On August 9, 1997, Abner Louima, a Haitian immigrant was brutalized and sodomized by New York police officers. The incident raised serious questions about police brutality and the treatment of immigrants.
As a response to this glaring injustice, in 1998 Trinidadian calypso singer David Rudder composed and released the tune “The Immigrants”. Even though the tune was written with a specific incident in mind, the song resonates with the ongoing issues of the mistreatment of immigrants in America. The song also quotes a portion of Thomas Jefferson from the Declaration of Independence and the Emma Lazarus poem which appears on the Statue of Liberty. It powerfully highlights that the country is going against the ideals that they were supposedly built upon.
20 years later the song has been poignantly covered by Guatemalan singer Gaby Moreno and acclaimed musician, producer and arranger Van Dyke Parks. Their rendition is the title track off of their soon to be released album.
Concerning the motivation of their reworking, Moreno made the following statement on the video’s YouTube page: ” “I am a Guatemalan immigrant. This country welcomed me eighteen years ago. It breaks my heart to see the events taking place at the border right now. We all deserve to be treated with respect and dignity and to be received into this country with more love and empathy.”
Streaming and download proceeds will be donated to the Central American Resource Center of California (CARECEN), a community-based, nonprofit organization whose mission is to empower Central Americans and all immigrants by defending human and civil rights, working for social and economic justice, and promoting cultural diversity.