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Esperanza Spalding – We Are America Video
Esperanza Spalding – We Are America from ESP Media on Vimeo.
Spalding says she was motivated by nagging concerns that grew as she was on tour with her band. “It was the first time I heard about the hunger strike. I was touring in Europe, and I was appalled and embarrassed about what was happening. When I returned home, I remember I started researching online to see what I could do about it, and I saw that I could download this action pack. With that you had some important info to use to call your representative. And I did, I did call my representative and Senators. In fact, I got a letter back from one Senator who basically said that she was not going to proactively deal with it but that they would ‘keep my comments in mind’, or something like that. But I really wanted to do more. And my band actually came to me first and said they wanted to do something too.”
Read Spalding’s guest editorial in the LA Times.
Next week, the U.S. Senate can take a major step toward closing Guantanamo by passing this year’s National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA). To email your Senators now and tell them to vote “No” on any amendments to the Guantanamo provisions in the NDAA: