To Right Our Wrongs - for symphonic band + optional choir

Year: 2021

Grade: 3

Duration: 6:15

Purchase: Murphy Music Press

To Right Our Wrongs was commissioned by the Kneel Consortium, led by Rachel Maxwell and Josh Johnson and the Traughber Junior High School Band.

To Right Our Wrongs aims to reflect on the complex, multi-faceted impact that privilege has on the American experience, and on the way that disparities of privilege play a role in both the fight for and prevention of social and systemic equality and equity. There is an extensive history of vast systemic violence and injustice towards women, people of color, members of the LGBTQ+ community, and other minority groups in the United States. Those who are not a part of these communities and, thus, have not experienced these communities' discrimination are privileged; if they know about the injustices of our country, it is most likely because they have learned from others. But members of these communities must both learn from others and live these injustices. Additionally, this societal privilege is not binary. It is intersectional, meaning that different people experience different amounts of privilege based on the communities they are a part of. A white, cisgender woman is privileged in the sense that she is both white and cisgender; however, she does not have the privilege that men have. A transgender, disabled man does have that privilege; but he, in turn, does not have the privilege held by those who are cisgender or able-bodied. This complex role that privilege plays in the systemic discrimination of our country led me to the guiding questions of this work: What does it mean to work against the wrongdoings of our country's past and present? How can privilege be utilized for good? As those who hold privilege, what does it mean to right our wrongs?

A crucial part of the fight for true equality in our country is the utilization of privilege to make an impact on the system, which requires privileged people to be aware of and understand privilege and its meaning. As a privileged person myself in most primary ways privilege presents itself in America (I am white, male, cisgender, and able-bodied), there's probably little that I can say to those who do not experience these privileges that they have not already learned through their own experiences. I feel that the best thing I can do is to speak to those who are privileged like me, but who lack awareness or understanding of what this means. This work serves as an honest, encouraging, and emotionally vulnerable message to the privileged, without accusation or condescension. With it comes this message: If you are privileged, it is not an insult. It is not an accusation. It does not mean that you are bad, or that your life accomplishments are not valid. It does not mean that you haven't struggled or fought to get to where you are now. Having privilege simply means that you are part of a system that treats some people better than it treats others in many different ways, and you are one of the people who are treated better in one or more of those ways. This issue of privilege affects all of us, and we should all care. You can use the privilege you have, in any form, to support those who do not have it.

In addition to an original melody, To Right Our Wrongs respectfully utilizes The Star-Spangled Banner, the US national anthem, and Lift Every Voice and Sing, known to many as the African American national anthem, to reflect the varied and complicated nature of the American experience.