{"id":91789,"date":"2025-02-16T14:15:45","date_gmt":"2025-02-16T14:15:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/peraltafinancing.com\/american-history\/americanstudies-january-30-2025-musical-activism-artists-united-against-apartheid\/"},"modified":"2025-02-16T14:15:45","modified_gmt":"2025-02-16T14:15:45","slug":"americanstudies-january-30-2025-musical-activism-artists-united-against-apartheid","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=91789","title":{"rendered":"AmericanStudies: January 30, 2025: Musical Activism: Artists United Against Apartheid"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> <br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div id=\"post-body-7463967533559354342\" itemprop=\"description articleBody\">\n<p>[Forty<br \/>\nyears ago this week, the musical supergroup <a href=\"https:\/\/usaforafrica.org\/\">USA (United Support of Artists) for Africa<\/a> recorded<br \/>\ntheir single \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=s3wNuru4U0I\">We are the<br \/>\nWorld<\/a>\u201d (it would drop on March 7<sup>th<\/sup>). So this week I\u2019ll<br \/>\nAmericanStudy that effort and other examples of musical activism!]<\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"margin-top: 12.0pt; tab-stops: 142.5pt;\"><span style=\"mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;\">On two American<br \/>\ncontexts for another 1985 musical activism.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"margin-top: 12.0pt; tab-stops: 142.5pt;\"><span style=\"mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;\">First<br \/>\nthings first: South Africa is not the United States, and it\u2019s important to note<br \/>\nthat the 1985 musical supergroup <a href=\"https:\/\/africanactivist.msu.edu\/organization\/210-813-12\/\">Artists United<br \/>\nAgainst Apartheid<\/a>, and their protest song \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=9fR2r8Qlyyk\">Sun City<\/a>,\u201d were explicitly<br \/>\nand entirely focused on that African nation and its policies of racial segregation.<br \/>\nThere are of course additional, complex layers to that focus, including the Sun<br \/>\nCity resort and casino, located in the semi-autonomous-but-ultimately-still-part-of-South-African-and-thoroughly-tied-to-Apartheid<br \/>\n<a href=\"https:\/\/www.hrw.org\/reports\/1991\/southafrica2\/\">state of<br \/>\nBophuthatswana<\/a>, that the group and song were overtly protesting and<br \/>\nboycotting (a concert venue at which, frustratingly enough, a number of <a href=\"https:\/\/forums.stevehoffman.tv\/threads\/artists-who-did-play-sun-city.1198747\/\">contemporary<br \/>\nartists and groups<\/a> had been and continued to be more than happy to<br \/>\nperform). This blog is called AmericanStudies, and so I\u2019m going to focus the<br \/>\nrest of this post on a couple American contexts for this musical activism; but<br \/>\nthere\u2019s plenty more to say about its South African contexts, and if folks want<br \/>\nto add to them in the comments below I\u2019d be very appreciative as always. <\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"margin-top: 12.0pt; tab-stops: 142.5pt;\"><span style=\"mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;\">One<br \/>\nparticularly striking American context for the supergroup is just how diverse a<br \/>\ncollection of artists <a href=\"https:\/\/www.openculture.com\/2021\/08\/how-steven-van-zandt-organized-the-sun-city-boycott-and-helped-catalyze-the-anti-apartheid-movement-1985.html\">rocker<br \/>\nSteve Van Zandt and hip hop producer Arthur Baker<\/a> assembled for the<br \/>\nrecording session and the song that they created. In his <a href=\"https:\/\/www.amazon.com\/Sun-City-Artists-Against-Apartheid\/dp\/0140089977\">book<br \/>\non the project<\/a> critic Dave Marsh called it \u201cthe most diverse line up of<br \/>\npopular musicians ever assembled for a single session,\u201d and I can\u2019t disagree: you\u2019d<br \/>\nbe hard-pressed to find another group that included DJ Kool Herc and Ringo<br \/>\nStarr, Grandmaster Melle Mel and Hall &amp; Oates, Bob Dylan and Afrika<br \/>\nBambaataa, Bono and Gil Scott-Heron, and literally countless others. And the<br \/>\nresulting song reflects that diversity, as it moves back and forth between hip<br \/>\nhop and rap verses, rock ones, and a chorus that brings the multiple voices and<br \/>\nstyles together. A great deal has been made of the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/music\/musicblog\/2016\/jul\/04\/walk-this-way-run-dmc-aerosmith\">groundbreaking<br \/>\n1986 collaboration<\/a> between Run-D.M.C. and Aerosmith, and rightly so\u2014but nearly<br \/>\na year earlier, the \u201cSun City\u201d sessions and song likewise featured these<br \/>\nmultiple musical genres, and could be seen as helping pave the way for future<br \/>\nsuch collaborations and cross-overs.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"margin-top: 12.0pt; tab-stops: 142.5pt;\"><span style=\"mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;\">The other American<br \/>\ncontext I want to highlight here is far, far more complex. By <a href=\"https:\/\/www.backstreets.com\/SVZonSunCity.html\">his own admission<\/a>, Steve<br \/>\nVan Zandt\u2019s initial interest in opposing Apartheid came when he learned that<br \/>\nthe policy had been based in part on Native American reservations in the US,<br \/>\nand <a href=\"https:\/\/genius.com\/Artists-united-against-apartheid-sun-city-lyrics\">the<br \/>\nsong\u2019s lyrics<\/a> reflect that intersection with the repeated lines \u201cRelocation<br \/>\nto phony homelands\/Separation of families, I can\u2019t understand.