Ric Wilson Delivers Moving Tribute Song "Fight Like Ida B & Marsha P"
“I encourage people to study past movements that were jump-started by Black women.”
Chicago-based musician Ric Wilson returns with a new song surrounding the current Black Lives Matter movement and wave of nationwide protests with “Fight Like Ida B & Marsha P”, a powerful homage to civl rights leaders Ida B. Wells and Marsha P. Johnson. The single artwork showcases Ric speaking at a protest in Chicago late last week. The release comes a month after his collaborative EP with Terrace Martin, They Call Me Disco.
Ric’s activism credentials go well beyond just this past year. He has canvased in Chicago, lobbying for prison abolition and the continual fight against police brutality. He has organized with We Charge Genocide, Black Youth Project 100 and Chicago Freedom School. He even traveled to Geneva to present a report to the 53rd session of the United Nations Committee Against Torture back in 2014. His speech focused on police brutality and corruption against Black and other people of color.
“I got bodily autonomy/ And its policy is people over property/ Treat us like pieces of Monopoly, one day it’ll be nothing but the rich to eat,” Wilson raps over a contrasting upbeat instrumental that pulls from disco sensibilities with a touch of Detroit house.
“I hear people quoting a lot of Black men who were freedom fighters, which is valid. But when I think about next level courage to ball your fist up and look bigotry, racism, sexism, homophobia, and transphobia right in the eye and fight against it, I feel like Black women like Ida B. Wells and non-binary folks like Marsha P. Johnson are of the bravest of us all,” Wilson said in a press statement. “If I’ma fight any injustice I wanna have the courage of freedom fighters like them. The liberation of Black women and Black trans-women leads to the liberation of all Black people.”
“As it’s pride month and officially Black Lives Matter Uprising: Part 2, I encourage people to study past movements that were jump-started or organized by Black women, LGBTQAI+ and non-binary folks, history of policing and prisons here in the US, and the laws made to keep Black and Queer folk suppressed in this country for over 450 years. If we focus and start understanding the why, we will no longer waste time arguing on the what.”
Stream Wilson’s latest single below. In more music news, Pharrell lobbied Virginia Governor Ralph Northam to give Virginians Juneteenth off from work, recognizing the historic day as a paid state holiday.
