On February 22, 2017, two Sikh immigrants Srinivas Kuchibhotla and Alok Madasani were murdered inside a Kansas restaurant by a racist who mistaken them for Muslims.
This incident inspires guitarist Marc Ribot to compose the tune “Srinivas”. The song features vocals from Steve Earle and Tift Merritt. Much of the lyrics were ripped from news articles.
Ribot made a statement concerning a notable contribution that Steve Earle made to the lyrics: “I had named the guy who shot him, but Steve changed that—he said, ‘That guy is just some poor idiot, it’s not about him, it’s about the ones who set him up.’ That kind of intelligence and wisdom coming from the artist was important to me.”
One of the tunes more potent lyrics is: “Mad man pulled the trigger, Donald Trump loaded the gun.” Of course bigotry existed long before Trump, but the election of Trump and his brand of hatefulness definitely helped embolden racists.
This scathing indictment of racism and America’s immigration policy is the first single off of Ribot’s upcoming album, Songs of Resistance 1942 – 2018. It is set to be released September 14, 2018. The album is a collection of traditional protest tunes, mixed with a few original compositions.
Portions of album’s sales will be donated to The Indivisible Project, an organization whose mission is to support local grassroots efforts in resisting the Trump agenda.