Minneapolis’ Singing Resistance Turns Grief Into Song (Full Transcript)

[00:00:00] Speaker 1: They marched in frigid temperatures, many learning the songs for the first time. The singing first started four days after the killing of Rene Good. Six days later, some 600 people showed up. There's a long history in America of protest songs, but here in Minneapolis, a new chapter is being written by a group called Singing Resistance. Listen.

[00:00:38] Speaker 2: I am not afraid. I am not afraid. I will live for liberation because I know why I was made.

[00:00:50] Speaker 3: We've been singing that one in English and in Spanish. It's by a group called the Peace Poets.

[00:01:00] Speaker 1: This is one of the organizers of Singing Resistance. She didn't want to be identified out of concern for her safety.

[00:01:06] Speaker 3: The song is a vehicle for us to grieve. It's a vehicle for us to feel rage. It's a vehicle for us to strengthen ourselves. Like, we, that song, I am not afraid that I sang, we're not singing it because we're actually not afraid. Like, we are afraid. It is terrifying what is happening, and it's a way to gather our courage.

[00:01:31] Speaker 1: Last Saturday, hours after Alex Pretty was shot to death by Border Patrol agents, some 1,400 people came to the Hennepin Avenue United Methodist Church to sing.