Singing with Others as a Force for Spiritual Sustenance

In this 2024 conversation with Justine Wills Toms, Benjamin Merz, who is bi-racial, tells us that planting seeds of hope and compassion is the most important thing we can do in the face of oppression, negativity, terror, and injustice. Little compares to the powerful spiritual force of joining voices to harmonize in songs of freedom. It is a transformative occasion when done with the fullness of our being that creates a sense of communal solidarity. We become part of something larger than ourselves. When speaking of the Black spiritual musical tradition Mertz says, “You could take away someone's language, you could take away someone's clothing, their money, their culture, the world they had come from, but you could never take away the ability to create a song. All of this is about community. It's also a survival technique… And yet we sing it with joy. And we sing it with ebullience, buoyancy, and abundance. The music teaches us that through adversity there is strength to be found."

Benjamin Mertz is the Director of Diversity & Inclusion for the Berkeley Executive Coaching Institute (BECI). He serves on the board of directors of the Interfaith Movement for Human Integrity and is the founder and director of the Joyful Noise! Gospel Singers. He’s a composer, performer, and song leader who specializes in the music of the Black Spiritual tradition and is a human rights and racial justice activist.

• Climbing Up the Mountain (Benjamin Mertz 2019)
• I Dream: Joyful Noise! Gospel Singers (Joyful Noise! Gospel Singers 2020)

Interview Date: 5/13/2024     Tags: Benjamin Mertz, Michael Cochran, Sir Roland Hanna, The Drinking Gourd, Ysaye Barnwell, AME Church in Charleston, Ilana Simmons, Dr. Cornel West, Confederate monuments, Michele Norris, Africa, Kumbaya, Music, Social Change/Politics