You might feel like screaming as we approach America’s 250th birthday, but maybe try singing instead, or at least in addition to that primal yelp. On June 14, the Committee for the First Amendment will host “Rise Up, Sing Out: A Concert for the First Amendment” at NYC’s Town Hall, in partnership with the Indivisible and No Kings coalitions.
The lineup includes Patti Smith, Bette Midler, Jane Fonda, Rufus Wainwright, Joy Reid, Wilson Cruz, and the activist choir Broadway Inspirational Voices, gathered to celebrate the freedoms that form the core of democracy: “speech, religion, press, assembly, and protest—and the people power that both fuels these rights and is essential to guarantee them.”
The Town Hall feels especially suited to this intention, founded in 1921 by the League for Political Education, a group begun by suffragists, and designed by architects McKim, Mead & White in accordance with democratic principles; box seats were eliminated and no seats had an obstructed view, giving birth, as recounted on the website, to the phrase “Not a bad seat in the house.” “Rise Up, Sing Out,” a concert celebrating freedom, follows in the venue’s storied footsteps: Paul Robeson sang Black spirituals here in 1927; in 1958, Billie Holiday made her solo concert debut to a sold-out crowd, when reportedly over a thousand people were turned away; Pete Seeger sang about civil rights and the anti-war movement in 1964; and a Beat poet reunion happened in 1994, including Allen Ginsberg, Lawrence Ferlinghetti, and Gregory Corso.
The concert will be livestreamed, and the hope is that watch parties organized across the country will motivate people to join in the singing, and take further action. There is even a Rise Up, Sing Out guide to hosting a watch party, if you feel inclined to take the lead in inspiring your community.
All proceeds from the event will benefit the Committee for the First Amendment, whose site reminds us, “From the civil rights movement to today, artists have been at the forefront of the fight for justice and free expression.” So scream, but keep the faith, and sing out. ❖