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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE -- September 20, 2004
Contact: Nora Callahan at (509) 684-1550
Email: music©november.org
Out of Abu Ghraib, Our Own Kind, the song -- download
it here.
COLVILLE, WA -- 2M
(Two Million, Too Many) has released a timely song entitled Our
Own Kind. The song was written to warn that sadistic abuse
unleashed in Abu Ghraib was born in US prisons. The song,
a mix of folk verse, ethnic rhythms, and mournful accordion,
takes the listener to the horror of Abu Ghraib prison.
Nora Callahan -- veteran U.S. leader in drug policy reform
and anti-prohibition movements and executive director of the
November Coalition -- is lyricist and performs vocally as part
of 2M.
Callahan wrote the song after reading that U.S. Army Reservist
and former prison guard, Charles Graner, Jr., told a fellow soldier,
'The Christian in me knew it was wrong, but the correctional
officer in me loves to see a grown man piss himself."
"When I read the personal account of Iraqi prisoner,
Haider al-Abbadi, the song flooded out of my soul," says
Callahan. "Sexual humiliation and human degradation are
daily fare in the US prison industrial complex."
Callahan, whose brother is in his 14th year of imprisonment,
co-founded the November Coalition in 1997.
2M is the work of musicians
and activists Katana Christen, Joshua Spiegel, interns with November
Coalition, and Nora Callahan.
2M performs music to be
felt and understood, emanating a distinct energy that comes from
having a message of profound importance to all people.
"When you listen to the cut, you'll hear us,"
says guitarist Christen. "I wince at some of my bass tones,
and Nora hears parts of her vocals as a mean, little voice. Then
we remind each other it's human music, a message born in the
passion of pain, shared because it should be."
"Just imagine us playing at your school, church, social
club, or in your living room. It is music that matters,"
said Joshua,"and we may be coming your way."
The November Coalition, a nonprofit organization, is the human
expression of the failed US war on drugs. With an active, award
winning membership nationwide, they work to end drug war injustice.
A full length CD of original social justice songs written
by Nora Callahan and recorded by 2M
will be released early 2005. Another Journey for Justice in October
2005 is in preliminary planning.
To download the song "Our Own Kind," visit
November Coalition at www.november.org.
"When November Coalition members viewed
the photos of the abuse of Iraqi prisoners, many of us knew that
they would become 'iconic' and perhaps, as with other iconic
photos, move a nation to action." -- Nora Callahan, Executive
Director, The November Coalition |
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