Joan Jett has joined the growing number of musicians to voice solidarity with those protesting the killing of two US citizens by ICE agents in Minneapolis.
Jett read out a statement during a show in Wānaka, on the South Island of New Zealand, during the third in a series of Summer Concert Tour shows headlined by Iggy Pop.
“Many of us here and in the US are horrified daily at what’s happening in my country, America, to America, by this trumped-up government regime,” said Jett. “We in the US do not have to accept what this administration is doing to Minneapolis, St Paul and other cities and towns all across North America.
You may like
“To our neighbours – north and south, and frankly, the whole world – we don’t accept it. We don’t accept the brutality, the lies, the loss of our simplest pleasures. So over the next year, as many of us in the States have been and will continue working hard to mitigate and lessen all the damage done, we’ll keep at it. The change is gonna come. Yes, it is.”
Other musicians to have spoken out against the killings of Renee Nicole Good and Alex Pretti include Tom Morello, Bruce Springsteen, Neil Young, Thrice, Billy Bragg, Lamb Of God’s Randy Blythe, Rise Against, The Jayhawks, My Morning Jacket, Wilco’s Jeff Tweedy, the Dave Matthews Band, Brandi Carlile, Olivia Rodrigo, Billie Eilish and Lady Gaga.
Springsteen appeared at Morello’s Concert of Solidarity & Resistance at First Avenue in Minneapolis on Friday night, where he performed his anti-ICE song, Streets Of Minneapolis.
“I believe that the future of democracy in the United States of America will not be decided in the courts,” said Morello, introducing Springsteen. “It will not be decided in the halls of Congress. It will not be decided on social media. I believe that the future of democracy in this country will be decided right here, on the streets of Minneapolis.”
“So I write this song, and I recorded it the next day, and I sent it to Tom Morello,” Springsteen told the crowd. “Now I know Tom is an excitable man. I say, ‘Tom, what do you think? It’s kind of soapbox-y.’ And he says, ‘Bruce, nuance is wonderful, but sometimes, you have to kick them in the teeth.'”
Bruce Springsteen – Streets of Minneapolis – First Ave 260130 #tommorello – YouTube
Watch On