While most of the nation watched helplessly as New Orleans and the Gulf Coast region drowned in rolling waters let loose by Hurricane Katrina, two student singers at Winston-Salem State University found a way to cope with the sorrow that the televised images stirred in their souls.
They transformed their grief into words and set it to music.
“How could the wealthiest country in the world leave its own citizens to die? When the towers came down, you were there the next day. And it took you five days to make your way to me. Had we been wealthy and middle-class white people, would I be singing this song?”
Shameia Gardin, a junior music business major, got the idea for the song soon after TV images brought home the plight of hurricane victims. Gardin developed the tune and then recruited her friend, LaShonda Davis, who wrote the lyrics for “Cries of Katrina.”
Both are Burke Singers, a female a cappella group whose members are in the university choir. The Burke Singers gave a debut performance of the original song at the WSSU clock tower on Monday, Oct. 3, as part of the university’s continuing effort to help the victims of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita.
Jeffery Brantley, a physical education major, applauded the performers and their efforts to honor Katrina’s victims. “It touched me,” he said. “It truly covered the issue.”
Gardin described “Cries of Katrina” as spiritual. Davis, a sophomore sociology major, said “writing gets out emotions.” She added that she had no hesitation in making the lyrics so political. “People need to know…I haven’t threatened anyone, (except) maybe their frame of mind.”
The event, titled “We’re Gonna Stand,” was sponsored by the Gamma Phi Chapter of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc. Donations of non-perishable items were collected as part of the program.