\u201d And then there\u2019s<br \/>\nthis: Sun City had been developed by the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2020\/03\/27\/business\/sol-kerzner-dead.html\">South African<br \/>\nhotel tycoon Sol Kerzner<\/a> and his Sun International group; and just over a<br \/>\ndecade after Van Zandt\u2019s supergroup, Kerzner opened <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theday.com\/local-news\/20200323\/sol-kerzner-hailed-as-visionary-behind-mohegan-sun\/\">another<br \/>\nresort and casino<\/a>, this time as a joint venture with a Native American<br \/>\ntribe: Mohegan Sun in Connecticut. I\u2019m not suggesting for a second that a<br \/>\nNative American casino is the same as an Apartheid one; indeed, the two could be<br \/>\nseen as polar opposites. But the same South African tycoon was behind both,<br \/>\nwhich at the very least reminds us that, to quote <a href=\"https:\/\/www.jstor.org\/stable\/40059555\">Trip in <i>Glory<\/i><\/a>, \u201cWe\u2019re<br \/>\nall covered up in it. Ain\u2019t nobody clean.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"margin-top: 12.0pt; tab-stops: 142.5pt;\"><span style=\"mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;\">Last<br \/>\nmusical activism tomorrow,<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"margin-top: 12.0pt; tab-stops: 142.5pt;\"><span style=\"mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;\">Ben<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"margin-top: 12.0pt; tab-stops: 142.5pt;\"><span style=\"mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;\">PS. What<br \/>\ndo you think? Activisms you\u2019d highlight?<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>[Forty years ago this week, the musical supergroup USA (United Support of Artists) for Africa recorded their single \u201cWe are the World\u201d (it would drop on March 7th). So this week I\u2019ll AmericanStudy that effort and other examples of musical activism!] On two American contexts for another 1985 musical activism. First things first: South Africa [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12032],"tags":[14104,13299,15022,7742,3805,751,9148],"dealstore":[],"offerexpiration":[],"class_list":["post-91789","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-american-history","tag-activism","tag-americanstudies","tag-apartheid","tag-artists","tag-january","tag-musical","tag-united"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v26.4 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>AmericanStudies: January 30, 2025: Musical Activism: Artists United Against Apartheid - Som2ny Network<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=91789\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"AmericanStudies: January 30, 2025: Musical Activism: Artists United Against Apartheid - Som2ny Network\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"[Forty years ago this week, the musical supergroup USA (United Support of Artists) for Africa recorded their single \u201cWe are the World\u201d (it would drop on March 7th). So this week I\u2019ll AmericanStudy that effort and other examples of musical activism!] On two American contexts for another 1985 musical activism. First things first: South Africa [&hellip;]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=91789\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Som2ny Network\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-02-16T14:15:45+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=91789#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=91789\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"admin\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/#\/schema\/person\/b85e3c3dc0e1daea076524dc8810c371\"},\"headline\":\"AmericanStudies: January 30, 2025: Musical Activism: Artists United Against Apartheid\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-02-16T14:15:45+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=91789\"},\"wordCount\":605,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/#organization\"},\"keywords\":[\"Activism\",\"AmericanStudies\",\"Apartheid\",\"Artists\",\"January\",\"Musical\",\"United\"],\"articleSection\":[\"American History\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=91789#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=91789\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=91789\",\"name\":\"AmericanStudies: January 30, 2025: Musical Activism: Artists United Against Apartheid - Som2ny Network\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2025-02-16T14:15:45+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=91789#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=91789\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=91789#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?bp_activities=1\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"AmericanStudies: January 30, 2025: Musical Activism: Artists United Against Apartheid\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/\",\"name\":\"Som2ny Network\",\"description\":\"Daily Deals\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Som2ny Network\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/4a0953c4-logo-300x86-1.