Ava DuVernay’s Law Enforcement Accountability Project (LEAP), which changes the narrative around the murder of Black people by police, created in 2020 in the aftermath of the murder of George Floyd, has announced the fourth grantee artist and their project for the social justice initiative.
With the murder trial of police officer Derek Chauvin and the recent shootings of Daunte Wright and 13-year-old Adam Toledo taking center stage these last two weeks alone, discussions around police accountability are more timely and important than ever.
In the tradition of protest songs by Nina Simone, Marvin Gaye, Public Enemy, Bob Marley and Gil Scott-Heron, Bob Dylan, Joan Baez and Pete Seeger, singer/songwriter Ra-Re Valverde’s original song Safe Where? calls out police officer Anthony Carelli for the murder of veteran Kenneth Chamberlain Sr. in his home in White Plains, NY in 2011. The title and Ra-Re’s lyrics also highlight that Black people can’t even be safe in their own home.
Now available for download at www.leapaction.org and streaming on Amazon Music, Apple Music, Spotify, and Tidal, Safe Where? features raw and honest lyrics to address how badges allow police officers to blame fear as a reason for their actions, contributing to a Black genocide.
Safe Where? will also be included on next Tuesday’s season finale of DuVernay’s QUEEN SUGAR.
