Grant Us Peace

Note: This is an old blog that was originally posted on the now-defunct spiritandsong.com back in the mid-2000s. I am reposting it here on my personal blog site because people still ask me about this song. 

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It was April 1992. The four LAPD officers who were on trial for the beating of Rodney King received their verdict from a courtroom in Simi Valley, California: not guilty! A predominantly white jury had acquitted the white officers of all charges of violence against the African-American motorist they had pulled over. The reaction from the black community was shock and disbelief, and this anger erupted almost overnight into a full-scale riot that decimated the city.  

The Los Angeles Riots would last for several days, and the extensive media coverage shocked the world. By the time it was over there were 53 deaths, over 2000 injured, and almost $1 billion in material damage. Stores were looted and buildings were set on fire as anarchy ruled. 

The riots of Los Angeles inspired similar uprisings in the Bay Area. An angry San Francisco mob displayed their solidarity with LA by tipping cars over and smashing windows in downtown storefronts. At the time, I was rehearsing with my band, Serious Children, in the heart of Oakland. We were an inter-racial punk pop band and I had just joined them as bass player. After a couple of hours of jamming, we turned on the TV and were amazed at the destruction that was going on in Los Angeles and San Francisco. Suddenly, there was Rodney King himself, facing the cameras.

"Can we just try and get along?" he implored. Here was the man whose beating at the hands of the police was the source of all the civic unrest. Now he was pleading for peace. It was a heart-wrenching moment. I quickly wiped the tears from my eyes so my bandmates wouldn't notice, but they were crying, too.

I drove home carefully around midnight. My bandmates pleaded for me to spend the night with them at their rehearsal studio because it would surely be unsafe to drive Oakland that late. But I wanted to get home. I lived in a warehouse in a somewhat dangerous neighborhood near Alameda and I felt a responsibility to get home and see if my roommates were okay. 

The streets of Oakland were deserted. Police cars were everywhere, red lights blaring. At one point a patrol car drove up next to my truck and the officer shined a light on me. I rolled down my window and told him I was going home. He nodded and zoomed down the street.

I felt horrible about the riots and felt helpless. I wanted to do something, anything, to help make the world a better place, but I was just one person, a punk rock musician, no less. What could one man do?

I prayed. This was during my prodigal time and I hadn't really prayed for a long time, but as I drove back to my warehouse I prayed for peace. That's what Los Angeles needed now. The closing words of the Lamb of God prayer at Mass kept circling in my head: "Grant us peace, grant us peace . . ." By the time I got to my warehouse I had set the words to a new anthem-like melody:

Grant us peace. 

Grant us peace.

Only love can make us free.

Grant us peace.

So I had the beginnings of a song. It was simple, but sometimes simplicity is the best way to go. I didn't know what I was going to do with it because I wasn't involved with the Church at the time. I was making punk rock, not liturgical music! But I stored my new song in the back of my head, and the catchy melody insured I would never forget it.

Fast forward about a year and a half. I had just met Jesse Manibusan, and we were asked to lead the music at the Diocese of Oakland's annual youth rally. By this time, I had made my return to the Church and to youth ministry. Jesse and I were at a liturgy planning meeting and we tossed around ideas for the Communion Song. We wanted to do something new and exciting that the teens could get into. I suddenly remembered "Grant Us Peace" and played it for Jesse from memory. I had no verses yet, but Jesse liked it and encouraged me to finish the song. I did within a week, and we sang it at the youth rally, and in several other youth events over the next couple of years. The song was always received enthusiastically.

And then, I forgot all about "Grant Us Peace" as I started composing more new music, including all the songs that eventually went on the Love Never FailsCD that Jesse and I produced in 2003. "Grant Us Peace" was buried in my music files until OCP began working on the Never Too Youngmusic resource for students in grades 4-8.  The editors asked if I had anything new.

So I dusted off "Grant Us Peace" and was amazed at how well the old song stood the test of time. In fact, with so much war and hatred in the world, the message of peace is just as valid today as it was in 1992. Lord, grant us peace!