Survival Is Resistance springs from the words of Philadelphia-based Hmong artist and activist Kao Kue, with additional inspiration from Carol Zou. Their work shows creative ways individuals and families survive oppression through generations.
This song is part of Activist Songbook, a collective music-making intervention to counteract hate and energize movements. Material emerges from interviews with organizers to engage communities.
lyrics
Where I’m from the earth and water
were swallowed up or slaughtered,
by money or by guns,
til the only seeds my family planted
were the bodies of daughters and sons.
The country washed my family’s blood
from its hands and teeth,
and tried to wash their brains
clean of culture and belief.
But my grandparents knew
who they were was never wrong
and before they passed on,
they passed on who they were in song /ng/ /ng/…
When a country tries to crush us,
deny our existence,
music is survival,
and our survival is resistance.
Survival is resistance.
Resistance: the crater of the bomb
we turn into a pond to fish in.
Resistance: the worn clothes we sew
so each new child fits in.
Resistance: the old songs we know
our torn hearts are stitched in
when we leave home for new lands
in the distance.
We move on to survive.
Our survival is resistance.
Here our food and water run dry
and the cost of life is so high
and prisons overflow
with rivers of those whose only crime is
having no other place to go.
This country tries to wash our blood
from its hands and teeth.
It tries to wash our brains
clean of culture and belief.
But my cousins all know
who we are is never wrong
and before we pass on,
We’ll pass on who we are in song /ng/ /ng/…
When a country tries to crush us,
deny our existence,
music is survival,
and our survival is resistance.
Resistance: the tiny patch of dirt
we turn into our kitchen garden.
Resistance: the food and seeds we share
when times harden.
Resistance: the young songs we hold
and throw our whole heart in,
when we sing new beings into existence:
every birth, every child’s arrival is resistance.
Survival is resistance.
Now my children are resisting.
They plant bulbs and wild visions.
Each seed is like a fist,
bursting up through earth and water
crying “We exist. We resist.”
And my children will know
who they are is never wrong
and before I pass on,
I’ll pass on who we are in song /ng/ /ng/…
When a country tries to crush us,
deny our existence,
music is survival, and our survival is resistance.
Resistance.
Survival is resistance.
Resistance.
Survival is resistance.
credits
from Activist Songbook,
track released June 6, 2020
Music by Byron Au Yong
Words by Aaron Jafferis
Music Direction and Audio Editing by Stephanie Tubiolo
Featuring vocalist Diane Phelan and pianist Anton Kot, with singers Aaron “Coach Hawk” Hawkins, Amelia Allen Sherwood, Anne Rhodes, Anthony DeQuattro, Brianna Chance, Elaine Kolb, Erika Schroth, Fi Schroth-Douma, Florian Testa, Jennifer Heikkila Diaz, Julia Zhao, Kao Kue, Magdalena Diaz, Madeleine Woodworth, Paul Davies, Sara Culver, Tahj Galberth, and Z Bell
Produced by Octopus Theatricals in partnership with The International Festival of Arts & Ideas
Activist Songbook was created as a part of (ex)CHANGE: History Place Presence, a project of Asian Arts Initiative, www.asianartsinitiative.org. Original support for (ex)CHANGE: History Place Presence was provided by the Pew Center for Arts & Heritage, Philadelphia. Additional support from Montalvo Arts Center Lucas Artists Residency Program.
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