THE UNITED STATES EMBASSY in collaboration with the band Cover Drive launched their song Speak Out at theFrank Collymore Hall last Saturday as part of the American Embassy’s No Witness, No Justice programme.
The programme conceptualized by Dan Suter, legal adviser to Barbados and the Eastern Caribbean, is a community intervention programme primarily aimed at students and younger people to educate them about the court system and encourage them to speak out on injustice.
“We want to educate people that it’s not wrong to inform,” said Sutor. “There are so many songs in our culture that say being a ‘snitch’ is a bad thing, and we have great ambassadors here [who] can speak to the younger generation and say that it is a good thing to protect your community and speak out against people who are doing wrong things, and equally, bullies.”
The song Speak Out, composed by the band Cover Drive, provides a counter to the many ‘no snitching’ songs in existence and encourages the youth to follow its positive message.
Lead singer Amanda Reifer and drummer T-Ray Armstrong both said it was an amazing honour for them to partner with the American Embassy on a positive project such as this one.
“It’s a great opportunity and we’re happy to perform in a positive way in our community,” Reifer said.
“We wanted the lyrics to be relatable; while we were writing it we wanted to find a way to not make it sound preachy but still get the message across,” said the young band members. (SM)
