To learn about civic engagement, Marin City middle schoolers put their ideas to music.
A songwriting workshop led by Grammy Award-winning Alphabet Rockers, an Oakland group that uses hip hop to inspire change and equity, was held Tuesday at Rocky Graham Park in Marin City
Approximately 25 kids attended the workshop, which was timed with the anniversary of the Voting Rights Act of 1965.
“Music is a great healer,” said Tommy Shepherd, co-founder of Alphabet Rockers. “Songwriting just kind of creates a better opportunity for embodiment of the things that we are learning. Songwriting also gives whoever is participating a sense of leadership and a sense of community.”
Shepherd said he works with the children to talk about questions they might have about the world, including some complex conversations about belonging and inclusion. Then the group works together to come up with a chant or song.
“Most of the kids are really thinking, well yeah, I think race is a thing, but I really think friendship and the people they hang around with, that is the part of inclusion they really understand,” Shepherd said.
“Being left out? That’s what they understand. They also understand there are people in the world that don’t look like them who are being treated differently,” he said. “So we are out here to be the agents of change, so we recognize that this is happening and we then can figure out how we interfere with it.”
Shepherd said the students also get a sense of empowerment through songwriting. The model he uses to teach the process is easy to repeat, so kids could use the tool again. He said music helps the messages they discuss stick better.
“Especially if it’s something you wrote yourself,” Shepherd said.
The two-hour workshop was sponsored by Marin City nonprofit Performing Stars as part of its ongoing “boots on the ground” civic engagement and voter education efforts, according to founder Felecia Gaston.
“I feel like the best thing is to start with children because they go home and talk to their families, like, ‘Mom are you going to vote?’” Gaston said. “It’s all about planting the seed. That’s all we want to do.”
