there’s a problem, then you are that fucking problem.” [via Kerrang!]
As of this posting, Fever 333 have raised over $5,400 for the Minnesota Freedom Fund. If you’d like to donate, please do so below.
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