Singer-songwriter and activist Pamela Means presented “The Power of the Protest Song” at the KSC Alumni Center’s Norma Walker Hall on Thursday, Feb. 9 at 6 p.m. The show dealt with topics of race and discrimination through spoken word and a of original songs and protest songs from throughout history.
Means described her experience growing up in Wisconsin. “ [It] has some good people in it, but it’s also very segregated, kind of slow-moving, not progressive state so I felt unable to really be myself there, being a biracial queer person.”
She said she started her career playing bars around Milwaukee, Wis. before moving Boston, Mass., where she began making “a life on the road” for herself.
She said she was introduced to themes of racism and sexuality in music through the works of writers Bell Hooks, Audrey Lorde and James Baldwin, who she said became her musical inspirations.
“[They] helped me find words to describe what I had felt my whole life. Their frankness and honesty, and how they talked about their own lives and about the country we live in and the -isms…was inspiring and I wanted to be like that,” Means said.
Means added, “My songs became political but larger than that, inspired by my identity, and I think just an itch for justice overall. I have been committed to this work and using my voice to be in the lineage of outspoken artists and activists trying to make the world a better place and little by little.”
Means described her own music as hard hitting and aggressive. “[They are] pointed songs, lyrically, the chord progressions have softened…some of my earlier songs [had] really aggressive… strumming, in your face lyrics…I’ve had friends say…they were…humming and singing along to themselves and grooving on it and then [said], ’Wait a minute, what am I singing?’”
Additionally, Means mentioned that understanding the history of our country is important.
“We all need to know our history and the true history and what’s happened where we come from…Fred Hampton was murdered, he was only 21…immediately in his adult life [he] was committed to fighting for justice, and he was [an] eloquent, inspiring person and that scared the racist establishment… so they murdered him,” she said. “We all need to know about him and other leaders who aren’t as famous as Martin Luther King or Malcolm X, but also gave their lives, committed their lives to justice and racial equality.”
Benjamin Martins can be contacted at
bmartins@kscequinox.com
