‘Fathers’ Is A Thought Provoking Release From Shane Palko And Mannie T’Chawi

‘Fathers’, from Shane Palko and Mannie T’Chawi, is short and sweet but it certainly packs a punch.

A spoken word track, the music video that accompanies it is moving right from the start. We see Shane Palko standing in a field, dressed in jeans and checked shirt, and baseball cap. Meanwhile, the besuited Mannie T’Chawi walks and sits at a piano. Palko picks up his guitar, and plays a single note, before flicking a lit cigarette away. Mannie plays a few notes himself, but he’s not singing, he’s speaking a poem. The words are simple but moving. We see him standing on an overpass, relating the lived experience of the black man in the United States.

Soon we return to the field, where we see that the piano has erupted into flames. “They never let us have our fathers, so why even bother” “they brought toxic masculinity into our communities, and we fostered it, let it fester, till we forgot the ways of our ancestors”. There’s references to the futility of continuing to exist, that there’s no reason to even bother; Palko echoes Mannie T’Chawi in the final phrase, “they’ll never let you keep your fathers”. It’s a hard-hitting, harsh, stark and wholly realistic confrontation of the legacy of racism in America. No words are minced, Palko and T’Chawi aren’t afraid to stand up and call out injustice. It’s a mesmerising clip with a powerful message.

Watch ‘Fathers’ below, and let us know in the comments what you think. Find out more about Shane Palko online on his official website, Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. Mannie T’Chawi meanwhile can be found on Twitter and Instagram.