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/4a0953c4-logo-300x86-1.png\",\"width\":300,\"height\":86,\"caption\":\"Som2ny Network\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"}},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/#\/schema\/person\/b85e3c3dc0e1daea076524dc8810c371\",\"name\":\"admin\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/729ae85bf62b9917e93538db2f2688ca?s=96&r=g&default=https%3A%2F%2Ffivemor.com%2Fwp-content%2Fplugins%2Fbuddypress-first-letter-avatar%2Fimages%2Fdefault%2F96%2Flatin_a.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/729ae85bf62b9917e93538db2f2688ca?s=96&r=g&default=https%3A%2F%2Ffivemor.com%2Fwp-content%2Fplugins%2Fbuddypress-first-letter-avatar%2Fimages%2Fdefault%2F96%2Flatin_a.png\",\"caption\":\"admin\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?author=1\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"AmericanStudies: January 30, 2025: Musical Activism: Artists United Against Apartheid - Som2ny Network","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=91789","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"AmericanStudies: January 30, 2025: Musical Activism: Artists United Against Apartheid - Som2ny Network","og_description":"[Forty years ago this week, the musical supergroup USA (United Support of Artists) for Africa recorded their single \u201cWe are the World\u201d (it would drop on March 7th). So this week I\u2019ll AmericanStudy that effort and other examples of musical activism!] On two American contexts for another 1985 musical activism. First things first: South Africa [&hellip;]","og_url":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=91789","og_site_name":"Som2ny Network","article_published_time":"2025-02-16T14:15:45+00:00","author":"admin","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"admin","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=91789#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=91789"},"author":{"name":"admin","@id":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/#\/schema\/person\/b85e3c3dc0e1daea076524dc8810c371"},"headline":"AmericanStudies: January 30, 2025: Musical Activism: Artists United Against Apartheid","datePublished":"2025-02-16T14:15:45+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=91789"},"wordCount":605,"commentCount":0,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/#organization"},"keywords":["Activism","AmericanStudies","Apartheid","Artists","January","Musical","United"],"articleSection":["American History"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=91789#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=91789","url":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=91789","name":"AmericanStudies: January 30, 2025: Musical Activism: Artists United Against Apartheid - Som2ny Network","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/#website"},"datePublished":"2025-02-16T14:15:45+00:00","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=91789#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=91789"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=91789#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?bp_activities=1"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"AmericanStudies: January 30, 2025: Musical Activism: Artists United Against Apartheid"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/","name":"Som2ny Network","description":"Daily Deals","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/#organization","name":"Som2ny Network","url":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/4a0953c4-logo-300x86-1.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/4a0953c4-logo-300x86-1.png","width":300,"height":86,"caption":"Som2ny Network"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"}},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/#\/schema\/person\/b85e3c3dc0e1daea076524dc8810c371","name":"admin","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/729ae85bf62b9917e93538db2f2688ca?s=96&r=g&default=https%3A%2F%2Ffivemor.com%2Fwp-content%2Fplugins%2Fbuddypress-first-letter-avatar%2Fimages%2Fdefault%2F96%2Flatin_a.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/729ae85bf62b9917e93538db2f2688ca?s=96&r=g&default=https%3A%2F%2Ffivemor.com%2Fwp-content%2Fplugins%2Fbuddypress-first-letter-avatar%2Fimages%2Fdefault%2F96%2Flatin_a.png","caption":"admin"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/fivemor.com"],"url":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?author=1"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/91789","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=91789"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/91789\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=91789"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=91789"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=91789"},{"taxonomy":"dealstore","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fdealstore&post=91789"},{"taxonomy":"offerexpiration","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fofferexpiration&post=91789"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}