“I can’t breathe”: Rukshan gives voice to injustice
On May 25, 2020, George Floyd, a 46-year-old black man, was killed by the Police in Minneapolis, Minnesota, during an arrest for ‘allegedly using a counterfeit bill’.
“I can’t breathe”, his final words have been echoing in our ears since then, fuelling tumultous anti-racism protests in the U.S, the #BlackLivesMatter a.k.a the B.L.M Movement (Black Lives Matter Movement) gathering a frenzied momentum in the weeks since then.
Moved by Floyd’s death and the protests not just in the US but across the world, popular musician Rukshan Perera and with his brother Melantha Perera have brought out Floyd’s heart-breaking last words in a heartfelt song.
Rukshan has released his originals and live DVDs, with thousands of subscribers and a million views on his YouTube channel. Most of Rukshan’s song lyrics cover important topics that promote social values – songs on clean environment, health, peace and unity, songs for Sri Lanka, religious/racial harmony, fighting for justice, songs for the poor, for the abused, sick, differently abled children, etc.
Having written the music and lyrics for ‘I can’t breathe’, Rukshan reached out to his brother Melantha Perera, also a well-known musician, to arrange the song in an acapella format. “He is very talented in arranging acapellas and can sing most of the parts himself. So the two of us together as “Perera Brothers” composed and arranged the song,” Rukshan said when contacted by the ST Magazine.
A dual citizen of Sri Lanka and the US, Rukshan lived in the U.S for more than three decades, “I consider myself lucky that I never experienced racism myself. However, the blacks continue to be discriminated against in the country and every year there are incidents of police brutality towards them. As a musician/composer I felt it was my duty to speak up through music, hence I decided to write this song to show my opposition to racism, inequality and injustice. Statistics show that ‘blacks’ are harassed, beaten and killed by the police while the whites get away with similar crimes.”
“To understand why most blacks are unable to lift their lives with little opportunity, generation after generation, one has to understand their history– how they were brought in as slaves in chains to develop the country, and even after slavery was abolished how they were forced to be second class citizens.
“With the officer’s knees on his neck, the song portrays the last 10 minutes of George Floyd’s life and his possible thoughts realising his life may be ending.”
“I can’t breathe, (please sir), I can’t breathe,I can’t breathe no more, I can’t breathe; Help me stand to live the day, Give me one more chance to pray, Can anyone hear, oh I can’t breathe”, goes the song. “Say no to racism”, “Fight for justice”, “Speak for equality”, and also that “not being a racist is not sufficient, we must actively resist racism” are the powerful messages the song highlights.
“There is no age group for racism. We must teach our children from their younger days that it is our obligation to respect people of other religions, races and colour that can unite our country and the world to be one. Politics have played a big role even in Sri Lanka dividing people on racial and religious lines, but we must learn to treat all people equally.”
“I am happy that I wrote this song to promote anti-racism, and happy that even our children who are living in the US, who are married to white spouses, also empathise with the black community and will do anything to support their cause,” added Rukshan.
“I Can’t Breathe’, can be viewed on YouTube through Rukshan Perera’s channel and Facebook, and will be streaming soon on radio and TV.
