Art Jones case study

   Arthur Jones Musical Activism Case Study  

WHEN/WHERE/PRACTICIONERS  

Music and activism are two concepts that go hand-in-hand. In the African American experience music has always been a part of activism dating back to slavery. The way slaves were able to organize efforts to escape, insurrections, and protest in the sense of speaking to each other without the other folks knowing. They spoke to each other through song. There has always been song, there has always been churches, and organized things where people were able to voice how they feel about things in those settings. During the civil rights movement, the movement could not have been what is was without the music. Not only was there singing among the protestors, but the commercial music that was out at the time and that people were listening to on the radio (Nina Simone, James Brown, The Temptations) commented on situations concerning race and oppression. 

Arthur Jones stated, “When I was in high school and the Civil Rights Movement was going on, my first introduction to it was my friends saying were doing a march to protest against discrimination hiring by the cement company in New York. And so I show up at the march, and the first thing we do is start singing. My introduction to it as a teenager was going to protests and singing.” 

WHY IT WORKED   

            Arthur’s work with both the Negro Spirituals and collaboration with the Flobots on the “No Enemies” project are successful examples of musical activism. Singing and using the Negro Spirituals is about promoting activism within the African American community, but also about a concert tradition that has a history and past of being associated with activism. The Spirituals allow people to remain connected to tradition and also promote musical activist channels. The goal is to include singing and social justice themes in order to get more people interested and involved in movements ranging from BLM, Woman’s rights, environmental issues, LGBT and so on.  

            Concerning the “No Enemies” project Jones said, “Well I think the collaboration with the Flowbots on the No Enemies project was direct application to an activist mission, which is the whole idea of helping contemporary communities understand the way in which music can empower folks and can strengthen their ability to resist. It is calling on the spirit on the non-violence philosophy of the Civil Rights Movement. Non-violent action is empowered through singing.”

            Music is used by activist like Jones to embolden people, encourage them, and to bring like-minded individuals together through an important cause or movement.  

WHAT DIDN’T WORK   

            The issues now for musical activism is a large-scale cultural change. There is no longer a full-range od singing or soundtracks to movements that were found during the Civil Rights Movement. “But now we’ve got a whole culture where the music making has been confined to professional people, and the ordinary people in the street are self conscious about singing and making music,” said Jones. In order for musical activism to continue to be effective all types of people, profession or not, need to participate and feel empowered by music that expresses the messages of movements. During the Civil Rights Movement when people were afraid they would start singing and take the air back. The singing carries so much power. It is a way to channel positive energy in frightening situations when facing injustice and systematic oppression. Music emboldens individuals. The real trick of for ordinary people to be involved.  

KEY TACTIC  

            The key tactic utilized within musical activism is strategic nonviolence.  Strategic nonviolence is used to create a framework for broad-based direct action conducive conducive to building large, inclusive, diverse and effective movements. Music is a great way to use nonviolent strategy because music represents a way for activist to “take back the air”. Through music people are able to express their messages in a safe and inclusive manner. Music connects and emboldens individuals within a movement.

KEY PRINCIPLES  

A new principle created through musical activism and the work of people like Arthur Jones is REAP. This stands for research, education, activism and and performance. Music and activism combined represent and cover all of these elements. Music covers all the bases of research, education, activism and especially performance.   

Balancing art and the message is another key principle of musical activism. Effective creative interventions/actions require a judicious balance of art and message. It’s not just what you say, it’s how you say it. In the case of musical activism, you wouldn’t want the focus to only be on the music because people wouldn’t understand the message and no awareness would be raised. At the same time, there also shouldn’t be a focus on the message alone without music to support and enhance it.  

Another significant principle is don’t just brainstorm artstorm. “Artstorming creates space for the spatially, kinesthetically and musically gifted folks who might be alienated from a verbal brainstorm.” (Beautiful Trouble pg. 128) “Artstorming” invites participants to jump directly into the unmediated experience of creation, engaging the full spectrum of our creative intelligence. Creating music that enhances a movement and spreads awareness is a successful way to “artstorm”.  

