from an act of police violence witnessed by
Renaldo Benson, a member of the Four Tops,
at an anti-war protest in Berkeley. The parallels
couldn’t be any clearer.
“That song means more now than ever,” Swims
says. “Something has happened to make people
finally wake up and realize Black lives really are at
stake here. We really have to stand up and speak
out.”
Swims was horrified to realize that an especially
egregious case of police brutality happened to
Shali Tilson in his hometown. Tilson suffered from
bipolar disorder and was arrested on a misde-
meanor charge. Nine days later he was found
dead in his cell. Autopsies revealed that he had
injuries to his skull and bleeding in his brain, and
the cause of death was blood clots resulting from
dehydration.
“Nobody’s been arrested or held accountable for
it, and this happened in my hometown, Conyers,
two years ago and I had no clue about it,” Swims
says. “We’ve reached out to his family and tried
to put a little bit of highlight on that situation. I say
all the time, we hear about the George Floyds and
the Breonna Taylors, but how many times in small,
little towns are things getting brushed under the
rug? Especially small, little Southern towns where
stuff like this is happening and nobody’s hearing
about it. It has shaken me to my whole core.”
As Swims discusses the subject you can hear the
pain and frustration in his voice, but it is in that
voice that there is also power. He jokes about how
people are often shocked to hear his voice coming
out of a big, tattooed white guy, but at the same
recognizes what he can do with it.
“Music is the only place, especially with your
voice, where you have a thing that’s truly yours,
that’s different from anybody else,” Swims says.
“It’s bound by what’s around you—your weather,
your climate, what’s happening in your life. You
can speak something and say it in a way that can
lead people together and still ring true for years
and years. Music is like scripture, it’s food for the
soul.”
His voice has brought Swims to a place in life that
he never thought he would be. Now that he’s here
he won’t be wasting any time bragging about his
riches, he’s too busy sharing his good fortune
with his nearest and dearest. Swims is hoping
that someday in the future a fourth grader is going
to run home to their father, wanting to know who
Teddy Swims is after a teacher opened their ears
to a brand-new musical world.
“I just want to bring people together,” Swims says.
“If I could have anything come out of my music,
it’s that.”