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Brad Will, ¡Presente!

Submitted October 28, 2006 - 1:57 pm by Jennifer Whitney
I first met Brad in 1999, and frequently crossed paths with him, on three continents, ever since. What I remember most about Brad is his optimism, his smile, the strength of his convictions, his lanky swagger, the way he moved through space, being fully present, wherever he was, whatever he did.

In 2003, a collective I was in had the honor of publishing a beautiful story he wrote about the community gardens of the South Bronx and the Lower East Side. He wrote the story in 2001 (with an update just before we went to press), and, reading it now, the Brad I knew shines through it - his audacity, his immense capacity to maintain and disseminate hope, his curiosity, his drive to tell the truth from below, and his taste for adventure.

Although we sometimes drove each other crazy, I always knew him as having an enormously open heart, and as being absolutely dedicated to putting himself in service to people in struggle. He was one of those rare people who seemed, at least on the surface, to have found some sort of a balance between the grave seriousness of the struggles he covered, and the joy and hope necessary to stick with the work.

Some of that balance, I imagine, came from his music. The first time I saw him play music was in Prague in 2000, at a bonfire after a long day of planning for the actions against the IMF and World Bank ministerials. He played a song originally written by a fellow named Desert Rat after the WTO protests in Seattle in 1999. It’s one of those songs that immediately found a home in the hearts of many of us; we learned it, sang it together on many streets, and some people, most notably Brad, wrote additional verses. Many of the lyrics can be found here, including the verses Brad wrote; here I just include the original chorus, which, for me, serves as a kind of eulogy for him:

I will stand beside your shoulder
When the tear gas fills the sky
And when the National Guard tries to shoot me down
I’ll be lookin them in the eye.

I will wash the pepper from your face
And go with you to jail
And if you don’t make it through this fight
I swear I’ll tell your tale.

I will stay with you in the prison cell
In solidarity
And I will not leave that cursed room
'til you walk out with me.

For we the people fight for freedom
While the cops just fight for pay
And as long as the truth is in our hearts
We’re sure to win someday.

Oh, I will not falter when the iron fist
Comes out of the velvet glove
I will stand beside you brother
And defend this land I love
I will stand beside you sister
And defend this land I love.

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