Dear friends,
I hope you are doing good, that your loved ones are safe and ok.
The last few weeks have been emotional for us all, from the 84-year-old father of one of our friends and team member who contracted COVID-19 and ultimately won his battle after a terrible time fighting for his life, to the sickening images of George Floyd’s execution and the anger we were consumed with afterward, and all the way to our band rehearsals and the live stream moment we had the privilege to commune with you through our reinterpretation of the song Lavender Sky for our direct-to-vinyl project.
Regardless of how emotionally exhausted we were, that communal moment helped us turn any negative energy we were struggling with in an uplifting determination to keep on working towards the overcoming resolution of hatred and hopelessness we have all been facing, whoever we are and wherever we are from, for way too long…
The wounds are deep, and I know that the only idea of being able to collectively oversee a possible future healing and a restorative process might currently seem like a utopian vision at best, but without this active faith in the upcoming establishment of a world made of equality for all, only violence will remain… And if there’s a thing we can learn from the past, it’s that violence has never healed anyone nor built anything for anybody. So I’d rather hold onto my transformative utopia at this point than feed an already implacable reality with any piece of my own faithlessness and discouragement.
Therefore, in order to turn my disgust and indignation into a tangible and positive action, I decided to craft the t-shirt “Silence Is Murder” by offering all the t-shirt profits to Amnesty International, an organization I’ve been actively engaged with for more than a decade now. This is my way to support their education and awareness initiatives in schools and communities regarding the fundamental necessity for equality and human rights for all without exception.
It’s more than ever essential to take a moment to reflect, to stand, to speak out and build as one, so that one day, children won’t have to fight for their rights, but will be able to dream about what they’ll create for others with them.
Much love,
Alex