My remarkable friend Dr. Eugene Rogers premiered this equally remarkable work five years ago: “Seven Last Words of the Unarmed” by Joel Thompson. It’s worth every second of your time to watch and meditate on it. It is beautifully filmed, performed, and conducted, and the message is powerful and deeply needed.
There are many useful resources on the accompanying website.
You can purchase the score and individual movements via MusicSpoke here.
The texts of the seven movements:
“Why do you have your guns out?” – Kenneth Chamberlain, 66
“What are you following me for?” – Trayvon Martin, 16
“Mom, I’m going to college.” – Amadou Diallo, 23
“I don’t have a gun. Stop shooting.” – Michael Brown, 18
“You shot me! You shot me!” – Oscar Grant, 22
“It’s not real.” – John Crawford, 22
“I can’t breathe.” – Eric Garner, 43
(A different live performance was featured on Carnegie Hall’s website today: https://www.carnegiehall.org/…/Live-with-Carnegie-Hall-Joel… )