"The Mother of a Revolution," by composer Omar Thomas, is the piece of music at the center of a controversy in Watertown.
The Watertown school board voted 7-1 Tuesday to remove the piece from an upcoming high school spring concert due to its ties to the 1969 Stonewall Uprising, a series of protests led by LGBTQ+ people in response to a police raid in New York City.
Thomas, a composer and professor of composition and jazz studies at the University of Texas at Austin, spoke to TMJ4 about the piece and the controversy it has caused.
LISTEN: Hear the music that sparked the controversy in Watertown
He composed "A Mother of a Revolution" in 2019 and dedicated the piece to Marsha P. Johnson, a Black transgender activist associated with the movement.
"I also chose to write about Marsha P. Johnson as a Black trans woman to just honor the bravery and the strength of the trans people in my life," Thomas said.
Thomas acknowledged that writing music connected to social issues can draw criticism.
"There's always a quote-unquote 'danger' of this when you're writing about a topic that has any kind of thorn to it, but the reason it has thorns is because of people's misunderstanding of the trans community," Thomas said.
School board members argued the composition violated the district's controversial issues policy, with some accusing it of endorsing political violence.
Board Vice President Sam Ouweneel defended the decision, saying the vote reflected the platform many board members campaigned on.
"This is a perfect example of what everyone here ran on, and that's ending indoctrination and radical curriculum," Ouweneel said.
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