Writer and performer [Erin McKeown](http://www.Erinmckeown.com) attended the Facing Race conference over the weekend and spoke to Colorlines.com editorial director Kai Wright about her new song "The Jailer." McKeown’s song "The Jailer" about the U.S.-Mexico border wall premiered on NPR Monday morning. [Erin McKeown tells NPR about the inspiration for the song:](http://www.npr.org/blogs/allsongs/2012/11/15/165232641/song-premiere-erin-mckeown-the-jailer) > "Last year, I took a trip to Nogales, Arizona to see the wall being built between the U.S. and Mexico. I was struck by how it appeared to be a violent spine rising out of the beautiful desert. While standing next to it, I asked our guide, a local charter school teacher, why the wall was made of long columns of steel set close to each other, not a solid surface like other borders I’d seen. "They built it so the water could get through," he said. This got me thinking about the toll a wall takes on the hearts of those it divides and on the soul of the builder of the wall." [Visit NPR.com to listen to McKeown’s song ‘The Jailer.’](http://www.npr.org/blogs/allsongs/2012/11/15/165232641/song-premiere-erin-mckeown-the-jailer) Erin McKeown’s album, MANIFESTRA, comes out January 15.