I’m way behind. . . So, on Saturday, November 8, Black Nite Crash, Erik Blood and Blue Light Curtain played a Small Places Tour show for Amnesty International at Cafe Venus and the Mars Bar celebrating the 60th Anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
Joel Bergstrom from Black Nite Crash approached Amnesty with the idea of doing a show in Seattle for the Small Places Tour, and set everything up. We just showed up with our petitions and t-shirts.
While I didn’t take any video myself, and couldn’t find any of the show, I found some online for each band, and thought I’d share.
First up was Blue Light Curtain:
Next, Erik Blood:
Joel invited me up to speak about our local group before Black Nite Crash. My first public act as our new coordinator. I was nervous, but I think I did okay.
We ended up getting most of our action at the end of the night, with people signing the petitions on their way out. One comment got me in particular. A young woman asked, before singing the petition, “ You don’t think they’ll close Guantanamo, do you? They’ll never close Guantanamo. It’s their thing. They don’t answer to anyone.”
This was after the election, too; and I really like to believe Obama will close Guantanamo down, as he said has recently said he would (and Amnesty has called on him to do.
It really struck me how quickly this had become the norm, something we just accept, whether we like it or not. How did this happen? I think about how we used to think about Nazi Germany, and the belief that “It can’t happen here.” Surely we would question. Surely we would protest. Well, some of us did and are, but thinking of the horror of it all, I don’t think I’ve protested enough, or loudly enough.
