The death of George Floyd has led to outrage nationwide, and on a local level in Minneapolis, the city is currently in the midst of massive protests. Plenty of sympathizers have offered words of support, but Bon Iver’s Justin Vernon — who is from nearby Eau Claire, Wisconsin — wants to provide more than that. Vernon has declared that he wants to help protestors, and his idea is to give them audio equipment so they can be better heard.
For the past day and change, Vernon has taken to his personal Twitter account (@blobtower) to express his extreme disappointment about the Floyd situation. He began yesterday morning by tweeting, “I’m out of words. Don’t know what to do. I’m so so so so angry. I want to do something.”
He then presented an idea: “For the organizing protestors in MPLS , I am in possession of a very very large PA system .. I could get it on the back of a trailer and bring it up … MAKING your voices louder … and blast the right music … hit me.” Vernon added, “Please , help spread the word… I want to help on the front lines.”
https://twitter.com/blobtower/status/1265995966269792257
https://twitter.com/blobtower/status/1266007197126975490
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Vernon went on to note that he’s in the process of trying to figure out how to best transport his gear to Minneapolis, tweeting, “writing some audio companies … I have no trailer to get mine to Minny today … anyone with outdoor audio chops or gear hit me let’s get his going.” He added, “I’ve never seen a good audio system at any protest I’ve ever been to … we should get music involved … and loud human speakers,” and, “A large audio platform can help keep folks stay safe distances, encourage unity and non violence and really, really Disturb the ‘peace’…”
https://twitter.com/blobtower/status/1266041125237915651
https://twitter.com/blobtower/status/1266041556236210177
https://twitter.com/blobtower/status/1266041987679076353
A few hours after that initial batch of tweets, Vernon offered a status report, writing, “Working on the Mobile PA thing still … need a custom trailer and an engineer … but workin on it. […] Figuring out how to transport it. Needs a crew to set it up And rig it so it can be mobile I’m working on it.”
https://twitter.com/blobtower/status/1266184761598500869
https://twitter.com/blobtower/status/1266197273752584194
This afternoon, over the past few hours, Vernon has sought help from his fellow Eau Claire residents, asking, “Anyone in EC have a 8000+ watt generator,” and, “Anyone have a hay cage they could let us use ? Thinking that could strap down a generator and PA system. I’d drive it up with a hitch.” He then shared a photo of the sort of trailer he was looking for.
https://twitter.com/blobtower/status/1266401782445543424
https://twitter.com/blobtower/status/1266401782445543424
https://twitter.com/blobtower/status/1266410173360414720
He then put out another call for help, looking for the right people to whom to bring his audio set-up: “Mpls / ST Paul please let us know if there organizers that need a PA system. We have one and running on a generator and want to deliver it to the appropriate voices … Please respond with legit contacts only.”
https://twitter.com/blobtower/status/1266450746968547333
As of this post, that Vernon’s most recent update on the situation. Regardless of whether or not Vernon is able to pull this off, at the very least, he has displayed a genuine drive to make a tangible contribution to the situation.
