I Will Stand With You

I'm Heather Wertheimer of Shantala. Here's the story of this song and the video project.

The same week George Floyd was murdered in spring of 2020, a friend of mine was verbally attacked because of her color when she was driving in the streets of her city. These events led me to write and record this song called "I Will Stand With You."

To create the song video, I consulted with Ayisha Elliott, who is an advisor on Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (www.blackgirlfromeugene.org). Ayisha and her son are survivors of police violence after being attacked in Eugene, Oregon. Ayisha was badly hurt and had a very long recovery from the assault.

I invited Ayisha to tell her story as part of the video. She felt that the most effective way to tell her story was to film a reenactment of what happened to her and her son. Portland filmmaker Elijah Hasan filmed the reenactment of Ayisha’s story as a very powerful way to help people get inside her experience. Ayisha portrayed herself in the short film called "Help Wanted."

Cast from "Help Wanted" (in order of appearance)
Ronald Smith as Ayisha’s son
Ayisha Elliott as herself
Police officers:
Christopher Massey
Marty Beaudet
Matthew Woodman
Dan Kyle

Musicians
Heather Wertheimer on vocals and guitar
Benjy Wertheimer on piano and keyboards
Tyia Wilson on vocals
Bibi McGill on electric guitar
Morgan Doctor on drum kit
Jared May on bass

Karen Bayard, whose Facebook video inspired me to write the song in 2020, appears in the video as well. Friends provided photos of themselves holding signs with anti-racist messages that were included in the video.

"I Will Stand With You" song video was produced and edited by Elijah Hasan.

"Help Wanted" was filmed and produced by Elijah Hasan. Executive Producer is Heather Wertheimer of Shantala. Associate Producer is Marty Beaudet.

Here is a link to view "Help Wanted:"
   • Help Wanted  

Funding was provided by the Regional Arts and Culture Council and our supporters on GoFundMe: https://www.gofundme.com/f/i-will-sta...

Here is a link to download a free MP3 of the song from our website: https://shantalamusic.com/store/i-wil...

Here is a link to stream the song on Spotify:
https://open.spotify.com/track/2UAKik...

www.shantalamusic.com