The final key principle shown through musical activism and individuals like Arthur Jones is using the power of ritual. Rituals like weddings, funerals, vigils and so on are powerful experiences for participants. By adopting sacred and symbolic elements the power of rituals can be used to give actions greater power and depth. And what do all of these rituals have in common? Music. Music is a way to combine elements of ritual, tradition and action in an effective manner. Music is found at almost any type of ritual, and therefore has great symbolic, cultural and traditional influence.  

Case Study: Sole Journey

When: 2008

Where: Denver

Practitioners: Kate Burns and Sheila E. Schroeder 

The Story: 

Sole Journey is a documentary, directed by Kate Burns and Sheila E. Schroeder. In this documentary, they want to show that gay marriage will not "destroy the family and nation”, people in LGBT families are no different with anyone else. The background of this story is in the last century, LGBT individuals in America often subjected to society’s negative perceptions. Because mainstream culture not accept gay and lesbian people, some of them were feel contempt or disgust towards themselves of being “different”. Thus, they tried to change their sexual orientation and some people even use shock treatments, aversion therapy or exorcism to cure themselves of being gay. 

They interviewed Dr. Mel White, who is one of the founder of Soulforce. Soulforce is an American social justice and civil rights organization that supports acceptance of LGBT people through dialogue and creative forms of nonviolent direct action. It is inspired by the principles of relentless nonviolent resistance as taught and practiced by Mahatma Gandhi and Martin Luther King, Jr. Dr. Mel White grow up and live in a Evangelical Christian family. Before coming out as a gay man, Mel was a ghostwriter for Evangelical leaders. He loved both his family and church but he quickly realized he is gay when he joined boy scouts. He spent 40 years in therapy, tried to get over attraction to men and even get married with woman and have kids. After 40 years of trying, his wife told him: “You tried hard and it’s time to get your own life.” In 1999, Mel white and his partner co-founded Soulforce.

Why It Worked:

Kate and Sheila found LGBT group continue to face exclusion and discrimination in society. Thus, they made this film, against the discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation. People in Sole Journey stand up for gay rights and they usually resulting in arrests. “In 2005, in which several families took part in a 6 day trek from Denver to Colorado Springs to Dobson's headquarters.”

Sole Journey is an inspiring and true story of courageous families confronting the anti-LGBT rhetoric and political policy-making of the fundamentalist mega-organization Focus on the Family. The film has screened at the Breckenridge Festival of Film and the Philadelphia International Gay and Lesbian Film Festival where it ranked as one of the top documentaries of the festival. 

In this film, gay and lesbian people are able to share their stories with audience such as the Kate and Sheila interviewed Shepard family. Judy and Dennis Shepard lost their gay son Matthew, to a hate crime. Their son was severely beaten, tied to a wooden fence and left to die outside Laramie, Wyoming. The film also introduced another family who had a child is gay. The mother said: “When Jack first time came out, we know nothing about homosexual reality, so we had to educated.” At the end, she appealed to people to learn about LGBT group and give respect and protect for LGBT people.

BT principles: 

Consider your audience 

Use other’s prejudices against them

Do the media’s work for them, if you want media coverage for your event, give them a story they can’t refuse. 

Put movies in the hands of movements. By telling a personal story, documentary film can make an otherwise difficult- to- approach issue accessible. Filmmakers and activists, working together, can collaborate to make a film a story-driven lever for change. 

New principle:

Use Media to Affect Our Society

Today, billions of people use social media every day, and that number is still increasing. Public’s time and attention is increasingly directed toward media platforms. Some social media such as blogs, Twitter, films, YouTube have great influence on people’s thoughts and actions. Recent years, the relationship between social media use and protest activities participation become stronger. People use social media to join different kinds of activities such as demonstrations, marches and boycotts. In 2008, Kate and Sheila already use their film “Sole Journey” against people's prejudice and discrimination of gay and lesbian and appeal people to understand LGBT group.

