Activism combined with music Tuesday night after a weekend of nationwide protests against President Donald Trump’s “zero tolerance” immigration policies.
The Civic Media Center hosted a concert benefiting Madres Sin Fronteras — a local grassroots organization led by immigrants for immigrants in Gainesville and surrounding communities. It was founded by Gia Delpino in January 2017.
Delpino works closely with Rev. Larry Green from Westminster Presbyterian Church. Together, they are working to bring the original vision for Madres Sin Fronteras to fruition including a rapid response hotline for immigrants, a community ID program, an anti-deportation package and a bail fund for detainees.
The benefit concert began with The Michael Character from Boston. James Ikeda, 28, has been releasing albums as The Michael Character since 2011 on Bandcamp. He wants his audience to always have to grapple with his music, which he describes as political acoustic punk that exists in the tension between incrementalism and radicalism.
Ikeda often finds himself in that tension. He’s taught history to high school students for six years but doesn’t teach the average run-of-the-mill 11th grade history — he teaches black radical thought at Quincy High School. He said his primary goal in life is to be of use. Ikeda says history has a unique utility that allows people to contextualize the world. Ikeda believes one is at a loss in this society without knowing history. However, he’s careful to express the fact that he does not have all the answers but instead wants to generate interest and compassion in individuals. Ikeda wants to use his own experiences to open windows into political ideas.
Ikeda’s friend and fellow musician Cameron LeViere, 25, took the stage as well. LeViere is the front man for Lawn Care, a math punk band from Pittsburg. While studying anthropology at a small liberal arts school in Wisconsin, he loved doing lawn work every day. LeViere says it was a fun way to save on a gym membership and get a tan. His friend gave him the name Lawn Care as a joke and it stuck. Now, under that moniker, he likes to write ethnographic songs with a lot of weird time signatures.
Without his band behind him, LeViere’s set was acoustic. It included a song about East Liberty, a Pittsburg neighborhood that’s been recently gentrified. It ended with a song he wrote about his own recent tension from moving in with his partner. According to LeViere, “it’s weird when you’re in the leftist politics and stuff — to move in with someone, and do the whole capitalist settling down thing and buy pots and pans.”
Ikeda and LeViere have been touring across the country together for most of the summer. Gainesville was their last stop before they move back up to the Northeast.
The final act was Maca Reggae Samba. Born in Salvador, Brazil, pure Brazilian samba meets Jamaican reggae in their soulful music. They’ve earned Brazilian Press Awards for the past two years.
Manu Osorio is the Civic Media Center volunteer who organized the show. She’s a student at UF and a Colombian immigrant. She met LeViere through a friend of a friend. They had a phone conversation one day, ironically, while he was doing lawn work. When he asked for help getting a gig in Gainesville, Osorio came up with the benefit concert idea. She wanted a Latinx band to headline the night, which is why she pulled in Maca Reggae Samba.
Osorio is also a part of the Gainesville Anti-Fascist Committee which is collaborating with MSF to create the rapid response immigrant hotline. She planned the show as a final push for MSF’s July 4 fundraising deadline. The original goal was $1,760 and with the donations from the show the group raised over $3,000.
The CMC’s next show has a “Black Out” theme July 13. Osorio encourages everyone to follow the CMC Facebook page to stay up to date and says they are always in need of volunteers.
