A Deeper Listen

Australia’s Gordi is out with a new album, ‘Our Two Skins.' It addresses her queer identity, something she didn't come to terms with until recently. Gordi was supposed to tour the album on a bill with Of Monsters and Men but the tour was cancelled due to COVID-19. Having just wrapped up her medical degree in January, Gordi says she’s on call to put her medical degree to work if COVID-19 cases in Australia start to spike.

Gordi also discusses how the Bandcamp proceeds from her song, “Unready," are going to the NAACP Legal Defense Fund and North Australian Aboriginal Justice Agency. Gordi said putting out music amid worldwide protests over the police murder of George Floyd and others “felt gross” and she felt she needed to do something to support Black lives, including those in Australia. “Australia’s biggest shame is the treatment of our first people by white people,” Gordi says.

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Dua Saleh is a non-binary multidisciplinary artist from Minneapolis who released a single this month, “body cast,” in response to the murders of Black people at the hands of police. From their experience fleeing war and genocide in Sudan to the realities of institutional violence in the United States, Saleh expresses that there isn’t a place of safety for Black people.

Saleh also discusses their new EP, ‘Rosetta,' named after “the godmother of Rock & Roll,” Sister Rosetta Tharpe. Speaking to the importance of representation, Saleh says, "The inventor and creator of Rock & Roll being a Black, queer woman does a lot for my personal self-esteem."

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Dua Saleh is a non-binary multidisciplinary artist from Minneapolis who released a single this month, “body cast,” in response to the murders of Black people at the hands of police. From their experience fleeing war and genocide in Sudan to the realities of institutional violence in the United States, Saleh expresses that there isn’t a place of safety for Black people.

Saleh also discusses their new EP, ‘Rosetta,' named after “the godmother of Rock & Roll,” Sister Rosetta Tharpe. Speaking to the importance of representation, Saleh says, "The inventor and creator of Rock & Roll being a Black, queer woman does a lot for my personal self-esteem."

Support the show: https://www.kexp.org/sound/

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CHOP, or the Capitol Hill Occupied or Organized Protest, formerly known as CHAZ, has been in the headlines lately. On June 8th, Seattle Police officers boarded up the East Precinct on Capitol Hill after more than a week of sustained protests by residents following the killing of George Floyd by police in Minneapolis. Since then, a police-free community has spread out to Seattle’s Cal Anderson Park and between Broadway and 12th on Pine.

While there were two shootings there over the weekend that left one dead and two injured, the area has been mostly peaceful, with almost a festival vibe to it. There’s art and music amplifying the message that Black Lives Matter. KEXP’s Sharlese Metcalf spent some time at CHOP last week and brought back an audio postcard.

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CHOP, or the Capitol Hill Occupied or Organized Protest, formerly known as CHAZ, has been in the headlines lately. On June 8th, Seattle Police officers boarded up the East Precinct on Capitol Hill after more than a week of sustained protests by residents following the killing of George Floyd by police in Minneapolis. Since then, a police-free community has spread out to Seattle’s Cal Anderson Park and between Broadway and 12th on Pine.

While there were two shootings there over the weekend that left one dead and two injured, the area has been mostly peaceful, with almost a festival vibe to it. There’s art and music amplifying the message that Black Lives Matter. KEXP’s Sharlese Metcalf spent some time at CHOP last week and brought back an audio postcard.

Support the show: https://www.kexp.org/sound/

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

I Self Devine is a musician and community organizer from Minneapolis. In 2018 he released a collaborative album called 'Dismembered & Unarmed,’ meant to accompany the book, ‘My Grandmother’s Hands,’ by therapist and trauma specialist Resmaa Menakem. The book and music explore how white supremacy and racism affect Black bodies.

“He would tell me things like race very rarely stays in the body. And I just couldn't grasp that concept,” I Self Devine says of Menakem. “He's like, a lot of times we talk about race just from a historical or from a policy place, but not how it lives in the body.”

I Self Devine discusses 'Dismembered & Unarmed' as well as his philosophies around community organizing, learning and building off past movements, and doing the internal work.

“When it's time for me to transition into the spirit world, I want to be very light, meaning that I've handled all of my issues and I've done my work. What do they say? ‘What happened to you wasn’t your fault, but how you handle it is.’ I have a responsibility to ensure that as an organizer, I'm not a caricature of myself or of what it is that we're doing. I’m grounded in my teachings.”

