Sly & the Family Stone – Stand (1969) (Stonewall Inn jukebox, June 28, 1969)

One of the inspirational songs on the jukebox at the Stonewall Inn on the night of the uprising that jumpstarted the modern LGBTQ rights movement.

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In the early morning hours of June 28, 1969, the LGBTQ community of New York City fought back against years of police oppression.

After the police raided the Stonewall Inn that night, one of the city’s Mafia-owned gay bars, and roughed up some of the patrons they were arresting, a crowd gathered outside the bar and decided they were fed up with police harassment. They began throwing coins and bricks at the vastly outnumbered cops, who barricaded themselves inside the bar for their own safety.

Several nights of violent protests followed, which led to the formation of gay activist groups by Greenwich Village residents and a much more confrontational gay rights movement than had ever existed before. The nation’s first Gay Pride marches were held one year later on June 28, 1970 in New York City, San Francisco, Chicago, and Los Angeles to commemorate the Stonewall Rebellion.

An inspirational song on the jukebox at the Stonewall Inn that night was “Stand!” (1969) by Sly & the Family Stone. It was the title track to their latest album, which had hit stores less than two months before on May 3, 1969.

Written and produced by Sly Stone, “Stand!” was the album’s first advance single, released earlier that March. One of the group’s most overtly political songs of their career, its lyrics were virtually a manifesto for the Stonewall uprising:

“Stand / There's a cross for you to bear / Things to go through if you're going anywhere / Stand / For the things you know are right / It's the truth that the truth makes them so uptight / Stand / You've been sitting much too long / There's a permanent crease in your right and wrong / Stand / There's a midget standing tall / And a giant beside him about to fall / Stand!”

Further info:

“50 Years Later, What We Forgot About Stonewall,” New York Times, June 4, 2019.

“Songs of The Original STONEWALL Club Jukebox,” compiled by Stonewall Veterans Association Founder and Director Willson Lee Henderson.

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