Watch Drive-By Truckers' Video for Their Activist Rallying Cry "Surrender Under Protest"

Drive-By Truckers chose a fitting day to release a political video for their power-to-the-people single “Surrender Under Protest.”

The song was written about activists’ (successful!) efforts to compel the South Carolina Statehouse to stop flying the Confederate flag. It resonates more broadly with all modern racial justice and social movements.

The song is an activist rallying cry; it demands that we fight until we are forced to surrender: “Surrender under protest if you must.” Appropriately, the video features Black Lives Matter protest footage and shows activists getting arrested by the police.

Interspersed with these shots is video of the band performing outside a tall, austere highway complex. It’s a brutal background that fits the tough, vehement lyrics.

“Surrender Under Protest” is taken from Drive-By-Truckers’ new album American Band. The whole album is deeply political; read their discussion with Paste about it here, and our review of the album here.

Watch the “Surrender Under Protest” video above and listen to Paste Cloud audio from the band’s 2010 Daytrotter session below.

Watch Drive-By Truckers’ Video for Their Activist Rallying Cry “Surrender Under Protest”