Una Walkenhorst Talks About Greenline Grows KC
GREENLINE GROWS KC - A LIVESTREAM BENEFIT FOR THE GREENLINE INITIATIVE
FRIDAY, AUGUST 28TH
Greenline Grows KC is a livestream benefit for the Greenline Initiative — a Black family-owned organization in Kansas City that uses crowdsourced funding to help historically marginalized and low income populations in our city buy and renovate the houses they rent. Operating out of Kansas City’s 3rd District, the initiative works to build permanent community and generational wealth in formerly redlined neighborhoods.
Manor Records’ Khrystal Coppage sat down and talked with Una Walkenhorst about her musical background and why people should tune in on Friday, August 28th.
What are your earliest memories of your love for music?
It's hard to pick since music has always been a part of my life and my family. My parents have a home video of me in preschool, where my dad has come to my classroom to play holiday songs for my class. I'm singing with him in front of everyone and I just look SUPER thrilled and proud of myself! I also have a lot of memories of just sitting around singing Beatles songs with my dad while he played guitar, or trying to write songs in my room at 7 or 8, but having nothing to record with so I'd just draw peaks or drops on a line for where my voice was supposed to go "up" or "down".
Who are your musical inspirations/influences?
I grew up listening to a lot of folk music (Bob Dylan, Mimi & Richard Farina), then started finding things I liked on my own around middle school, discovering bands like Rilo Kiley and The New Pornographers. I've always been very inspired by singer-songwriters like Neko Case or Bright Eyes - folks who could find a way to perfectly encapsulate a feeling in words, or create metaphors with everyday imagery. But my all time favorites, who I was very late to the party for, are Elliott Smith & Fiona Apple. I did a deep dive into both their discographies when I was touring in 2015, driving through the desert and mountains going through each album carefully. They are both so human and creative and brilliant, and they are masters or turning pain and loneliness into something magic and beautiful.
In combining your love of music, and your love for helping people, what challenges have you faced? What victories?
In the last two or three years, my view of how I should use my music has really changed. People like Maggie Rogers, Mary Gauthier, & Fiona Apple have shown me that you can make beautiful music, then use that platform to try to help those around you or better your community. My parents, and particularly my mom, raised me to always be active in fighting for social justice, to stand up for what is right, and to recognize my privilege. Bringing that into my music career seemed like the natural thing to do.
While music and the work around it has become increasingly meaningful, I've definitely run into challenges. When you make the decision to not put up with racism, sexism, transphobia, sexual predators, abusers, etc. in your industry, a lot of doors close - some closed by me, some by others. I put a lot of time and effort into vetting venues, bands I play with, folks I support - because it MATTERS if the guy in the opening band is a rapist or if the venue you're playing features bands who are openly white supremacists. If you can say you're anti-racist, if you say you're against sexual violence, in my opinion, you have to follow through, and that means you're going to piss off some people who don't want to admit things about their friends, or who don't want to stop playing at a convenient venue.
BUT, the victories are so much more victorious. The last big benefit I put on in 2019, Survivors' Stories: Stand Against Sexual Violence, was probably the most powerful night of my life. We brought all these folks together who had been through such intense trauma, and we were all able to turn it into this massive shared power, while raising money for MOCSA, which provides services to survivors all around the metro area. So, I guess both the highs and the lows of the job have increased since adding this community element to it. I've spent a lot of time crying over extremely moving messages from kind, wonderful people who are doing the work, and I've cried over horrible messages from people who are mad at me for using my voice the way I do - but the former happens much more often.
What attracted you to the Greenline Initiative and wanting to aid Ajia Morris and her husband in their mission to restore urban areas at equitable rates for the current residents?
Ajia has been a family friend for many years now. She and my mom worked together helping homeless youth in the KCMO school district, and she has always been one of the most impressive, hardest working people I've known. After the uprisings in support of the Movement for Black Lives, I knew I needed to put my music on hold and focus on helping however I could. At the same time, Ajia & Chris were moving forward with The Greenline Initiative and looking for more funding. As I had done a few low-stakes fundraising livestreams playing in my bedroom during the pandemic, my mom suggested I do one to help Ajia. But the more I thought about it, the more it seemed like there was a larger opportunity there. I started reaching out to all the amazing people I know around town (including the always incredible Khrystal <3 ), and before I knew it the whole thing blew up into this big, fantastic, livestream party.
What are your hopes for the Greenline Initiative Concert as it pertains to slowing down the practice of redlining in the Kansas City Metro Area?
I think there are a lot of folks in our city who probably don't even know what redlining is, or think that it's over and done with. Along with raising funds for The Greenline Initiative, which is our main goal, I hope white people and non-black people in general in our city take a moment to assess our privilege. Privilege is not something you've done wrong, it doesn't make you a bad person - It just means that you may not have been through all the same things as someone else, that maybe you have a blind spot. I've been through hurt and trauma and hardship in my life, but none of it was because of the color of my skin, and for that, I am privileged. I have not had to experience eviction firsthand, I have the safety net of having two stable parents, and for those things, I am privileged. When we DO have privilege - whether that's being cisgender, white, a man, able-bodied, etc. - I personally think it should be our duty as humans to help those without these privileges, and try to knock down the barriers that make it necessary for us to help in the first place.
If you could imagine a perfect world what would it look like?
The opposite of 2020? Haha Hmmm, I think it really all just starts with more empathy. More empathy, less ignorance, no billionaires, fair voting, free healthcare, no mass incarceration, and power given to the people. I think that would be my start. Also, maybe I could talk to animals.
Tune in to Greenline Grows KC this Friday, August 28th at 7 p.m. by live-streaming via Facebook and YouTube.
Article by ::
Khrystal Coppage
Staff Writer & Manor Artist
Manor Records gives 100% of article author rights to Khrystal Coppage.