Feb 8: Black Lives Matter at School Go-Go Visit with Capital City Go-Go
Teach the Beat was excited to be invited to join The Capital City Go-Go team and staff on Wednesday, February 8, during Black Lives Matter at School Week of Action to showcase the official music of D.C.
Teaching for Change Associate Director, Keesha Ceran, opened the session with the Go-Go by highlighting the purpose of Black Lives Matter at School Week of Action and celebrating the experiences happening in classrooms throughout not only the DMV, but also nationally. She raised how Teach the Beat uplifts the Black Lives Matter at School principles of Intergenerational, Black Villages, and Unapologetically Black.
Before engaging with the beats, Ceran encouraged the Capital City Go-Go team and staff to participate in the Teach the Beat Gallery Walk. Participants of the Gallery Walk reviewed images that highlight go-go’s history throughout the D.C. metro area. As they reviewed these images, they wrote down on post-it notes the themes and elements that rose up for them. For example, when reviewing the musical influences of go-go music, one player noted, “Funk is a creative umbrella that many other great forms of music tie into. Diversity in music introduces diversity in culture.” Another wrote, “[Funk music] helped modernize go-go music through different genres like soul, gospel, and pop. Another theme participants reviewed was go-go’s influence on politics. One comment noted, “The community found a way to build go-go culture through politics.”
Following the Gallery Walk, the Go-Go players and staff were introduced to Teach the Beat founding teaching artist, JuJu! JuJu opened his session featuring clips of Go-Go Sound of Summer, grounding the team in learning the breakdown of the different beats of go-go music – the pocket, the socket, and the bounce.
As the session continued, JuJu brought up different volunteers to form their own go-go band, to play together, and create the unique sounds of go-go music.
Since 2018, Teaching for Change’s D.C. Area Educators for Social Justice (DCAESJ) has hosted the D.C. area activities for Black Lives Matter at School Week of Action and Year of Purpose. The goal of Black Lives Matter at School is to encourage ongoing critical reflection, honest conversations, and action for people of all ages in school communities to work towards building schools where Black lives matter. The campaign takes place in cities across the United States to promote a set of national demands based on the Black Lives Matter guiding principles.