VIDEO: Samantha Crain -- Killer

A few months ago I wrote about Samantha Crain's moving, timely album Under Branch & Thorn Tree. Today I'd like to share the moving music video that accompanies Crain's protest song, "Killer." While the song itself addresses the deadly slow pace with which justice marches, the video itself addresses police brutality. Shot in Houston's historic black neighborhoods, the video is a stark protest against police brutality.

While instances of police violence have slipped below the fold to make room for election coverage, there is no question that race has a huge impact on the election, as it always has. Trump's recent courtship of the KKK should be a crystal clear example to us all that these bogeymen are not relics of a regrettable past. We must march the long road Crain describes in "Killer," and one of the places it winds through is your local voting booth.

I have more than a few leftist, activist friends who have chosen no to register to vote. That just boggles my mind. Voting is not the loudest or most visible way to effect change, but it's as important an act of civic engagement as showing up to City Hall. Please register to vote in the presidential election in November, whether or not you approve of your party's candidate. Show the establishment machines in both parties that we, as a country, will not swallow their shit lying down.

Samantha Crain -- Official, Facebook, Purchase from Samantha Crain, Stream on The Guardian