We stand in support with George Floyd. We stand in support with Ahmaud Arbery. We stand in support with Breonna Taylor. We stand in solidarity with all black people who suffer at the hands of white supremacy every day, and we stand in support of all protests against racism and police brutality.
Truants is a platform is rooted in culture created by black people, without which our beloved music scene would not exist. We have a responsibility to combat anti-blackness in all its forms, across systems, institutions, and the communities we are in. Our platform would not exist without the black artists that consistently drive our music and culture.
We came together and donated $1000 and we will continue to donate our full monthly Patreon income to various organizations for the foreseeable future. We’ve pledged our reader’s monthly donations to the Official George Floyd Memorial Fund, the Trans Emergency Release Fund, Black Lives Matter Cleveland, Reclaim The Block, Detroit Justice Center, Access UK, and the Amos Bursary, and our individual writers donated a further $670 dollars and counting. We will be continuing to make donations to various related organizations and encourage our readers to safely take action wherever possible. Donate if you can and share to inspire others. If you don’t know what to say, amplify and help voices of those already doing work around the injustices.
We hope other platforms and publications working in the music space can and will match us, and we encourage our readers to donate and share. We will momentarily not be publishing any new pieces or mixes, and will be using our platform to elevate causes and voices in support of the Black Lives Matter movement. Please follow us on Twitter or Instagram to stay updated, and support us on Patreon here. Black lives matter. Black art matters. Black music matters. Amplify black voices. Donate to bail funds.
Overwhelmed. I wish I was shocked. Embarrassed at the lack of overt commentary from this art form. An art form rooted in reaction to racism, birthed in struggle, how do you dance to this? Somehow you better. Somehow you better realize when the music you’re dancing to comes from people that have been exploited, the best tribute you can have is setting yourself loose in unity with the exploited. How do you do that when on the same weekend you’re playing, in the same city, a man just like you has quietly, arbitrarily, been silenced by one paid to protect him and the public?
How do you dance when we still swing from trees, when we still are murdered in front of our loved ones, murdered while subdued and harmless? How do you dance when our very image as a people is used to manipulate sympathy for a system of belief that wants you and your children to be dead or in jail? You better. You better learn to listen with your body, you better play from your heart. It was a preference before, now it’s essential. Escapism has always been an adjective used to describe the dance. That’s an outsider’s view. Solidarity is what it really offers…
– Theo Parrish, 2016
Photo by: Koshu Kunii
