Buffalo (written by C. Francis)
On May 14, 2022 one of the worst racially motivated massacre occurred in the city of Buffalo, New York. Blacks were stalked and murdered while shopping for food at Tops Friendly Grocery. This was the second time a massacre like this one had occurred since the Mother Emmanuel Church shooting by Dylann Roof on January 4, 2017 and now another on May 14, 2022.
These shooting were different because they did not involve any law enforcement encounter, crime or protest. The only warrant of death was Black skin color. It appears that now the young descendants of a racist society have now become assassins and that no black person is safe.
In response to this horror, I was inspired to write the song Buffalo as a tribute to these fallen souls, their loved ones, their community and the city of Buffalo.
This project was done with the generous help of my long time friend songwriter and arranger, Normal Kerner. The music was produced and recorded by David Thein and mixed by Bob Bullock of Nashville who I had worked with when I was an artist on Capitol Records.
I sent the lyrics and a scratch vocal to Nashville artist, James Threalkill who spent an entire weekend working on a painting he called “The Heavenly Escort of the Buffalo Ten” for us to use as a cover for the project. The video production was donated by Steven Lisi of Aurora Colorado. The vocals were provided by Michael Lusk of Nashville.
It is our hope that with this song/message that Blacks will become more aware of this danger and whites will appreciate what it means to be black in this country. This is not about politics but this is a call for us to be treated as human beings judged only on our character and deed and not the color of our skins.
This is also a call for the white community to fight against racism and the terror it is bringing on our people.
We have release this video on Face book, YouTube and twitter for all to listen.
Our original goal and it remains is to present this tribute to the city of Buffalo through the church and hopefully the mayor of this great city.
These shooting were different because they did not involve any law enforcement encounter, crime or protest. The only warrant of death was Black skin color. It appears that now the young descendants of a racist society have now become assassins and that no black person is safe.
In response to this horror, I was inspired to write the song Buffalo as a tribute to these fallen souls, their loved ones, their community and the city of Buffalo.
This project was done with the generous help of my long time friend songwriter and arranger, Normal Kerner. The music was produced and recorded by David Thein and mixed by Bob Bullock of Nashville who I had worked with when I was an artist on Capitol Records.
I sent the lyrics and a scratch vocal to Nashville artist, James Threalkill who spent an entire weekend working on a painting he called “The Heavenly Escort of the Buffalo Ten” for us to use as a cover for the project. The video production was donated by Steven Lisi of Aurora Colorado. The vocals were provided by Michael Lusk of Nashville.
It is our hope that with this song/message that Blacks will become more aware of this danger and whites will appreciate what it means to be black in this country. This is not about politics but this is a call for us to be treated as human beings judged only on our character and deed and not the color of our skins.
This is also a call for the white community to fight against racism and the terror it is bringing on our people.
We have release this video on Face book, YouTube and twitter for all to listen.
Our original goal and it remains is to present this tribute to the city of Buffalo through the church and hopefully the mayor of this great city.