密歇根新闻广播 密歇根大学合唱俱乐部为那些被警察枪杀的非裔美国人献曲

The names of men like Trayvon Martin, Michael Brown, Eric Garner¹ and others have been thrust violently into our nation's history. Unarmed African-American men, all killed. Their deaths gave rise to the Black Lives Matter movement and to badly-needed discussions about racial discrimination and social injustice².

This spring, the University of Michigan Men's Glee Club added its voice in a singular way to this tough conversation.

The Glee Club's spring performance featured the premiere of a multi-movement work called The Seven Last Words of the Unarmed. It's written by Atlanta-based composer Joel Thompson.

It uses the final words of seven African-American men who were unarmed, and yet shot and killed by police and others.

"I wanted to make sure that what I wrote was true to my internal pain and reaction to all of the racial tension going on, but also true to the victims themselves," Thompson tells us.

"I knew it was powerful. I knew just immediately from reading through it, it spoke³ to me," professor Eugene Rogers says. "I began to focus on the theme of love, life and loss ... and I knew that even if we didn't agree politically on cause and who's to blame ... that hopefully we could all agree on the value of each of these men's lives, that we're honoring lost lives."

GUESTS:

Joel Thompson is an composer and Professor of Music at Freedom University in Atlanta.

Eugene Rogers is the Associate Director of Choirs⁴ and Associate Professor of Conducting at the University of Michigan.

1 garner   

v.收藏；取得

参考例句：

• He has garnered extensive support for his proposals.他的提议得到了广泛的支持。
• Squirrels garner nuts for the winter.松鼠为过冬储存松果。

2 injustice   

n.非正义，不公正，不公平，侵犯（别人的）权利

参考例句：

• They complained of injustice in the way they had been treated.他们抱怨受到不公平的对待。
• All his life he has been struggling against injustice.他一生都在与不公正现象作斗争。

3 spoke   

n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说

参考例句：

• They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
• The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。

4 choirs   

n.教堂的唱诗班( choir的名词复数 )；唱诗队；公开表演的合唱团；（教堂）唱经楼

参考例句：

• They ran the three churches to which they belonged, the clergy, the choirs and the parishioners. 她们管理着自己所属的那三家教堂、牧师、唱诗班和教区居民。 来自飘（部分）
• Since 1935, several village choirs skilled in this music have been created. 1935以来，数支熟练掌握这种音乐的乡村唱诗班相继建立起来。 来自互联网