In his misguided effort to woo communities of color Donald Trump often poses the question, “What Do you Have to Lose?” This powerful new music video answers that question and much more.
The Sierra Club is proud to support the release of a music video created by Gabriel‘Asheru’ Benn,Wayna, and Roddy Rod of The Philosopher’s Stone and Wyatt Closs of Big Bowl of Ideas, made in response to Donald Trump’s vicious rhetoric against people of color. The artists intend their response to be a wake-up call to young people of color who may be disillusioned by the election. This video is a response: a message to African-American voters about how much is at stake, from civil rights to voting rights from economic justice to environmental justice. It’s a rallying cry recognizing the cynicism among many young African-American voters, but also pointing out the reality that without their participation in this election our collective fight for justice will suffer. There is too much at stake for young black men and women across this country to take a break from our political process. As Wayna says in the song:
VOTE. What do we have to lose? More power abused, More black and bruised, More innocent accused, More facts confused, More hate excused, Justice still refused ... we got only everything to lose.
The Sierra Club has a long history of fighting for environmental justice, from organizing to protect the health of communities sickened by toxic air in Detroit, to pushing for solar energy in New Orleans’ lower 9th Ward Post-Katrina, to fighting to get money out of politics and protect voting rights. With 7 in 10 African-Americans living in areas with unsafe air, the Sierra Club continues our fight alongside people of color and communities that are disproportionately affected by the toxins of dirty energy. These communities are also often directly targeted by the faulted policies that lead to voter suppression, mass incarceration, and systematic inequality. And, in this election, the stakes are just too high to take a back seat and watch from the sideline: the choice between candidates with plans to solve those crises and those who would only make them worse could not be clearer. That’s why the Sierra Club is honored to sponsor artists like the Philosopher's Stone, who are working to spread knowledge about environmental, economic, and social injustice, and to continue the fight, because we have everything to lose.
TAKE ACTION: Make a plan to vote now.
--Khalid Pitts, Political Director, Sierra Club