Chastity Brown performs at Glensheen’s Music on the Pier. Photo by Elsa Kratz.

Well, hello. July has come and nearly slipped away but not without commentary. 

Firstly, local cherries and Dream Cloud’s Super Natural are the bestest togetherness of all warm mornings. I speak not a lick of coffee besides love for it. To notice this pair with the ripest fruit of right now feels like learning the language. And outdoor music is in full motion, so let’s chat. 

For me, early July began with a musical gathering in a living room: Jon Edwards, myself, Dirtbike Boyfriend, Kaylee Mutuszak, Sophie Hiroko and Campfire Tranarchists. 

Each artist or group had some form of political commentary addressing locally relevant issues quite visible in the Duluth community and beyond. Whether this was intentional or not, it was aligned. I see a handful of musicians and artists in the Twin Ports speaking about politics with tonality that is geared toward raising awareness. There are a variety of songs played amongst long standing musicians that circulate consistently that are of the folkish nature about togetherness, solidarity and distaste for social hierarchies and institutional powers (whether you realize it or not). 

Amongst up and coming artists, there is an inspiring array of unapologetic, radical and liberated expressions. There is a real scene of diversity growing and evolving in Duluth, and I am leaning into it. 

Music as an expression of activism predates any recorded works, especially in folk and bluegrass music. The working class, slaves and union organizers have been rallying through music for centuries. I bring up folk and bluegrass because I feel it is most often forgotten as a historically radical, politicized music, and it is some of the most accessible feel good music enjoyed among the many in the Northland. Phil Ochs, Nina Simone, Woody Guthrie, Joan Baez & Pete Seeger are just a few prominent names. 

There seems an ever growing extension of collaboration and upliftment of voices with different perspectives. There also seems an open integration of these expository, politicized dialogues around the Northland. Let us continue bridging the gap between commentary and lack thereof. Togetherness through music, as well as direct, vocal activism are both valuable aspects of creating change and bridging gaps in our community. 

On Wednesday the 17th, Chastity Brown, while not being overtly political, engaged the crowd of Piergoers through vulnerability – a blatant act of liberated expression. I’ve got just one Pier evening under my belt this summer and it was she. From her root, she sang to the water between keys, guitar and intermittent harmonica, accompanied by Jay Corkran on drums. Between songs about finding her light and the challenge of naming pain, she clarified sound needs openly and had her own remarks about fame. “I don’t believe in fame,” she said, “You know? I just wanna be with my neighbors and friends playing music.” Yes. Let us all become unseparated. I sat leaned against the concrete curve of the pier and watched the moon nearly full above and the shivering water dwellers drifting here and there below. 

There is surely no easy way to bridge a gap here into discussing newly proposed ordinances outlined by Duluth City Council at-large, but queue the segue. On July 15, Mayor Reinert, Police Chief Mike Ceynowa and Fire Chief Shawn Krizaj proposed ordinances that would declare camping on public property and gathering on sidewalks in groups as worthy of a misdemeanor charge. This essentially criminalizes homelessness and protest, respectfully. CHUM and multiple other homeless shelters in Duluth are unprepared for the numbers that would be incoming upon these ordinances being passed into law. They are at capacity and overworked as is. 

Law enforcement is proposing ordinances without consulting local shelters and other stakeholders. We need to be talking to each other. 

This is imperative in policy making. Policy makers and law enforcement agents are in their roles to represent community needs and wants. The community needs shelter, support, housing and the right to express and rally together freely. 

It is predatory for the government to describe proposals in reaction to community activation of rights such as public camping and protesting. 

Families and community members may be experiencing some level of fear around visible signs of the brutalities of being unhoused. No, it is not easy to witness suffering. It is not easy to be unhoused and unsupported. Families and community members may be experiencing fear as protestors gather and raise volumes in our streets. But fear must be faced with balanced consideration of larger inherent human rights. Folks do not have homes and they are not a threat to our safety because of it. They are our neighbors. 

Folks are peacefully rallying to oppose violence and genocide at home and abroad. They are not disrupting public safety. Hiding these realities and expressions via arrests will not stifle fear. 

Woody Guthrie said, “It’s a folk singer’s [our] job to comfort disturbed people and to disturb comfortable people.” 

We need to be having conversations with our constituents, families, friends and colleagues in Duluth to understand our fears, our concerns and thus bridge gaps between those who want these laws passed and those who do not. 

I am grateful to be a part of a community of people who have strong morals and values. The community of musicians and listeners, friends and families, business owners and workers and our unhoused neighbors collectively make up this city. We all deserve access to leisure, pleasure, safety, homes, music, good food, care, healing and togetherness. Through standing in our own expressions as creatives with voices and platforms, we have mobility to speak out against these proposals. 

We have access to platforms that allow us space to put forth our truth. This is a privilege. These are opportunities. Right now, it is critical to show up in our spaces and use our voices to encourage the City of Duluth to extend compassion and grace to those without homes and for our rights to publicly rally and protest. T

o quote another brilliant activist, Angela Davis said, “Walls turned sideways are bridges.”

I think music and our engagement with it can help build the bridge. Music brings us together. Music holds liberation in the palm of the hands of freedom and cradles us in sound. We may work with music to liberate and enact change. If music is what keeps bringing us together, let us keep talking in our togetherness.