It's officially been over a week since the events at Sherman Park took place, but as a city we're still healing and processing what took place that Saturday evening.
And although the news coverage may be slowing down now and we may be hearing about Sherman Park less and less, that doesn't mean the deep-seeded issues that came to nation's attention that night haven't gone away. And, no matter the medium or the audience, it's all of our responsibility to keep the conversation going.
I sat down last week with Ehson Rad and Chakara Blu- two Milwaukee musicians who are keeping the Sherman Park conversation alive through what they know best: music.
Right after the events took place, both musicians composed, recorded and produced original pieces that reflected back on violence and race in Milwaukee, as well as what happened in Sherman Park.
Ehson Rad, lead singer and guitarist for the band, Devil Met Contention, composed a dark piece, titled 'Fire.' Rad's lyrics alongside an acoustic guitar retell the events of the night,
"Another mother sits at home, she is waiting all alone because her son's not coming home... Gasoline is burning bright, silhouettes are in the light and your heart breaks in two for another."
While the hip-hop track 'Rock' by Chakara Blu featuring Fivy questions the future of Milwaukee and analyzes the bigger picture,
"I think the paradigm's shifting, apocolyptic definition of uncovering; I'm skeptic, I'm fishing for the knowledge, asking what happened to Fred Hampton."
But why write music about politics and current events?
Chakara and Ehson hope that their songs inspire to do the same; to speak up about topics that are important to us and to continue to push our community towards change.
And, as Ehson puts, "It's almost irresponsible to not say something. You should use your voice to either make people think or do something positive."
Listen to 'Fire' by Devil Met Contention:
and stay tuned for Chakara Blu's track 'Rock' coming soon to her SoundCloud Page.