Sounding Solidarity at the Suffolk County ICE Immigration Detention Center
Erin T. Allen
Through making music together in public with the use of loud, acoustic, and mobile instruments, HONK! musicians ethically negotiate where publics may manifest, who is able to legitimately participate in them, and in what manner. In recent years, particularly since the 2016 US presidential election and amid increasing numbers of non-criminal, undocumented immigrants being detained and deported, HONK! brass bands from around the globe gather in Boston outside the South Bay Detention Center during the HONK! Festival of Activist Street Bands in order to perform for undocumented immigrants detained inside. This chapter explores how solidarity sounds in this particular action and in so doing, how it not only has the potential to performatively delegitimize the institutional forces detaining these individuals, but also creates the potential for those confined in the detention center to reclaim a sense of humanity in the course of performance. As such, drawing on John Blacking’s (1973) conception of music as “humanly organized sound” and “soundly organized humanity,” this chapter argues that “sounding solidarity” temporarily enacts an alternative vision of the public sphere and those who might be soundly included in it.
Erin T. Allen is a PhD candidate in Ethnomusicology at the Ohio State University. Her dissertation focuses on the HONK! community in the United States and examines how performance and perception of brass street band music shapes and is shaped by a critical engagement with US political culture and social life. She is a trumpeter and plays most often with Chicago’s Environmental Encroachment.
Erin T. Allen
Through making music together in public with the use of loud, acoustic, and mobile instruments, HONK! musicians ethically negotiate where publics may manifest, who is able to legitimately participate in them, and in what manner. In recent years, particularly since the 2016 US presidential election and amid increasing numbers of non-criminal, undocumented immigrants being detained and deported, HONK! brass bands from around the globe gather in Boston outside the South Bay Detention Center during the HONK! Festival of Activist Street Bands in order to perform for undocumented immigrants detained inside. This chapter explores how solidarity sounds in this particular action and in so doing, how it not only has the potential to performatively delegitimize the institutional forces detaining these individuals, but also creates the potential for those confined in the detention center to reclaim a sense of humanity in the course of performance. As such, drawing on John Blacking’s (1973) conception of music as “humanly organized sound” and “soundly organized humanity,” this chapter argues that “sounding solidarity” temporarily enacts an alternative vision of the public sphere and those who might be soundly included in it.
Erin T. Allen is a PhD candidate in Ethnomusicology at the Ohio State University. Her dissertation focuses on the HONK! community in the United States and examines how performance and perception of brass street band music shapes and is shaped by a critical engagement with US political culture and social life. She is a trumpeter and plays most often with Chicago’s Environmental Encroachment.
Link 20.1: Field recording of HONK! musicians performing "Cariñito" outside of the Suffolk County ICE Immigration Detention Center in October 2018
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Supplemental Resources:
Betancourt, Sarah. October 9, 2017. "A Huge Marching Band Protested US Immigration Policy in Boston." Boston Globe. https://www.boston.com/news/local-news/2017/10/08/a-huge-marching-band-protested-us-immigration-policy-in-boston
Eigbrett, Nicole. February 26, 2017. "Solidarity in Boston to Resist the Raids." http://www.weavenews.org/stories/2017/2/26/solidarity-in-boston-to-resist-the-raids
Feldberg, Isaac. October 14, 2019. "HONK! Blends Music and Activism Across Somerville and Cambridge." Boston Globe. https://www.bostonglobe.com/arts/2019/10/14/honk-blends-music-and-activism-across-somerville-and-cambridge/CNDRTwxTWdtr25fvOm4rRO/story.html
Laban, Linda. October 4, 2019. "HONK! Fest Will Perform Outside the Immigration Detention Center Again this Year." https://www.boston.com/events/events/2019/10/04/honk-festival
Betancourt, Sarah. October 9, 2017. "A Huge Marching Band Protested US Immigration Policy in Boston." Boston Globe. https://www.boston.com/news/local-news/2017/10/08/a-huge-marching-band-protested-us-immigration-policy-in-boston
Eigbrett, Nicole. February 26, 2017. "Solidarity in Boston to Resist the Raids." http://www.weavenews.org/stories/2017/2/26/solidarity-in-boston-to-resist-the-raids
Feldberg, Isaac. October 14, 2019. "HONK! Blends Music and Activism Across Somerville and Cambridge." Boston Globe. https://www.bostonglobe.com/arts/2019/10/14/honk-blends-music-and-activism-across-somerville-and-cambridge/CNDRTwxTWdtr25fvOm4rRO/story.html
Laban, Linda. October 4, 2019. "HONK! Fest Will Perform Outside the Immigration Detention Center Again this Year." https://www.boston.com/events/events/2019/10/04/honk-festival
