South Bend musician using voice to advocate for gun control

SOUTH BEND, Ind. – A South Bend worship leader is using his singing and piano skills to advocate for gun control.

Emorja Roberson, the choir director at Olivet African Methodist Episcopal Church and Indiana University South Bend, wrote a song after a school shooting left 17 students and teachers dead in Parkland, Florida last month.

Roberson’s song is titled “How Would It Be.” In the song Roberson asks a series of questions, wondering what life would be like if gun violence didn’t exist.

“One day I was at the piano and I said, ‘How would it be?’, and so I just started having these questions,” said Roberson. “There’s no particular scheme for it. It’s just from my heart because we sometimes wonder what it would be like if I didn’t have to live this life where I’m always on edge.”

Roberson posted the video last week to social media. As of Tuesday, it’s racked up 1,700 views and 25 shares on Facebook.

“What I really want for them to take away from this is that when it comes down to us as human beings, we have lives, things matter,” said Roberson. “It’s not just Black lives, it’s not just White lives, or Hispanic. We all have a reason for being on this earth and so as long as you’re here, be kind to someone because you never know what they’re thinking mentally.”

He said here in Michiana, he wants this song to not only inspire others, but also let local leaders know that their constituents want change.

“It’s so sad because a lot of people who live here are used to this and so sort of pass it along because it’s common,” said Roberson. “So I really hope that something in politics can be down in our own town that can be changed when it comes down to the easy access of guns.”

Roberson believes in gun control, but understands not everyone agrees with that idea. However he hopes people can agree something needs to change.

“People always say it’s not always the guns, it’s the people carrying the guns,” said Roberson. “Either way it needs to be solved in some kind of manner because if we don’t we won’t have very many people left in our world because it’s so normal to get a gun. It’s so easy to shoot someone and kill them, and I don’t think people understand when you kill them, they’re not coming back.”