"American Skin (41 Shots)" is a song written by Bruce Springsteen, inspired by the police shooting and death of Amadou Diallo by four NYPD police officers who were subsequently acquitted on all charges.
The performance of the song was seen as controversial and led to boycotts and a call from the then Mayor of New York for Springsteen to not perform the song. Despite this, the song was performed throughout a ten date residency at Madison Square Garden, and has been performed on a number of subsequent tours, often dedicated to recent victims of police violence.
Background
Springsteen wrote the song following the killing of an unarmed 23-year-old Guinean student, Amadou Diallo in the early morning of 4th February 1999. Diallo was fired upon by four NYPD plainclothes officers, part of the City's Street Crime Unit (SCU). The officers had mistaken Diallo for a suspected rapist and Diallo had reached into his pocket to produce his wallet containing ID.
One officer opened fire at Diallo, believing him to be reaching for a firearm, and the recoil from the gun caused the officer to fall backwards. This led the other three officers to believe their partner had been shot, at which point they fired their weapons at Diallo. Between them, the four officers fired 41 shots with semi-automatic pistols, killing Diallo in seconds.
The four officers were initially charged with second-degree murder but would be acquitted of all charges at trial in February 2000. However unrest and indignation continued following the verdict. A wrongful death suit was brought against the City of New York resulting in an out of court settlement for the Diallo family. The case also saw more public awareness of the activities of police units such as the SCU. Racial profiling and excessive force complaints continued to grow until the city disbanded the SCU as an active unit in 2002.
|author = Springsteen, on his approach to writing the song's lyrics
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In the first episode of the Renegades: Born in the USA podcast with President Barack Obama, Springsteen stated that the killing of Amadou Diallo had led him to think about White privilege, stating that "this incident occurs and I start to think about it and I go, 'OK skin, skin is destiny', it’s like what a privilege it is to forget that you live in a particular body."
The song's verses are written from different points of view. The first verse is written from the perspective of the police officers,
In the days before the New York concerts, a major controversy arose when rumors circulated that the band would perform the song in New York. As such, both the Presidents of the Patrolmen's Benevolent Association and the City's Police Commissioner called for a boycott of Springsteen's shows.
thumb|right|Rudy Giuliani speaking in 2000. Giuliani requested that Springsteen not perform the song at any of his New York shows.
The Mayor of New York city, Rudy Giuliani, who had praised the officers involved in the Diallo shooting, condemned Springsteen during a rally on June 12, and publicly requested that he not play the song in New York. Giuliani seemingly referenced the acquittal of the four officers earlier that year, stating that "there are still people trying to create the impression that the police officers are guilty, and they are going to feel strongly about that." The comments the Mayor and various police groups led to some police officers refusing to provide security for the band and a rally of hundreds of police officers against the songs performance. While the criticism and accusations of the song being anti-police continued, the song was praised by others. Springsteen maintained that the accusations were misinterpreting the song and that its message was not anti-police but anti-brutality. Notably, the mother of Amadou Diallo, Kadiatou Diallo praised the song, stating that it was a sign people cared about her son which restored her faith in society.
Springsteen has stated that the negative response of some police officers to the performance would last for years, stating that "We took a lot of heat from the police for several years after that. There were some police officers giving us the New Jersey state bird, which I always felt was a result of not listening to it."
Later performances
In later performances, Springsteen has dedicated the song to victims of violent killings. Notably, Springsteen performed the song just three days after the man who had fatally shot Trayvon Martin, George Zimmerman, was acquitted of second-degree murder, at his concert in Thomond Park, Limerick, Ireland. Springsteen introduced the song by saying "I want to send this one out as a letter back home. For justice for Trayvon Martin".