Springsteen Defends the Promised Land Against ICE’s “Gestapo Tactics”

Bruce Springsteen took a stand against the Trump administration’s authoritarian abuses last May, when he kicked off his European tour with a passionate denunciation of the president’s attacks on basic civil liberties, and decried a horrific moment in which the United States “is currently in the hands of a corrupt, incompetent and treacherous administration.” Today, Springsteen filed his complaint, with clarity that is all the more immediate and necessary.

Before launching into a fiery rendition of his 1978 classic “The Promised Land” at a Saturday night show in his home state of New Jersey, Springsteen directed the crowd’s attention to Minnesota, where, on Jan. 7, an ICE agent fatally shot Renee Nicole Good, a mother of three who loved singing, wrote poetry and demonstrated concern for her neighbors who embodied the spirit of Springsteen’s epic anthem to community and solidarity, “We take care of ours.

“I wrote [‘The Promised Land’] as an ode to American possibility – both to the beautiful but imperfect country that we are, and to the country that we could be,” Springsteen told the crowd. “Right now, we are living through incredibly critical times. The United States, and the ideals and values ​​it has defended for 250 years, are being tested like never before in modern times. These values ​​and ideals have never been more threatened than they are right away.»

The crowd roared in approval as Springsteen continued:

“So, as we gather together tonight in this beautiful display of love, care, thoughtfulness and community, if you believe in democracy and freedom, if you believe that the truth still matters, it is worth speaking out for. Gestapo against our citizens, if you think you don’t deserve to be murdered for exercising your American right to protest, then send a message to this president – as the mayor of this city said – ICE should fuck off with Minneapolis.

Above what had become thunderous applause, Springsteen announced: “This song is for you and in memory of a mother of three and American citizen, Renee Good.”

With that, Springsteen and his band burst into “The Promised Land,” a song about a storm that will “blast away the lies that only leave you lost and broken” and “blast away everything that doesn’t have the faith to hold on” — and how, against the storm and through it all, “I believe in a promised land.”

A few years ago, Springsteen summed up his mission as an artist in these terms: “I have spent my life judging the distance between American reality and the American dream. » The honesty with which Springsteen conducted this decades-long examination earned the songwriter the highest honors the entertainment industry and the nation can bestow. In addition to 20 Grammy Awards, two Golden Globes, an Oscar and a Special Tony Award for his critically acclaimed film Springsteen on Broadway shows, he is an inducted member of the Songwriters Hall of Fame and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. He also received the Kennedy Center Honor and, in 2016, the Presidential Medal of Freedom from President Barack Obama, who praised him for “joining us on his journey: asking all of us what work we need to do in our short time here.”

It was a fitting honor for a singer who, like Woody Guthrie and Pete Seeger before him, refused to give up the dream of a promised land to the crass machinations of billionaire investors and the crooked politicians who serve them. “There is a real patriotism behind the best of my music,” Springsteen once said, “but it is a critical, questioning and often angry patriotism.”

There are many artists who mellow as they age.

Not Springsteen.

With his denunciation of ICE violence in Minneapolis, he was once again as critical, questioning, angry and, yes, patriotic as the times demand.