Case Study: ILL Se7en

ILL Se7en

Who: A local rapper and activist

When: 2008 to present

Where: Denver, Colorado

Practitioners: Michael Acuna

Further Insight:

http://www.illse7en.com/

https://soundcloud.com/ill-seven

https://www.facebook.com/ill.seven

 

For nearly ten years, Michael Acuna has been making music that speaks to “the social ills that plague the urban spectrum.” Acuna is Denver-based hip-hop artist that combines his music-making with activism under the pseudonym ILL Se7en. Acuna began his activism as a teenager by engaging in dialogue about the systemic injustices of society, and particularly how they pertain to young, African-American men.  “Eventually, I stopped wanting to just talk about it. I wanted to engage in it,” says Acuna. He began volunteering at schools and detention centers, and he started to see himself in a lot of the young people he was helping. He saw them facing struggles similar to what he had gone through growing up. Acuna was already making music when he had this realization, and so he decided to incorporate activism into hip-hop. “It was a natural incorporation,” says Acuna. And thus, ILL Se7en was conceived.

“Hip-hop is like folk music,” says Acuna. “I tell stories that come from experience. Either from my own, or from stories that I have heard.” A lot of Acuna’s music comes from what he has observed in his own community. Through ILL Se7en, Acuna challenges young African-American men to change the way they think about themselves in society. His belief is that it is important for these men to work towards establishing a legacy for themselves among the dominant white narrative that exists within our current culture. Through his music, Acuna wishes to speak to people of a variety of ages and demographics. He seeks to create dynamic music that is palpable to everybody on some level. “Even if you have never lived in the environment [I talk about in my music] you still get a sense of what it is like,” says Acuna. “It’s like a spiritual connection from me to the messages in my songs.” Hip-hop engages young people and has the ability to rally people together. It allows for unlimited perspectives to be shared. In addition to ILL Se7en, Acuna acts as the keynote speaker at universities and schools. In 2016, he spoke at the Black Male Initiative Summit at the University of Denver, where he led students in an exercise to create an action plan that outlines how they can achieve excellence in school, their community, family and within themselves.

Welcome to the underground. Bare arms when the stranger’s knock. Pull trigger, no question, it might be the cops… with my fist up to fight this, raise up the righteous. This system is going to be overthrown. There is going to be a fight. It’s going to mean a lot of white people risking a lot of things.

These are lyrics from one of ILL Se7en’s songs, Track the Underground. “Much of what I was talking about on this project had to do with the under current of the reality of our system,” says Acuna, “and that reality…we still deal with.”

 The song ends with the perforating line, Freaks are revolutionaries and revolutionaries are freaks.

Acuna’s next big project is called Thoughts from a cinematic night. It will connect movies to relevant political topics. For instance, the movie New Jack City will be used to comment on the hustle and the struggle of life. Acuna is using this project to talk about how drugs came to America and the divide within black culture. “I want to talk about who we are within that blackness,” says Acuna. “Why do we break ourselves down and divide ourselves into groups instead of build ourselves up?”

Replacing a common narrative with a new, accurate one, Acuna speaks to the systemic injustices that plague the lives of young African American men. He tells young men to change their story and break the mold aids in perpetuating the stereotype.

Why it Works

Hip-hop is engaging and interesting. It allows for multiple platforms of performance and avenues of getting the message out. With a song, one can tell a long narrative in a unique and disarming way. Music appeals to many people of many ages.

Theories

Narrative Power Analysis (244)

Pedagogy of the Oppressed (246)

Tactics Used

Direct Action (32)

Forum Theater (48)

Strategic nonviolence (88)

Key Principles at Work

Choose Tactics that Support your Strategy (112)

Reframe (168)

Shift the Spectrum of Allies (172)

New Principle Used

Use Poetry and the Power of Culture

Sometimes, commenting on your environment is the most effective way to relay that perspective to others. Observing the culture around you and putting it to words can be a very powerful tool. Combine that with an awesome beat and an enthralling chorus, and you’ve got people’s attention. 

Case Study: Last Week Tonight with John Oliver

CASE STUDY

Donald Trump Presidential Campaign, 2016

WHEN

February 28, 2016 (Season 3, Episode 3)

WHERE

HBO and YouTube

PRACTITIONERS

John Oliver and Last Week Tonight Team

FURTHER INSIGHT

John Oliver Website

http://iamjohnoliver.com/

Last Week Tonight with John Oliver YouTube Channel

https://www.youtube.com/user/LastWeekTonight

CONTRIBUTED BY

Selene McConachy

Amidst confusion about Donald Trump becoming the front runner for the Republican Party, Last Week Tonight with John Oliver became the first show to provide in-depth investigation into what the “Trump” name means and why he gained such popularity as a Republican candidate. Oliver used investigative journalism and comedy to reflect on the party’s decision, and concluded the segment by promoting his own campaign slogan, “Make Donald Drumpf Again.”

The purpose of this campaign is to separate the man from the brand. “We were trying to separate the king of mascot of Donald Trump from- from the man... and so we wanted to... find a division so you could look at him with fresh eyes...” said John Oliver. The team found the solution in Gwenda Blair’s biography about Trump, The Trumps: Three Generations of Builders and a President, which mentions a “prescient ancestor” that changed the family name from ‘Drumpf’ to ‘Trump’.

To support the campaign, Oliver promoted hats reminiscent of Trump’s own campaign hats, but with the words “Make Donald Drumpf Again” as opposed to “Make America Great Again”. Only a few weeks after the episode was aired, they had sold 35,000 hats. The team behind Last Week Tonight also created a free Google Chrome Plugin (“Drumpfinator”) that automatically changes any appearance of Trump’s last name into “Drumpf”. Oliver concluded the episode with a barrage of insults against Trump, all while standing in front of a large lit sign with the name, “Drumpf”.

The video quickly went viral, and as of May 2nd, 2017, the YouTube video has over 32 million views. Episodes on the Last Week Tonight YouTube channel typically range from 10-15 million views.

Since that episode, Oliver has discussed Trump in 13 separate episodes, ranging from a short segment to devoting the whole episode to him. (This does not include brief mentions of Trump or the episode about Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump.) Oliver concluded the show’s Season 3 finale with the statement, “Keep reminding yourself, ‘This is not normal.’ ... Because a klan-backed, misogynist internet troll is going to be delivering the next State of the Union address, and that is not normal- it is fucked up.”

Oliver has frequently argued he is not a journalist, particularly in a segment about the field of journalism, stating, “... Stupid shows like ours lean heavily on local papers- in fact, whenever this show is mistakenly called journalism, it is a slap in the face to the actual journalists whose work we rely on,” (Season 3, Episode 20). In an interview with Jorge Ramos, Oliver was questioned about his relationship to journalism:

Ramos: “Are you a journalist?“

Oliver: “No! No, I’m not, I’m a comedian.”

Ramos: “But you’re doing the job of a journalist.”

Oliver: “No, I’m doing the job of a comedian... I make jokes about the news, so I’m pretty clear about the lane that I’m in.”

The United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) defines investigative journalism as, “the unveiling of matters that are concealed either deliberately by someone in a position of power, or accidentally, behind a chaotic mass of facts and circumstances - and the analysis and exposure of all relevant facts to the public.” According to this definition, despite Oliver’s claims, the show does in fact qualify as journalism. In 2014, the Peabody Board agreed with this sentiment and awarded Last Week Tonight with John Oliver a Peabody Award. The Peabody Awards website’s profile of the show states, “His resolve not simply to explore headline news, but to pull back the proverbial curtain and show us the subtle mechanics at work in our nation’s democracy and culture is to be commended. For bringing satire and journalism even closer together, Last Week Tonight with John Oliver receives a Peabody Award.”

Oliver lists one of his primary fears regarding the Trump administration as complacency. “Optimism is nice if you can swing it but you’ve got to be careful, because it can feed into to the normalization of Donald Trump, and he is not normal... So giving him a chance in the sense of not speaking out immediately against policies that he’s proposed is dangerous.” During an interview on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, he said, “I think the problem really arises when you get punchdrunk... It’s easy to be angry on adrenaline, right, but it is much much harder when you are just tired, and this is going to be exhausting.” However, after the show’s newest episode (entitled, “Stupid Watergate”), Oliver states he is no longer concerned about complacency: “At the end of last year, we told you to write down, ‘This is not normal’ to guard yourself against getting complacent. I don’t think there is much danger of that happening in the foreseeable future, but it is also worth remembering that sentiment to just reassure yourself that you’re not going crazy.”

