Punks: Please, Hate the Police

Here's a story: an openly gay man fronts a rights-minded punk band in Austin, Texas. That could be 50 different groups in 2014. But in 1979, before Austin needed to be kept weird, you could count the open rock groups on one hand. At the forefront of this change were Gary Floyd and his band of Dicks.

One of The Dicks' crowning achievements was their first single, "Hate The Police"—a taut, balled fist of a song that raged with anger against a racist, trigger-happy cop. It's unfathomably depressing that the track still resonates with such ferocity 34 years later. The too-true song takes the point of view of a prejudiced cop with anger to spare and power to abuse:

"Mommy, mommy, mommy / look at your son / you might have loved me / but now I've got a gun. / You better stay out of the way / I think I've had a bad day / … Daddy, daddy, daddy / proud of his son / he's got him a good job / killing ni—ers and Mexicans / I'll tell you something / and it's true: / You can't find justice / it'll find you."

A punk song or script from George Zimmerman's inner monologue? It's one of the first things I thought of when Trayvon Martin was murdered and, unfortunately again, two and a half years later, as the Ferguson PD killed another young black man, Mike Brown.

Clearly, there is blood in the streets. But where are our punk bands' teeth?

Without getting into the granularity of what constitutes a punk band these days, I think it's supremely safe to say that the majority of the "scene" has been inundated with an inward-looking slackerdom that, given the current state of affairs, feels downright empty. And at one point, and on some days still, there is definitely a place for that. Since The Replacements there's been plenty reason to wake up with beer for breakfast. But do we need another FIDLAR song about doing coke at the Cha Cha? Another call to arms to meet at the bar with Deer Tick? It's not like every punk band has to be political and every political punk band has to make every song about politics, but Christ, can we engage with the world, please?

While The Dicks were still green in Austin, Rollins and MacKaye were getting their hands on their first Ramones record just as the era of Reagan doom began to bloom. For the next eight years punk would fight the man and his politics. The Minutemen sang in opposition to Iran-Contra. Almost every band in the genre went at him, maybe most vocally The Dead Kennedys leading the charge. One of the best latter-era Ramones songs, the glittering "Bonzo Goes To Bitburg," was written for their disgust at Reagan's visit to a Nazi cemetery.

The women were also rearing their heads at the system that perpetuated rape culture, misogyny, homophobia, violence; culminating in the early 90s, most visibly by Bikini Kill. Riot grrrl, a classification some would buck, was a vocal, vibrant scene calling for change and equal rights. Even bands on the softer end of the spectrum were discussing the issues, like the brutally wonderful "Atta Girl" by tweecore champions Heavenly.

Then came Bush and a rash of liberty-spiked anti-Republicans, led largely by snarl-over-substance Billie Joe Armstrong. Looking back on the line-up for Rock Against Bush is unfortunately a bit embarrassing in 2014. Although Fat Mike's Punkvoter drive did increase youth voting by ten percent it was technically a failure, and an example of shortsightedness. Instead of painting Bush as Target Numero Uno and pushing to tip the largest election in the country, with a more focused strategy and aligning closer with the DIY punks it's possible they could have made some real change. They tried to win the war without going to any battles. Iraq went on and the scene faded. Now, the most prominent political punk band is probably Propagandhi, who have earned their position at the forefront simply by virtue of survival: they formed in 1986 and have been rocking against injustice ever since.

And here, now, America as boiling and brittle as ever, and we've got our muzzles on. Granted, I'm speaking on this from the point of view of the thematic elements unifying these pockets of the genre and their cultures. There will always be exceptions, outliers, unknowns. But here we still live with insane racism, a grotesque rape culture, outrageous police brutality and murder, leaked documents out the ass, wage disparity, a severe homelessness problem, inaccessible health care, mental disease still in the dark, a laughable minimum wage, and a constant struggle for equal human rights. Just to name a few.

As of Wednesday night the protests marched on in Ferguson while a militarized police force attempted to censor media coverage, teargas peaceful citizens and journalists, and war toward a grieving city yearning for justice and accountability. Does it even need to be said how important of an event this is? How more than ever punk bands should be politically, civilly, socially conscious?

If political activism in punk peaked with Reagan, then the punks of hip hop grabbed the baton at the same time. Public Enemy, N.W.A., Tupac, Ice-T, all scraping their lungs dry on police brutality, the fear of a black planet, bringing to light issues mainstream America surely wasn't fucking privy to at the time. Immensely talented men and women with powerful statements continued through the 90s and aughts with countless artists in both the mainstream and the underground releasing mindcrushing tracks about the realities of being black in an ostensibly "post-racial" America. The snarl for a truly free country has continued to the current climate. Killer Mike and Tef Poe have both been highly vocal about the scene in Ferguson and who could forget Questlove's heartbreaking essay, "Trayvon Martin and I Ain't Shit"? Hell, Kanye West's "Black Skinhead" might be the best punk song of the past ten years, and Killer Mike's R.A.P. Music the past decade's best punk album. (Secret: It's never had to rock to be punk rock.)

Hip-hop has long been the voice of the streets, resonant to those familiar with the lifestyles often described, though for some time perceived as misplaced anger and needless descriptions of violence. But whose violence? Similar to "Hate The Police," ten years ago Ghostface Killah released the single "Run" wherein he, Jadakiss, and Comp discuss the only alternative to facing a corrupt and biased police force. At the time of its release, however, the word "gun" was still being edited out of the radio and video versions. Surely not in country songs, surely no bleeped huntin' rifles or six shooters. And the placement of that word is wildly important:

"Run! / If you ain't do shit, you it / That next felony, ni—a, is like three zip / So run! / Hop fences, jump over benches / when you see me comin' get the fuck out the entrance / Run! / Fuck that! / Run! / Cops got guns!"

There have been black punks pioneering their slice of the scene since the 70s—Bad Brains, DEATH, Living Colour—but in more recent years, when it comes to prominence and coverage, a strong black voice in the genre has been hard to find, and with the napkin-scrawled demise of anti-labelists Death Grips, it's become even harder.

The punk bands who do get a chance to tell you about anything have often been picked by Mr. Checkbook—and they'll never stop selling us four skinny white dudes whose biggest problem is having to think deeply about some truly shallow shit. Certainly not many of them have had to run from the cops. Certainly none of them have been shot for not running, for standing innocently with their hands in the air, unarmed. But that doesn't mean they can't talk about it. Black issues should be American issues. It's still a fight for civil rights, and these are our countrymen. When Malcolm X was once asked why he was against whites joining the Black Panthers, he explained that it wasn't their place to make change, that if whites wanted to help blacks in this country they should be trying to alter those who they can directly affect, with their access to aspects of white culture the Panthers would never be able to infiltrate. Which is why it's important for punk bands with influence, with MTV spots and car commercials, with slots on Letterman, should be using their visibility to influence a culture that may not be as exposed to or understanding of the current situation, of the perspective that isn't specifically theirs.

So this is my plea: if you're a punk and you're as angry as you should be, don't focus it inward. Existentialism is tough, and it's fun as fuck to cope by partying, but people are being shot down in public, Ferguson was a fucking war zone this week, the police state has plenty of ammunition—maybe you should be using music to shoot back.

Follow Alan on Twitter.

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