Interview: Tonya Pinkins Discusses Honoring George Floyd With 'Strange Fruit, Revisited'

Broadway, film, and TV star, Tonya Pinkins ("Fear The Walking Dead",
"Madam Secretary", and ABC's "Women of the Movement"), joined forces with world
class musicians and the George Floyd Memorial Foundation to honor the life and legacy of George Floyd with "Strange Fruit, Revisited", a modern day take on Billie Holiday's protest song.

Strange Fruit, Revisted features music by multi-award winning filmmaker and composer, Luis Robledo, with lyrics by acclaimed poet and librettist, Brian Patrick Mulligan.

The recently released music video was created to raise money for, and bring awareness to, the George Floyd Memorial Foundation, which combats the systemic violence affecting Black Americans by working to build a fair legal system.

Watch the music video:

To get involved or donate, visit
https://www.georgefloydmemorialfoundation.org/.

Tony Award nominee, Veanne Cox, ("The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel", "Erin Brockovich",
"You've Got Mail") co-produced the music video which features musicians:
Bassist J.V. Collier (Branford Marsalis, Bruce Hornsby, the Pointer Sisters, and Herbie
Hancock), Drummer Chad A. Wright (Jennifer Lopez Tour, Keiko Matsui, Bruce Hornsby,
Gladys Knight), Pianist Oveante Magsby, and Saxophonist Bill McHenry.

BroadwayWorld spoke with Tonya Pinkins about honoring George Floyd with Strange Fruit, Revisted, what she would like to see people doing to fight for justice and equality, and more.

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The two-year anniversary of George Floyd's murder just passed, and you are honoring his life and legacy with "Strange Fruit, Revisited". How did this tribute to George Floyd come together?

I think it's really important for people to know that it's called Strange Fruit, Revisited, but it is not the same song, it is an entirely new song. I think people might sometimes listen and think, "That doesn't sound like Strange Fruit.' It's a different song. The 'revisited' part is that this idea of black bodies being lynched has not changed since Billie Holiday's time. And I was actually invited to be a part of this project by my friend Veanne Cox, who is one of the producers. She asked me about it, I looked at it, I thought the lyrics were really powerful. Back in Billie Holiday's time, being murdered by the police wasn't as prevalent as it is today. And we didn't have the mass shootings that we have today. So, it's revisiting it in light of what is different in our world today.

There is new music, and new lyrics for this song, and the lyrics have been updated to reflect the time that we are living in. What has the experience been like for you, singing these words?

I was thinking about this quote, "Tough times make strong men, strong men make good times, good times make weak men, weak men make tough times," and I feel like we are going into a very dark time because we have some weak people in our leadership right now. As we've seen mass shootings in the last few weeks, and most of America, unpolitical, not on the right or left, want some control over guns, want some police reform.

We the people, which is the beginning of the constitution, are being held hostage by some senators whose allegiance is to the gun lobby, the NRA. I think it's so ironic that at their convention, no guns were allowed. 'It's your second amendment right, but you don't get to exercise it at our event.' There's a sense that there's no shame, there's no conscience. The hypocrisy, to me, it's only something about weak men that are going to take us into some dark times, but the good thing is that hard times make strong men. So, when we get through this, there are going to be some young people who are going to come up surviving these tough times, and are going to learn some new skills, and build a better world.

The music video for "Strange Fruit, Revisited" was created to raise money for, and bring awareness to, the George Floyd Memorial Foundation. What would you like to see people doing to continually keep George Floyd's memory alive, and continue to fight for justice and equality?

One of the things that the Foundation wants to do is to give as much help as they can to individuals, to students, for their legal funds. I believe that the deadline to apply for the legal fund scholarship is July 1st. And anyone, really, can apply to get that scholarship. We want people to give money to the fund so there is money to circulate in the community. I feel very strongly that the universe is a perpetual motion machine. But I think that the universe is that as long as everything stays circulating, and our capitalist society is about extracting and hoarding, so there is nothing over here, and there is a stockpile here, and it rots. This foundation is an opportunity for people to make a donation to help individuals in the community.

It's so easy to feel powerless in the face of this kind of violence, and it's not a good feeling, feeling like you don't have any agency in your own life. We've lost the ability to give young people pride, opportunities to work, so they feel that they can have the power to sustain themselves in their lives, and I think that those are important things for young people.

You are carrying on the legacy of this incredibly important song. How do you feel about this song being so relevant still today?

You argue with reality and you're going to lose only 100% of the time. It hurts. There's just really no other way to say it. Seeing those videos of the parents outside of the school, and the police were not even going in. You're there before your kid is shot and the police are actually preventing you from saving your child's life. It would be easy to be down, but we can't be down because we are still alive and as long as we're alive there is something we can do.

Do you have anything else you would like to share?

I just want to remind people that the fund is for scholarships and legal aid, and they're trying to bring awareness to mental health issues, and regulations around policing and policy. And listen to the song, it's a great song. And be a part of the change.