Click-clack/Where your papers at?/We under attack/Fight back/It's war
One of the best songs to put Senate Bill 1070 and the whole police state mentality that reigns in Arizona on blast is "Papers," by the Phoenix hip hop duo Shining Soul.
With the U.S. Supreme Court scheduled to rule on SB 1070 by the end of June, Shining Soul's lyrical depiction of a Sand Land on lockdown for the brown is especially relevant. And the video's footage of a landscape infested with Border Patrol vehicles and a desert patrolled by vigilantes illustrates the situation all those who are non-white find themselves in.
The song is also part of the album Bigger Than Hip Hop, which features politically-conscious songs such as "Party Over Here" by Treble Army, "Uncle Sam" by Bob Domestic, and "Land Ain't Yours" by Kite 93.
If you like the video above, download the whole album. You won't be disappointed.
One-half of Shining Soul is Alex Soto, a border activist and member of the Tohono O'odham Nation, whose defiant acts of radical civil disobedience I've documented in the past. Like the time he and others locked their arms with PVC pipe and their necks with bicycle locks in an action at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base in Tucson.
Shining Soul performs regularly in the Phoenix area. The best way to catch their next gig is by checking out the act's Facebook page at http://www.facebook.com/ShiningSoulMusic.
