A huge component of meaningful travel is learning about, appreciating, and understanding cultures different from our own. When we encounter people around the world, we have the chance to find out that we are all wonderfully, uniquely different, but also fundamentally the same. All travelers can relate to having their eyes opened and preconceived notions or stereotypes shattered. We even have some cool programs, like Music for Social Change in Uganda , that will help you achieve your own mission for improved intercultural communication around the world! The lessons we learn as meaningful travelers apply not only when we are overseas, but also in our day-to-day lives. This year, the liberty of people in minority and underrepresented groups could be seriously threatened. Over the last few months, we have seen an escalation in divisive dialogue full of hate, with xenophobic, racist, and misogynistic comments and acts making headlines almost daily. In , it is up to all of us to turn the tide. We need to be defenders of equality : to be open-minded toward others, stand up for those more vulnerable than ourselves, and answer hate with love and organized action.


Fight for equality—with your playlist & your passport

Play them loud & play them proud
From the original protest songs of the civil rights movement to the charity singles raising money for those in need, for decades musicians have inspired change through their songs. The song had a major influence on American singer-songwriter Sam Cooke, who was so moved by the song he began to perform it as part of his live set. Speaking to the social and psychological struggles being experienced by the American youth, the song decried racism and a lack of social progress, encouraging people to fight back. Released: Record label: Commodore Most poignant lyric: Black bodies swinging in the southern breeze Strange fruit hanging from the poplar trees Interesting fact: The song was originally written as a poem by American writer and teacher Abel Meeropol after he saw a photograph of a lynching in a civil rights magazine. Learn more in our Privacy policy. The song, written during the Vietnam War, asks listeners to imagine a world at peace, free from religious, class, or political boundaries.
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Race and Racism Songs Submit a song! Ar Fol Lo La Ro performed by Clancy Brothers and Tommy Makem from the album At Carnegie Hall about the power of music to join people together: "And whether your blood be high land or low, And whether your skin be black or white as the snow, Of reason there's none, and why should there be As long as there's fire in the blood and a light in the eye" The Beauty of Gray performed by Live from the album Mental Jewelry Purchase from Amazon. But that don't help my case. It turns by day, and then by night.
Rodney King was savagely beaten by members of the Los Angeles police in March , and the whole incident was caught on camera. The subsequent acquittal of the officers in question on 29 April caused many to accuse the LAPD of institutionalised racism and sparked the worst riots in the US since the s. Rage Against The Machine's classic track was released in November that year and compares such racism to the notorious cross-burning activities of the Ku Klux Klan. In , the Intergovernmental Panel On Climate Change issued its third report and came to the conclusion: "There is new and stronger evidence that most of the [global] warming observed over the last 50 years is attributable to human activities".