Guest Blog: Arlan Feiles on Activism and Songwriting

Rewards and Punishments

Clearly there can be a price to pay when you speak out as a performer from the stage. Activism often leads to the alienation of possible fans, or worse, current fans! There is often backlash from the modest-spoken and the mind your own business crowd. There are those who will think you’re full of hot air and will be sure to remind you that you don’t want to be like Bono and the other boastful self righteous artists acting like they are changing the world; or in Bono’s case, actually changing the world. An artist must decide if this is a fair price to pay. For me, the answer has always been …YES!!! Bring on the haters and the agitators! Bring on the naysayers and cynics! I don’t care. I am an activist.

We surely cannot dismiss the possibility of tremendous reward as an activist either. I’ve been lucky enough to experience this too. When I wrote “Viola” I had no idea the journey I would embark upon and the great rewards physically and spiritually I would enjoy and how I would become a part of her legacy and feel like a part of her family.

Sally Liuzzo, Viola Liuzzo’s youngest, had her Google alerts set for anytime her mother’s name was mentioned in the national press. I had just performed the song at New Jersey’s Light of Day festival and a young writer for the Asbury Park Press took an interest in my song. She wrote about it the following day in the paper. It was Martin Luther King Day. Sally was amazed to learn of this New Jersey singer songwriter who wrote a song memorializing her mother. She quickly typed up a note and sent it off to me through Facebook; reward no. 1.

This note brought me to tears. To find that a song I had written about a hero of mine, and her fight for voting rights and equality, reached across time and space and touched the heart of her children who continue the fight. She thanked me for honoring their family and her mother and wrote that the song inspires her to continue the work of her mother. Now to have the feeling that you are doing exactly what you are meant to be doing? That is one great reward. The letter was followed by a few more letters from her other children, Mary, then Penny, her eldest. Each letter was as moving as the next. These latest letters included an invitation to meet the family in Shreveport, Louisiana, for an event honoring their mother. They would like me to come spend time with the family and perform “Viola” at an event hosted by the Mayor; reward no. 2.

There is no better reward than to be able to take the show on the road, especially when it’s for a great cause and be able to get out the message to new people and find a community who need this message. I performed and spoke about the empowerment of the vote to a room of young African Americans who would be turning voting age the following year. The Mayor had sponsored a dinner for these young men to celebrate the empowerment of all Americans to vote and to not be caught being cynical and discouraged by life’s obstacles. To sing for them and share Viola’s story and sacrifice was a great honor and reward. It lead to several more events with the family, each more rewarding then the next. I have become a part of something much greater than myself; reward no. 3.

Last month was the 50th anniversary of Bloody Sunday and Dr. King’s march on Montgomery from Selma, Alabama. It also marked to 50th anniversary of Viola’s murder during the march. Once again I was to meet the Liuzzo family, but this time in Selma to honor this milestone. It would take place on the east moving side of Rte. 80 where her car fell motionless on that night 50 years ago. I was asked to sing my song “Viola” and a new song called “50 Miles” that I wrote for the occasion. It was one of the greatest honors of my life to perform at one of my historical hero’s memorial while her family watched and listened and mourned the loss of their mother. To participate in living history, to be one with the movement and to champion my cause was defining. What a great feeling. Activism has great rewards. I am an activist. I am activated.

As I write this, I am gearing up to join hundreds of people at the State House in Trenton, New Jersey, to support and stand up for the homeless in New Jersey and around the globe. I will be singing for the 13,000 plus homeless men women and children on our state that have no vote. I’ll be singing for the tens of thousands more who are one paycheck away from being homeless. I’ll be singing for a world that recognizes the right for liberty and security. I will be singing for every mother and child. I will be singing for you. I will be singing, to change the world. I am an activist.