Punk 2020 - Mohawk Not Required

What comes to mind when you think of “punk rock”?

Three-foot Mohawks, black leather jackets, combat boots, loud and fast music, aggression, anarchy, rebellion?

Yeah, it’s all those things. But it all really started with young people challenging the establishment, fighting for the freedom of thought, refusing to sell out their values, opposing the status quo, and embracing individual authenticity. They were fighting against a society that they saw as unequal, unjust, hypocritical, and asleep at the wheel. Sound familiar?

Today punk is more than a subculture, a genre of music, or a fashion style.

- A punk can wear a mohawk, a three-piece suit, or a dress.

- A punk can listen to rock n’ roll, classical, indie, hip-hop, rap, or talk radio.

- A punk can be a 12-year-old raising money to impact global climate change or a 75-year-old marching in an immigration rights rally.

Punk is a state of mind; it includes any individual who does not blindly follow the status quo and who questions the world around them.

We’re at a turning point in our country’s history. Critical decisions that we make now will change how and if we survive as a nation, as a global society. Can we continue to sit by and watch as income gaps widen, climate change continues to become a way of life and not just a theory, and race, gender, and religious freedoms become increasingly marginalized?

The power to make changes should not sit with the privileged few. Now, more than ever, your voice, your opinion, your vote matters.

Sometimes the fight is necessary. What will you stand against? 

Embrace the punk inside and define the future you want for yourself, your family, your friends, your world – before the establishment does that for you.

Daryl Sneed / Executive & Fashion Director

Natasha Goburduhn / SOUNDOFF Contributor

Suzanne Claussen / Editor