Seattle welcomes Beat Back Bush

  
We arrived at our Seattle premier in the Silver Bullet, aka. Tubridy Family Van, a 7 seat VW Eurovan that will take us from Seattle to LA this summer. We had packed our T-Shirts, DVDs, mailing list, ready to take Seattle by storm. Imagine my comfort when the sign said Brooklyn, and right on the post was the Vera Project's fabulous poster!!

  
The organizer of this performance was Vanessa Gibbons of Seattle's Vera Project, a non-profit all-ages venue. The Vera folks hooked us up with a fabulous theater, the UW Ethnic Cultural Theater, and booked DJ Bgirl (dope dj), Beyond Reality (mother and son seattle-based hip hoppers...they do it for the kids!), and Romanteek (Olympia, WA supafunkydiva.)

  
The performance started with a bang! We led the crowd in an interactive warm-up, teaching lyrics and dance moves so they'd be ready to sing-along (down bush bush, mothafucka!!!). We had the crowd up and movin, chanting with us, giggling and getting in the BBB spirit.

  
Following the performance we facilitated a q&a session. One of the most interesting conversations that arose was regarding the profanity in our piece. We were asked who our target audience was and whether our use of curses might prevent us from getting our message across. Now remember, this project was born following Bush's win in 2004. It embodies our frustration, disillusionment and anger with the state of this country. The lyrics purposefully reflect this energy. However, while we never had any idea that we would one day be touring the country in film festivals, schools, and conferences; the issue of profanity has come up because it prevents us from being screened in many schools. DJ Bgirl responded to the question by proclaiming that we shouldn't apologize for our use of profanity. "We are living in a profane world," she proclaimed, "own your words and your work because it reflects the reality in which we are living."

  
I think what is important to remember is that the tools that are being used against our movements, our communities, our people, and our schools: whether it be police violence, counterintelligence & surveillance programs (Patriot Act), denial of quality education and health care for all, government repression of information, etc., are all PROFANE and HEINOUS. The tools we use to resist this profanity may offend some, but it is important to counter state terror with whatever means necessary.

Beat Back Bush is ours & we will not apologize!

  
On a final note, Upendo, the 8 year-old brotha from Beyond Reality (check him rockin the BBB tank w/the Beyond Reality Crew & BBB Ladies), helped us create a clean version of "Down Bush!" Here goes:

"From the East Side to the West, all my people say, down with bush today! Down with Bush MOTHER-MOTHER! Down with Bush, CORN-DOG!!"

Thanks Upendo!