“‘Time’s Up,'” We Shout!” Inclusive Songs for Resistance & Social Action

“Time’s Up,” We Shout!
Amos 5:21-24; John 8:32

We are tired of abuse, exploitation, misuse,
so we join in the movement “Me Too”;
breaking silence, we shout and together speak out,
claiming voices with power anew.     Refrain

There are those who harass with their actions so crass;
they assault with their words and their deeds;
now the women will rise with the truth undisguised,
raising voices that all will now heed.     Refrain

As our stories increase, gender violence will cease,
and at last we will have equity;
now the time is at hand for a change in each land,
for the truth will set everyone free.       Refrain

Refrain:

“Time’s Up,” we shout!
We will join to speak out.
“We demand gender justice,
for the Time’s Up,” we shout.

Words © 2018 Jann Aldredge-Clanton            TRUST AND OBEY

The “Me Too” and “Time’s Up” movements stirred me to write this song “‘Time’s Up,’ We Shout!” ( sung to the tune “Trust and Obey).”  The “Me Too” movement was originally created in 2007 by a black woman named Tarana Burke, a civil rights activist and community organizer. Tarana Burke has gotten little credit for creating this important movement. The “Me Too” movement gained momentum 10 years later on social media, demonstrating the prevalence of sexual harassment and assault women suffer. In January of 2018 hundreds of Hollywood celebrities launched the “Time’s Up” movement as the next step to the “Me Too” movement. The “Time’s Up” movement calls for immediate change for women of all classes and races in all occupations.“Time’s Up” has formed a legal defense fund to help women report sexual harassment or assault. Also, this movement creates legislation that better penalizes sexual misconduct and advocates for gender equity in all industries. “Time’s Up” recently launched a campaign to double the number of women in leadership in government and other places where women are still underrepresented. At Women’s Marches, “Me Too” and “Time’s Up” signs were on display around the world.

Inclusive Songs for Resistance & Social Action includes “’Time’s Up,’ We Shout!” and other songs for rallies, marches, and other activist gatherings to support movements such as Women’s March, Black Lives Matter, Human Rights Campaign, Poor People’s Campaign, and GreenFaith. The movement that rose up after the Women’s March in January of 2017 inspired many of the songs in this collection. The Women’s March, initiated and led by women, drew people of all genders, races, classes, ages, and abilities. Beginning as a Women’s March on Washington, sister marches sprang up in cities in all 50 U.S. states and in more than 80 countries around the world, with an estimated 4.9 million people participating. The Women’s March focused on women’s rights, while connecting the rights of women to the rights of all races, LGBTQ people, and people of all ages, classes, and abilities. Women’s rights are often ignored even in liberation movements, but intersectional feminism emphasizes the vital connection between women’s rights and the rights of all people. At the Women’s March many of the signs quoted Hillary Rodham Clinton’s famous statement at the 1995 Beijing World Conference on Women: “Women’s rights are human rights.” Subsequent Women’s Marches continued this focus on the intersection of women’s rights and the rights of all people.

President Jimmy Carter in A Call to Action asserts that discrimination and violence against women and girls are the world’s most serious violations of human rights, and he indicts patriarchal religion as the foundation for this discrimination and violence. Nicholas Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn in Half the Sky: Turning Oppression into Opportunity for Women Worldwide lament the “gendercide” resulting from the violence inflicted routinely on women and girls in much of the world, which they call one of the “paramount human rights problems of this century.” The “Me Too” movement has underscored the pervasiveness of sexual harassment and assault women around the world suffer.

“‘Time’s Up!’ We Shout!” and other songs in Inclusive Songs for Resistance & Social Action seek to bring change by lifting up the voices of women and other oppressed groups. The songs in this collection highlight the intersectionality of justice issues, calling for equality, justice, and liberation for all.

As our stories increase, gender violence will cease,
and at last we will have equity;
now the time is at hand for a change in each land,
for the truth will set everyone free.