WHY IT WORKED

John Oliver brought an issue to the forefront and objectively analyzed its worth. At the time, Trump was gaining many followers, and the media was largely confused or unable to justify the reasons why. Furthermore, the consistent media attention against Trump only created a stronger force in his favor. Oliver used his platform to investigate the reasons why many Americans were choosing to vote for Trump and effectively debunked all of them. The show concludes by separating the man from the brand, stating all positives only go as far as the Trump name. By looking at the two separately, viewers could assess Donald Trump, or Donald Drumpf, based on his personal merits.

---

KEY TACTIC USED

IDENTITY CORRECTION: This tactic can effectively take a powerful figure, like Donald Trump, and bring him to a human level. Instead of regarding Trump as the celebrity, audiences can now regard him as the individual. By correcting the misconception of his name and brand, Last Week Tonight with John Oliver reframed the discussion about Trump as a future president.

OTHER TACTICS USED:

Detournement/ Culture jamming p. 28

Strategic nonviolence p. 88

KEY PRINCIPLES AT WORK

REFRAME: The old story is the faith in the Trump name- the new story is Trump himself. By separating his brand from his beliefs, the audience can assess his candidacy more effectively. The “Drumpf Episode” uses narrative power analysis to investigate underlying assumptions associated with Trump, assumptions that are not present for the other presidential candidates, and prove them wrong. This episode effectively shifted the conversation from “Why Trump?” to “No Trump.”

SEEK COMMON GROUND: This episode was effective due to its acknowledgement of the opposition. At the beginning of the episode, John Oliver admits to liking Donald Trump to an extent: “... I do understand why Trump supporters might like him, he’s unpredictable and entertaining.” This is especially critical in activism to avoid ostracizing those who disagree or are unsure about the topic, which is arguably what mainstream media failed to do.

SHIFT THE SPECTRUM OF ALLIES: The Last Week Tonight team created a story that exposed Donald Trump’s successes for what they were. The main beliefs the episode addresses includes:

• “He tells it like it is”
• “I honestly believe he’s telling the truth”
• “He’s funding his own campaign, nobody owns him”
• “He’s aggressive and he’s strong and he’s bold”
• “He’s an incredible businessman”

By attacking these fundamental beliefs of Trump supporters the episode effectively shifts neutral parties, passive opposition, and active opposition into active and passive allies.

OTHER PRINCIPLES AT WORK:

Brand or be branded p. 104

Bring the issue home p. 106

Choose your target wisely p. 114

Show, don’t tell p. 174

NEW PRINCIPLE

Investigation, Entertainment, Education

There are numerous issues that are not only difficult to understand, but also require arduous research. Most people are often unwilling or unable to investigate a single issue, no matter how important it may be. Furthermore, focusing on a singular issue often requires a great deal of patience as not all subjects, such as net neutrality, are entertaining for the general public. Therefore disseminating well-researched information in an entertaining way can not only reach, but also teach a wider audience.

This principle is focused on using one’s resources to investigate an issue and present the issue in a way that is both entertaining and educational. This can apply to a specific issue, event, organization, or an individual. The entertainment aspect is especially key in this day and age; by making the issue easier to understand it becomes more accessible to a wider demographic. Last Week Tonight with John Oliver frequently uses this principle; by taking relevant issues and explaining them through an entertaining set of graphics, clips, and comedy, Oliver can educate more people about hard to grasp topics, from special districts to multilevel marketing.

All three aspects of this principle are absolutely critical for the process. To understand a topic, one must investigate both sides of the issue thoroughly and objectively. Then the information must be developed in such a way that is both easy to understand and share. Entertainment is one of the most difficult steps, because few people are willing to put in the work and/or time to understand an issue that is boring and/or time consuming. Last Week Tonight’s combats this by presenting the information in short segments that transition easily together. When explaining a particular aspect in more detail, Oliver uses comedy to compare it to something else. For example, when interviewing Edward Snowden, all questions regarding the various programs involved in surveillance were asked in the context of sending a “dick pic”. Finally, the goal of this principle is education. To make the information entertaining and understandable to the point that it can easily be understood, referenced, and discussed in the future. With the combination of these three elements, activism can reach a far larger scope and have a much stronger impact.