"On June 6th, the First Unitarian Church of Philadelphia will play host to One Life Crew; a racist, homophobic hardcore band from Cleveland, Ohio. The band has an extensive history of racist, sexist, and homophobic lyrics, as well as a record of extreme violence at their shows. One Life Crew was dropped by their record label Victory Records after a show in Cleveland where the singer “Mean” Steve Murad leaped from the stage to attack an audience member who took exception to the band's racist lyrics.
Making matters worse, One Life Crew has a rabid neo-nazi following, most likely attributed to their split 7" record with white power band Empire Falls. Here in Philadelphia, there is no doubt that the Keystone State Skinheads (KSS) - whose members have been convicted on various assault and weapons charges - will be attending the show in force. KSS has been talking about this show on their online forum since it was first announced, and Keith Carney, their Eastern Pennsylvania Regional Director, lists One Life Crew among his favorite bands and has made it clear that he will be attending the show.
Philadelphia Anti-Racist Action believes that One Life Crew has no right to spread their hate-filled rhetoric anywhere in Philadelphia, least of all at the First Unitarian Church - a religious institution that prides itself on being an official "Welcoming Congregation" and purports to be "intentionally diverse" and " inclusive towards bisexual, gay, lesbian, and/or transgender people " according to its' website. However, they are willing to let homophobes and racists perform at their church, taking away any sense of safety for people of color and the LGBTQ community at large.
Reverend Nate Walker of the First Unitarian Church is fully aware of this show, and all the potential problems it could bring. However, during a telephone conversation with a member of Philadelphia Anti-Racist Action, Reverend Nate simply stated that the church would not “censor its tenants.” In the face of this statement and apparent blatant hypocrisy of everything the Unitarian Church claims to stand for, we are asking allPhiladelphians to express their concern and anger about this show directly to Reverend Nate. He can be reached on his cell phone at (215) 701-9072 or via the church office at (215) 563-3980. You can also email him to express your feelings about the First Unitarian Church allowing this show to take place - revnate@philauu.org.
We also encourage concerned community members to contact the following church departments:
Alliances for Racial Justice:
* Luana Goodwin -215-235-2343 or lugoodwin@msn.com
* Bruce Pollack-Johnson - 215-848-6246
Young Adult Ministry Coordinator:
* Sarah Lenzi - sarah@philauu.org
Board of Trustees:
* Heather Speirs- hmspeirs@gmail.com
* Christiane Geisler- dgeisler@comcast.net
* Mark Peterson- peterson19130@gmail.com
* Patricia Way- pway@temple.edu
* Patrick Ream- patjream@comcast.net
* Steven Tomcavage- steven@tomcavage.com
In addition, be sure to express your disgust to the show promoters for attempting to bring racist, homophobic scum to our city:
* Sean Agnew - R5 Productions - 267-765-5210 or sean@r5productions.com
* Joe Hardcore - joehardcore@gmail.com
Call and email the First Unitarian Church and R5 Productions: be angry, be firm, but be legal.
In struggle,
Philadelphia Anti-Racist Action
araphilly@gmail.com"
ORIGINAL SOURCE: Infoshop News
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2 comments:
Dear Community, please click here for my public response to this announcement. Thanks, Rev. Nate
http://www.philauu.org
After you read Rev. Nate's public statement, come back and read this:
This is some b*llshit already. Reverend Nate has totally misstated ARA's position on this subject: One Life Crew *IS* the problem. The fact that neo-Nazi groups like the Keystone State Skinheads will be in attendance just adds more credence to our argument about what type of band OLC is and what type of people they will attract to the Unitarian Church.
The facts are simple here people:
* One Life Crew is a racist, homophobic band;
* R5 Productions rents space from the First Unitarian Church, a supposed progressive organization;
and
* The UU Church is blatantly allowing this show to go on, instead passing the blame onto R5 Productions, when the church itself can easily stop R5 from having this show (as Reverend Nate stated himself in multiple conversations with ARA members)
R5 is at fault here for attempting to bring a scumbag band like OLC to Philadelphia, BUT the UU Church is also at fault here for allowing hate speech to happen on their premises, and not doing anything about it except babbling on about communication and healing and pulling every liberal card they possible can to counter ARA's arguments about the show, its sponsors and its venue.
ENOUGH ALREADY!
The UU Church is supposed to a safe place for everyone. There are consequences to allowing a show like this go. For instance, has the UU leadership thought about all the young people that attend these shows? Are they going to be responsible when someone decides to follow through on this band's lyrics and jump queer people or people of color? Do they really want to have that on their conscience?
The answer is simple here - cancel the show. No, it won't end homophobia or racism, but it will send a strong message about your stance on these subjects, and show people that Philadelphia will not stand for this kind of b*llshit!
Reverend Nate says he wants to hear from people, and get their advice, so:
KEEP CALLING!! TELL HIM TO SHUT THIS SHOW DOWN!
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