CCU production of ‘Hands up’ highlights Ferguson’s struggles

#JusticeForWalterScott

That’s not just a recent hashtag about a black man who was gunned down by a white police officer in North Charleston. On Thursday night, the slogan will be part of a performance at Coastal Carolina University.

“Everybody needs a voice,” said Jesse Willis, an assistant professor of music at Coastal. “This is ours.”

During the annual spring concert of the school’s percussion ensembles, students will perform “Hands Up,” a piece composed by Ivan Trevino at the request of several universities, including Coastal. As the title suggests, the work was developed in response to the protests and violence in Ferguson, Mo., after the death of Michael Brown.

Brown, who was black, was shot and killed on Aug. 9 by officer Darren Wilson, who is white. Initially, a witness reported that Brown surrendered. Gradually, “Hands up, don’t shoot” became a national slogan, an expression of concern about police killing black men.

Although federal officials concluded Brown didn’t surrender, a series of other high profile incidents involving police officers and unarmed black men have continued the national conversation about the relationship between law enforcement and African-American men.

Enter “Hands Up.”

The music is combined with lyrics comprised of Twitter hashtags and quotes from the Ferguson protests, including “The power of the people is stronger than the people in power,” “Communities of color are not the enemy,” and “The system didn’t fail. The system worked. That’s the problem.”

“I'd like to make it clear that this work is intended to capture the protest feelings in Ferguson, which in my opinion, hold significant historical and societal value,” Trevino said in a prepared statement. “I am opposed to violent protests and police violence, and believe the best course to create change is through peaceful discourse.”

Coastal’s version of “Hands Up” will include some tweaks from the original piece. For example, instead of saying “Justice for Mike Brown,” the performers would say “Justice for Walter Scott.”

Scott was killed by officer Michael Slager on Saturday. Initially, police said Slager shot Scott as he struggled to grab the officer’s Taser. But once video surfaced of Slager firing at Scott eight times as he tried to run away, the officer was charged with murder.

The timing and proximity of Scott’s shooting make the substitution necessary, Willis said.

“It’s so close to home and it’s such a tragic thing that happened,” he said. “You can’t really separate that event from what we’re talking about.”

When the work was originally commissioned, Willis said the universities requested that Trevino incorporate a drum set and keyboard percussion ensemble in the piece, but they left the content up to the composer.

“We didn’t ask him to write “Hands Up,” he said. “It was open-ended.”

Willis admits he initially wasn’t sure how the music and hashtags would mesh. Seeing “Hands Up” rehearsed changed his mind.

“It gave me goosebumps,” he said.

Thursday’s 7:30 p.m. show in Wheelwright Auditorium will be the first time the piece is performed publicly by any group. Willis told students they must embrace both the music and the message.

“The biggest thing is understanding that this is more than just notes on a page,” he said. “There’s such an emotional element to it, very thought-provoking piece. So they really kind of had to buy in to every element of performing it beyond learning the rhythms, learning the notes, learning the words. It was saying the phrases with conviction.”

Student-performers say the recent events in Charleston highlight the point of the piece – such violence must stop.

“Seeing that [Charleston story], it kind of gave me a new fire,” said sophomore vocalist Tyrice Murray, “a new motivation to make sure that we convey all the points that we’re trying to do in this performance.”

Freshman performer Jacob Abarbanell agreed.

“At this point, Ferguson has kind of been sitting in our head for awhile,” he said. “Maybe to some people, it had become history to them. But it’s not. It is an ongoing issue. It’s a current thing. And Charleston just kind of proved that.”

This story was originally published April 8, 2015 at 10:19 PM with the headline "CCU production of ‘Hands up’ highlights Ferguson’s struggles."