On Sunday, June 28th, over 50 artists and tens of thousands of fans came together for Justice Comes Alive, a one-day, virtual festival harnessing the power of music to bring about collective change in response to racial inequality. The donation-based streaming event generated $55,000 and counting in funds for the participating artists, who remain out of work as the pandemic continues, as well as a number of social justice-oriented causes via PLUS1 For Black Lives Fund.
The 12-hour live-stream marathon featured new contributions by an array of amazing artists from around the world including renowned Sacred Steel guitarist Roosevelt Collier, who gathered a band of local musicians (bassist Matt Lapham, drummer Anthony Cole, and keyboardist Tommy Shugart) at his “home” venue, Orlando’s New Standard, for an instrumental re-imagining of Sam Cooke’s classic protest anthem, “A Change Is Gonna Come”. Of note, Roosevelt utilized the same band and venue for his performance at Quarantine Comes Alive, the precursor to Justice Comes Alive, back in May.
As Collier told Live For Live Music about the performance, “I was honored to be apart of Justice Comes Alive given the circumstances that we as a current world are facing… Not only raising awareness, but acting on it as well is what Justice Comes Alive allowed us to do in our music community. Beautiful job by the entire team at L4LM. I picked this Sam Cooke tune… I think it’s pretty self-explanatory why this song is necessary and appropriate right now.” Collier also dedicated the performance to Sacred Steel legend Darick Campbell of The Campbell Brothers, who passed away in May at the age of 54.
Revisit the Roosevelt Collier segment from Justice Comes Alive below. If you enjoyed the performance and have the means, consider making a donation to Plus1 For Black Lives Fund via www.JusticeComesAlive.com.
Roosevelt Collier – “A Change Is Gonna Come” (Sam Cooke) – Justice Comes Alive
Presented by Live For Live Music in partnership with PLUS1 and Nugs.TV, Justice Comes Alive was conceived as a way to harness the power of music to bring about collective change in response to racial inequality. All funds raised from Justice Comes Alive will be split evenly between the artists on the bill and the PLUS1 For Black Lives Fund, which was developed to address and continue the fight against anti-Black racism and violence in the U.S.
Directly supporting organizations like Equal Justice Initiative, Impact Justice, and The Bail Project, the PLUS1 For Black Lives Fund focuses on empowering Black communities, movement building, keeping people out of the criminal justice system while dismantling it more broadly, and a collective, international narrative change toward the equitable treatment of Black people. 30% of the PLUS1 for Black Lives Fund is also committed to small grants for Black and Indigenous-led grassroots efforts combating racism. For more information on Justice Comes Alive, head here.