Lots of entertainers "talk the talk" but don't "walk the walk" when it comes to community activism or changing the world. Flobots use their musical platform to send a message on stage and off. Their recent album
Fight With Tools has a strong activist message, shedding light on discrimination and abuse of power. Flobots aren't satisfied simply to entertain you by complaining about what's wrong in our world, they want to get under your skin and provoke you to take action. Listening to this CD regularly will likely stir something within you.
When they're not out on the road playing music, they're hard at work on their non-profit group,
Flobots.Org. They are creating Street Teams across the country that are focused on bettering their community and the lives around them.
Flobots are gearing up to have their first National conference Dec. 30 - Jan. 1. They recently launched Donation Incentive Packages, where you can not only donate to a worthy cause but get some cool exclusive gear including their official flag bandanas, exclusive .org shirts and limited edition posters. All of their gear is screenprinted in Denver by IndyInk, and designed by artist D.J. Coffman (Flobot13). For information about their non-profit group or how you can get involed, visit
Flobots.Org.
Anne Braden, a song about a white civil rights activist who stood up for her convictions despite opposition and ridicule, was
featured in a previous blog. Given the recent election of Obama and the level of respect many American's have for Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., I can't help but think a lot of people would be moved by the lyrics of this song and several others on this CD.
It's available now on iTunes.
Anne Braden by The Flobots
[Spoken words of Anne Braden]
What I've realized since is that it's a very painful process but it is not destructive. It's the world deliberation. And what really happened in the sixties was that this country took just the first step toward admitting that it had been wrong on race, and creativity burst out in all directions.
[Singing/rapping begins]
From the color of the faces in Sunday songs
To the hatred they raised all the youngsters on
Once upon a time in this country, long ago
She knew there was something wrong
Because the song said "yellow, red, black, and white
Every one precious in the path of Christ"
But what about the daughter
Of the woman cleaning their house?
Wasn't she a child they were singin' about?
And if Jesus loves us, black and white skin
Why didn't her white mother invite them in?
When did it become a room for no blacks to step in?
How did she already know not to ask the question?
Left lasting impressions
At a lesson, comfort's gone (?)
She never thought things would ever change,
But she always knew there was something wrong.
Always knew there was somethin' wrong.
She always knew there was somethin' wrong.
Years later, she found herself
Mississippi bound to help
Stop the legalized lynching of Mr. Willy McGee.
But they couldn't stop it,
So they thought that they'd talk to the governor about what'd happened
And say, "We're tired of being used as an excuse to kill black men."
But the cops wouldn't let 'em past
And these women, they struck 'em as uppity
So they hauled 'em all off to jail
And they called it 'protective custody'.
Then from her cell
She heard her jailers
Grumblin' about "outsiders".
When she called 'em out
And said she was from the south, they shouted,
"Why is a nice, Southern lady makin' trouble
For the governor?"
She said, "I guess I'm not your type of lady,
And I guess I'm not your type of Southerner,
But before you call me traitor,
Well it's plain as just to say (?)
I was a child in Mississippi
but I'm ashamed of it today."
She always knew there was somethin' wrong.
She always knew there was somethin' wrong.
She always knew there was somethin' wrong.
She always knew there was somethin' wrong.
[Spoken words of Anne Braden] And, all of a sudden, I realized I was on the other side
[Singing/rapping continues]
Imagine the world that you're standing within
All of your neighbors, they're family-friends.
How would you cope facing the fact
The flesh on their hands was tainted with sin?
She faced this every day.
People she saw on a regular basis;
People she loved, in several cases;
People she knew were incredibly racist.
It was painful, but she never stopped loving them,
Never stopped callin' their names
And she never stopped being a Southern woman
And she never stopped fighting for change.
And she saw that her struggle was
in the tradition of ancestors never aware of her
It continues today:
The soul of a Southerner
born of the other America.
She always knew there was somethin' wrong.
She always knew there was somethin' wrong.
She always knew there was somethin' wrong.
She always knew there was somethin' wrong.
[Spoken words of Anne Braden]
What you win in the immediate battles is little compared to the effort you put into it but if you see that as a part of this total movement to build a new world, you know what could be (??). You do have a choice. You don't have to be a part of the world of the lynchers. You can join the other America. There is another America!
Find out more about Anne Braden on Wikipedia.
Upon reading the article by Jocelyn Y. Stewart, I learned that Ms. Height was "Often the only woman at strategy meetings with the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. and other leaders, she was a determined voice pressing the importance of issues affecting women and children, such as child care and education." Dorothy Height's "initiatives included training thousands of women --housewives, teachers, office workers, students -- to work as community advocates."
I want to highlight Dorothy Height's life here because I think she leaves behind a powerful message of serving fearlessly and claiming your place in leadership. Her story is a reminder to me to keep my focus on the greater good and to continually do my part in creating positive change in my world even if that effort goes unnoticed or is unpopular to some.
President Obama says it eloquently in his closing words of her eulogy, "Dorothy Height was a drum major for justice, a drum major for equality, a drum major for service. And the lesson she would want us to leave with today...is that we can all be first in service. We can all be drum majors for a righteous cause. Let us honor her life by changing this country for the better as long as we are blessed to live. May God bless Dr. Dorothy Height and the union that she made more perfect."
