By Jamie Lynn Connors
Making his first EP was difficult for Morristown High grad Kevin Connor.
Instead of heading to the studio, he recorded all his songs in his dorm room. That is, after his roommate already had gone to class. Hunched over his laptop, he sang quietly enough so his neighbors at the Temple University wouldn’t overhear.
Verified on Spotify and just shy of 1,000 monthly listeners, Connor now is using his platform to spread awareness of injustice and encourage donations to non-profit organizations.
This month the 21-year-old artist released a split EP with alternative rock band Royal Wedding titled NO LIVES MATTER UNTIL BLACK LIVES MATTER. The digital album features four singles and is priced at $1.
All proceeds will be donated to Color of Change, a national racial justice organization.
The Trust Fund Kids, Connor’s musical project, contributed Endless Eye and Subterranean to the EP. Royal Wedding released Dank Kevin and Shimmer Shade.
Connor, a 2017 graduate of Morristown High, said he the way Color of Change is fighting systemic racism.
“They’re working on how it’s affecting people in the present and how it will continue to affect people,” he said.
Police killings of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor and other African-Americans have stirred a national outpouring of protests, petitions and donations. Connor said he wanted to join the fight for justice and equality.
“Socioeconomic and racial divides have been on my mind for years ,” Connor said. “The way in which race and class have been intertwined to hurt…black people has pissed me off for quite some time.
“Sometimes people realize via the more blatant acts, like straight up murder, that a nasty network of classism and racism lurks beneath every inch of this country.”
He titled his project The Trust Fund Kids to mock his privilege as a “middle class white kid from New Jersey.”
Connor is offering free EP’s to those who cannot afford it, if they sign petitions or watch Zoe Amira’s hour-long YouTube video showcasing works by black artists.
According to the video, the ad revenue will support Black Lives Matter and associations that help pay for funerals and protester bail funds.
With the help of mixing engineer Lucas Kozinski, Connor has released two albums and a variety of EP’s and singles. Most of his tunes are indie and pop-rock, but his music also explores alternative rock, art rock, garage pop, indie folk, and more.
Although initially insecure about his music, he said he feels blessed that it has been so well-received.
“It’s like having a derelict radio that starts receiving transmissions,” Connor said.
You guys totally missed the point of my post and are again going tit for tat with copy paste Democrat talking points as if I prescribed any solutions or in fact was somehow on the opposing team you are on. Why do people have to be tribal over everything? Why are you assuming I am a Republican for criticizing a website for political bias? I dont trust Republicans just as much as I dont trust Democrats. As if it matters at all, I am actually a registered Democrat who is straight down the middle and you wouldnt be able to guess my opinions on any issues by affiliation alone. The point is this is a local news paper that should be reporting local news, not an opinion column. Even Fox has news and opinion clearly separated! I think they should either disclose their bias and go all in far left propaganda or stop with the bias and stick to news. It is deceptive and outright frustrating to see a local newspaper propping up far left propagandists and prescribing solutions to problems with giving donations to people who actually dont care at all about the people they say they do and give their money to the DNC. Could you imagine the outrage if Morristown Green wrote an article about a group of trump supporters against police brutality were going to march through town and please send donations to the Republican party? How is this any different whatsoever when the shoe is on the other foot?
Ha, this guy over here doing exactly what he accuses others of doing, basically regurgitating an episode of the Tucker Carlson show.
These days, it’s so easy to find the bad people.
They hate “anti-fascists” (which makes them… what?)
They hate “social justice” (and who wants a world without social justice?)
Hi Concerned Morristown Resident. I REALLY want you to take a minute, put yourself in the shoes of a black person, and then re-read your post. That’s what empathy looks like. My BLACK life may come up in your politics, but this has nothing to do with politics to me. Left or right. I applaud you for standing against police brutality but I… I am fighting for my life. So yes, a systemic change is necessary if the system on which it was but was wrong to begin with. Policing did not begin to “Protect and Serve” people like me. And the training, procedures, policies, and laws around policing have made it clear that it still isn’t there to serve full communities who look like me.
It is a PRIVILEGE that you GET to disagree with the policy on how to solve these problems. Unfortunately, my skin color doesn’t afford me that. And I know great officers!
And yes, I don’t deny that it always seems to hit its stride during an election year (which hurts me more because I am black EVERYDAY) but I will take any opportunity to SURVIVE. I’m just trying to live, forget prospering.
Furthermore, did YOU do your own research on the policy proposal or did you just do what you have accused this article of doing? Please do research. https://www.thecut.com/2020/06/what-does-defund-the-police-mean-the-phrase-explained.html
I do mine and KNOW exactly who I am dealing with in the Democratic and Republican parties. My eyes are open. And free press is exactly that: free press.
This website has gone from an informative local column I used to love to overt divisive radical left wing propaganda. Why does a local newspaper have to promulgate division in the community by blindly parroting talking points of the Democratic Party? Does anyone do their own research and think for themselves anymore, or is everything about virtue signaling for social credit points? Issues pushed down to their allies in the corporate mainstream media blindly read from a script are not helping to inform and bring the Morristown community together, and are in fact causing the other half of the town who are fully decent inclusive loving Americans to feel excluded and alienated because they don’t agree with the policy prescriptions on how to solve these problems. Everyone is against racism, but what does that have to do with giving money to radical groups like BLM and bailing out rioters? We have crossed the line here from standing in solidarity against police brutality with our fellow Americans and now gone into pure DNC propaganda masquerading as empathy. Look, if you only want to write your articles for the Democrats of Morristown, and report everything through a biased lens, then go ahead, be my guest, that is fully within your rights. However, people are noticing constant political bias, the constant censored comments, and are getting tired of it. I’m saying this as a person who cares about having a good local news source and I don’t want to see it be taken over by radical identitarian propagandists. I can almost guarantee that this comment is going to be censored, but I know someone at least will read it. Please consider my comment and do this for the betterment of Morristown, or I and others will be forced to look to a new source. Thanks.
I am greatly encouraged by the talented and gracious manner in which Kevin Connor is using his intelligence and artistic talents to foster much need consciousness-raising for white people to learn about the insidious nature of White Privilege. White Privilege is so deeply embedded in the unconscious of all white people and so destructive to black citizens and people of color that any efforts to shine a light of truth on it most often causes extreme discomfort and massive denial on the part of white people. My greatest hope and encouragement is to see young people like Kevin actually doing something about it to help educate us white people about how our Racial biases influence everything– the political, economic, and social– to the detriment of black people and communities of color. Kudos to you, Kevin, keep it up.