#LIVE MUSIC FOR BLACK LIVES
2020 will be remembered as a time when people from all walks of life engaged in a soul search-searching process and committed to being a part of transformative solutions. We applaud the many public servants who are stepping bravely into a world of higher standards.
Those who are using this time to look for loopholes and insulate against accountability will be an unfortunate footnote, but one we cannot afford to ignore. We call on the Greenwood Village city council to reconsider how they want to be remembered, overturn resolution 40-20 and to take seriously their obligation to represent ALL of their constituents.
The Flobots
To sign the petition click here.
More articles on the event and boycott below.
DENVER: After the passage by the City of Greenwood Village of Resolution 40-20, an ordinance to shield Greenwood Village Police officers from civil liability for misconduct in response to landmark bipartisan legislation by the Colorado General Assembly to comprehensively reform the relationship between police and the communities they serve, nationally prominent artists with ties to Colorado called on the city to overturn Resolution 40-20 and have pledged not to perform at Fiddler’s Green Amphitheater.
Today, artists and fans announced a March and Play-In on Greenwood Village to take place Monday, July 20th.
"We support the Black Lives Matter movement and were so proud to see Colorado lead the nation in implementing police reform last month by passing Senate Bill 217 with a huge bipartisan majority," writes musician Nathaniel Rateliff in a letter to the Mayor and City Council of Greenwood Village, Colorado. "We were appalled last week to learn that the City of Greenwood Village, CO passed a resolution to undermine the applicability of SB20-217 within its community...[t]he new resolution shockingly predetermined all future police abuse as justified to further shield bad officers from enforce- ment mechanisms created within SB20-217. Recently we have discussed plans to play at Fiddler’s Green, we write to you today to publicly announce that we will not play music there until Greenwood Village rescinds its recent resolution permitting police to act without accountability."
Read the full letter from Nathaniel Rateliff & The Night Sweats to Greenwood Village here.
“Fiddler’s Green is one the largest sales tax generating establishments in Greenwood Village. Artists and fans should not be forced to financially support a City government that has established such racist policies to perform in Colorado or see their favorite artists perform locally. In fact, no one should,” said Wesley Schultz and Jeremiah Fraites of the Lumineers.
“The passage of Senate Bill 217 in Colorado was a watershed moment for our state in the decades-long struggle for the most basic of civil rights: the right to not be murdered by our own police officers because of the color of our skin,” said Rep. Leslie Herod, one of the prime sponsors of Colorado’s landmark new police accountability law. “Greenwood Village’s terrible decision to short-circuit police accountability means that Black people, and for that matter anyone who comes into contact with their armed municipal security forces, are not safe. As long as Resolution 40-20 is the law in Greenwood Village, it would be dangerously irresponsible to hold, attend, or promote any event at Fiddler’s Green Amphitheater located in their city.”
On Monday, July 20, Wesley Schultz of The Lumineers, Nathaniel Rateliff & the Night Sweats, Spirit of Grace, Flobots and other recording artists will march with Rep. Leslie Herod, Rep. Meg Froelich, and Sen. Jeff Bridges and people from across Colorado to Greenwood Village City Hall.
WHAT: Wesley Schultz of the Lumineers, Nathaniel Rateliff & The Night Sweats, Spirit of Grace, Flobots, and others Play-In & March on Greenwood Village to overturn Resolution 40-20
WHERE: Greenwood Village City Hall, 6060 S Quebec St.
WHEN: Monday, July 20, 2020 7:30PM
HASHTAG: #LiveMusicForBlackLives
FACE MASKS ARE REQUIRED.
https://bit.ly/livemusicforblacklives
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