New Video: Matre - "Listen (With Embassy Live) - RESPECT. | The Photo Journal of Hip-Hop Culture

Los Angeles rapper Matre just released his new video for “Listen”. If you’re wondering, “Listen” was written by Matre as a response to news about his city’s Unified School District police receiving military weapons from the Department of Defense, via a program called, “1033”. Together with the Embassy Live collective and in solidarity with local youth and organizers, the song is a demand to listen to youth, rather than police them. Watch the video below:

Momentum from the song and message inspired a group of filmmakers, artists and activists to join forces and make this video. Funded by the support of more then two hundred Kickstarter backers, the video’s shoot brought together a number of LA’s leading social justice & youth justice organizations, and community members from around the city, gathering together to help send this message.

In collaboration with the #StudentsNotSuspects campaign & the ACLU of Southern California, the video is being released as a tool to call attention to rampant profiling of youth in communities of color, and as a call to action, demanding that we listen to young people, honor both their gifts and wounds, and make a cultural shift towards restorative and transformative justice, and away from profiling and criminalization.

Direct actions and continuous programming around these issues are being organized by a number of organizations and will be posted on the website.