On Being a Singing Activist with the Seattle Peace Chorus Action Ensemble
When a friend left a message that a group in Seattle was looking for someone to play guitar for songs they would be singing at The Womxn’s March three days later, I wasn’t sure it was something I could do. After thinking about it for about five minutes, I realized that it was something that I had to do, an opportunity that I could not let slip by. I contacted the director the next day and got the music. Much of it was familiar from when I played guitar in the past, in the 1960’s! I was excited to go to the rehearsal that evening and as people were arriving, I had the feeling that I have done this before, Déjà vu!
Since I joined the group for that very first Womxn’s March in Seattle in 2016, we have sung at more Womxn’s Day Marches, Martin Luther King Day, Black Lives Matter, People’s Tribunal-ICE NW Detention Ctr, International Women’s Day Rally, We Rise With Standing Rock, Ground Zero Mother’s Day Missile Protest, Bangor Resisters: Rally/Court Hearing, Hiroshima to Hope Commemoration, Day of the Dead Rally-ICE NW Detention Center, 5 Year Sandy Hook Commemorative Walk and many others. Covid stopped us in March 2020 but we were back at Ground Zero for The Mother’s Day Missile Protest in May 2022 and we will be marching regularly again as soon as possible.
I love the people, the songs, and the opportunities to sing for Peace and Justice!
It makes my little Hippy Heart Sing!
The photos are from the rally at the Federal Detention Center at SeaTac on June 30, 2018.