Support the show: https://www.kexp.org/sound/

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I Self Devine is a musician and community organizer from Minneapolis. In 2018 he released a collaborative album called 'Dismembered & Unarmed,’ meant to accompany the book, ‘My Grandmother’s Hands,’ by therapist and trauma specialist Resmaa Menakem. The book and music explore how white supremacy and racism affect Black bodies.

“He would tell me things like race very rarely stays in the body. And I just couldn't grasp that concept,” I Self Devine says of Menakem. “He's like, a lot of times we talk about race just from a historical or from a policy place, but not how it lives in the body.”

I Self Devine discusses 'Dismembered & Unarmed' as well as his philosophies around community organizing, learning and building off past movements, and doing the internal work.

“When it's time for me to transition into the spirit world, I want to be very light, meaning that I've handled all of my issues and I've done my work. What do they say? ‘What happened to you wasn’t your fault, but how you handle it is.’ I have a responsibility to ensure that as an organizer, I'm not a caricature of myself or of what it is that we're doing. I’m grounded in my teachings.”

Support the show: https://www.kexp.org/sound/

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Most people in Seattle know Nikkita Oliver from her historic mayoral run in 2017. She lost the primary election by less than 2,000 votes. But Oliver is also a musician, a poet, an attorney, and the co-director of an incredible organization called Creative Justice, which works with youth most affected by the school-to-prison pipeline. She’s also been an active organizer in Seattle’s protests and advancing the demands to defund and demilitarize the police.

A few weeks ago, she participated in a 12,000 person march from Seattle’s Cal Anderson Park to city hall where she then livestreamed what was supposed to be a closed door meeting with Seattle Mayor Jenny Durkan. Oliver laid out demands for the city—defund the police, fund community-based health and safety, and drop all charges against protesters. 

KEXP’s Gabriel Teodros talks with Oliver about the importance of diversity within a movement, the false narrative of the good protester vs. bad protester, and what’s inspiring her during this moment.

Read a transcript of the conversation here

Support the show: https://www.kexp.org/sound/

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Most people in Seattle know Nikkita Oliver from her historic mayoral run in 2017. She lost the primary election by less than 2,000 votes. But Oliver is also a musician, a poet, an attorney, and the co-director of an incredible organization called Creative Justice, which works with youth most affected by the school-to-prison pipeline. She’s also been an active organizer in Seattle’s protests and advancing the demands to defund and demilitarize the police.

A few weeks ago, she participated in a 12,000 person march from Seattle’s Cal Anderson Park to city hall where she then livestreamed what was supposed to be a closed door meeting with Seattle Mayor Jenny Durkan. Oliver laid out demands for the city—defund the police, fund community-based health and safety, and drop all charges against protesters. 

KEXP’s Gabriel Teodros talks with Oliver about the importance of diversity within a movement, the false narrative of the good protester vs. bad protester, and what’s inspiring her during this moment.

Read a transcript of the conversation here

Support the show: https://www.kexp.org/sound/

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Toki Wright is a musician, MC, producer, writer, radio DJ and community organizer from Minneapolis. He recently moved to Boston and is now chair of Berklee’s Professional Music Department. He’s been making music that addresses systemic racism, oppression and police violence for years. “I don’t sit around all day thinking about race,” Wright says. “I have a lot of things I really love to do. The problem is that race impacts all of them.”

Wright tells the stories behind some of his songs that address racism and police violence and discusses how those issues play out in Minneapolis.

Wright also talks about the white superiority complex within the Twin Cities’ music scene. 

“Imagine what it's like standing on stage and looking out into the crowd and not seeing your people there. Your people want to be there, but they feel uncomfortable coming into that room because they're not being represented,” Wright says. “How this all kind of relates to George Floyd and the murdering cop that killed him is they both worked at a couple of music venues in town doing security. And it came out recently that they knew each other for years and that they had altercations and a lot of those altercations were based on how the officers would treat black patrons on nights when there were black crowds—there’s a heightened sense of security. There is a more intense treatment of people.”

Songs discussed:

“Nezhno feat. Toki Wright” by Sleep Sinatra
“Gatekeepers” by Toki Wright & Big Cats
“Time Bomb” by Toki Wright & Big Cats 

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