Watertown band members play LGBTQ+ history song banned by board

WATERTOWN, Wis. - A song pulled from the Watertown High School Wind Symphony’s spring concert was performed Wednesday night at a community concert that drew a line outside Immanuel Evangelical Lutheran Church.

What we know:

Days before the spring concert, the Watertown Unified School Board voted to remove "A Mother of a Revolution!" from the set list. One board member called it indoctrination.

The song has no lyrics, but it has generated debate in Watertown.

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The issue dates back to October, when the wind symphony director sent a letter to parents in line with the district’s "controversial issues in the classroom" policy.

Omar Thomas composed the song in 2019 to honor LGBTQ+ activist Marsha P. Johnson and the 50th anniversary of the Stonewall riots. Johnson, a Black transgender woman, became a leader of the gay rights movement.

What they're saying:

"And even when times are hard, us as a band community are going to show up to them," said Sarah Goldner, West Allis Frank Lloyd Wright Intermediate School band director.

Watertown students, including Clayton Fliess, were set to learn about music as activism.

"I wish we performed it. You know, the meaning of the piece, it is what it is, I don't care really, if you agree with it or not. We worked on it not to support that message," he said. "We worked on it because it was technical, and the school board taking that away last minute is just really frustrating."

The backstory:

At a May 12 special meeting, the school board voted to pull the song from the spring concert.

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"This is a perfect example of what everyone sitting at this table ran on, which was ending indoctrination in classrooms and ending radical curriculum," said Sam Ouweneel, Watertown School Board vice president.

Big picture view:

On Wednesday, with the church filled to capacity, Thomas flew in to conduct the song. It was played by a coalition of musicians, including some members of the high school wind symphony.

"This piece is about a mother of revolution, who started a mother of a revolution," Thomas said.

The concert was not an official school event, and some students chose not to participate.

A livestream of the performance had more than 3,000 viewers. One parent said that attention likely would not have happened without the school board’s decision.

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