Conor Oberst Films Music Video In El Paso Challenging Arizona Immigration Law
Sound Strike member Conor Oberst has recorded an exclusive Bright Eyes track, “Coyote Song,” to benefit the Florence Project, a nonprofit organization that provides free legal help to undocumented immigrants “caught in the detention and deportation system” in Arizona, as well the families of those immigrants, the Arizona Republic reported.
The video was filmed in El Paso, including along the U.S.-Mexico border fence.
Oberst is no stranger to the El Paso area. In recent years, Oberst recorded an album at Sonic Ranch in Tornillo, near El Paso. He also performed in El Paso last year.
In an open letter encouraging other artists to donate songs, Oberst writes that “American ideals of democracy and liberty are built on the foundation that all people, regardless of race or country of origin, deserve fair and equal treatment by the government . . . We’ve all seen the power music has to spread messages of solidarity and hope. Please join the Sound Strike Songs project by donating a track and help us … enable people to continue to dream.”
“Coyote Song” is the first in a series of Sound Strike songs.
You can purchase the song and video at thesoundstrike.net for $2.
As originally written and signed into law by Arizona’s governor, Senate Bill 1070 stated that an officer engaged in a lawful stop, detention or arrest shall, when practicable, ask about a person’s legal status when reasonable suspicion exists that the person is in the U.S. illegally. On July 28, U.S. District Court Judge Susan Bolton issued a temporary injunction blocking that provision.
