12/23/2014
Updated: 12/22/2014 10:12 PM | Created: 12/22/2014 9:18 PM
By: Chris Ramirez, KOB Eyewitness News 4
By: Chris Ramirez, KOB Eyewitness News 4
A controversial new music video from a local band contains clips from the shooting of homeless camper James Boyd. The song is called "Run from the Swines" and is about a man who is shot by police after showing them he has a phone in his hand.
When KOB asked the band's leader if he wanted to talk about the music video, he jumped at the opportunity, and says he wants to make sure no one gets the wrong message about the song he wrote.
The song is about a man in Albuquerque who wakes up, gets into a bar fight, then drives off with his girlfriend.
Along the way, they run into police who are depicted by men in pig masks. When he shows them he only has a cell phone in his hands, the officers shoot him anyway.
Ray Chavez wrote the song, performed by his band Sorry Guero.
"It was written because of what was happening. Protests were happening…the downtown protest had just happened when we wrote it," Chavez said.
Like a lot of music, the song was inspired by important things happening in the community, and Chavez says he felt his community was at odds with the Albuquerque police.
"I don't want to put myself in any kind of confrontation with any APD officer," Chavez said. "This song is not an anti-police song; it's an anti-excessive violence song."
Sorry Guero asked Jarred Cleerdin to produce the video, which incorporated the scenes of APD killing James Boyd – the same scenes that ignited heated protests and debates in Albuquerque earlier this year.
"This is very powerful, and most people told me it was powerful – not in a negative way, but in a positive way – and this issue needed shedding light on," Cleerdin said.
Whether you agree with the lyrics or not, the truth is there is a growing fear of local police departments nationwide. We're seeing more protests and debates about the role of a police officer – something Mayor Richard Berry has taken notice of.
"We're at a really important time in America about discussion about policing," Berry said. "We have police men and women who get up every day and go out and protect our communities. We have people who have concerns about policing…the militarization of police. There's a lot of folks expressing that in a lot of different way."
The song is controversial, but the band says it wants it that way because their art is intended to paint a picture about how they view their community.
Both Chavez and Clerrdin say they have a personal connection to the issue. They both said they were in the Foothills hiking with their families as APD officers shot and killed Boyd.
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