“Gospel,” Jen Chapin’s understated anthem, celebrates the hard and sometimes dangerous work of grassroots democracy; organizing, strategizing, and marching to achieve a more just society and economy from Selma to the Arab Spring, Occupy Wall Street to People’s Climate March and the current movement for police accountability and the end to racial profiling.
“The song grew out of my participating in the ‘Farmers March’ of Occupy Wall Street,” Jen explains, “and how that effort brought together small farmers from across the country with urban gardeners and food justice advocates in NYC and all the web of concerns — sustainability, fair wages, nutrition, a reckless financial system, etc. — connecting them. I believe people are connecting the dots as never before, recognizing old destructive patterns and making new alliances and creative, constructive responses.”
As Dr. King famously said in his controversial 1967 speech at Riverside Church: “We must rapidly begin the shift from a ‘thing-oriented’ society to a ‘person-oriented’ society. When machines and computers, profit motives and property rights are considered more important than people, the giant triplets of racism, materialism and militarism are incapable of being conquered.” The song, “Gospel” and its video are born of the belief that the shift is — however laboriously, painfully and joyfully — underway.
Defying Trump’s right-wing agenda from Day One
Inauguration Day is coming up soon, and at Truthout, we plan to defy Trump’s right-wing agenda from Day One.
Looking to the first year of Trump’s presidency, we know that the most vulnerable among us will be harmed. Militarized policing in U.S. cities and at the borders will intensify. The climate crisis will deteriorate further. The erosion of free speech has already begun, and we anticipate more attacks on journalism.
It will be a terrifying four years to produce social justice-driven journalism. But we’re not falling to despair, because we know there are reasons to believe in our collective power.
The stories we publish at Truthout are part of the antidote to creeping authoritarianism. And this year, we promise we will kick into an even higher gear to give you truthful news that cuts against the disinformation, vitriol, hate and violence. We promise to publish analyses that will serve the needs of the movements we all rely on to survive the next four years, and even build for the future. We promise to be responsive, to recognize you as members of our community with a vital stake and voice in this work.
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