The Flobots understand the power of music on the masses and they use this power wisely. I recently joined them at fightwithtools.org. It’s a great place to meet music-loving, peace-minded activists of all ages. Come join and add me as a friend.

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Today I delivered my tenth speech at Agape Toastmasters and completed the requirements for a Competent Communication award. The speech is titled, “Stand In Your New School Power and Dare to Make a Difference” (if you don’t see a video above, click here to watch it on YouTube). I joined Toastmasters just over a year ago because I’ve always enjoyed public speaking and wanted to improve my skills and break out of my comfort zone.

I’ve been speaking to groups of people for about 16 years. However, most of my speaking has been somewhat informal, (i.e. leading small, intimate groups), or it’s been structured but based on a cirruculm (i.e. instructing classes at Long Beach City College). Although teaching, leading and speaking have always been rewarding to me, I felt like I was holding back on presenting passionately and daring to create my own presentations.

In my past year or so at Agape Toastmasters I feel like I’ve really broken out of the mold I was in and this presentation in particular was one of the most exhilarating, honest and enjoyable pieces of work I’ve ever had the privledge of delivering to a live audience.

In my mind, this is the beginning of my speaking career and I hope to have the opportunity to deliver this presentation and others like it to groups of leaders in various locations. Specifically I would like to speak to teachers, therapists, social workers, ministers and organizations who provide service to the community. My hope is to get paid as a presenter and to have the opportunity to sell my book, From Sabotage to Success.

Over the past 16 years I’ve worked at numerous non-profit agencies and I’ve met many educated, dedicated and warm-hearted people who yearn to make a difference in the world yet seem to be confined and stifled, not to mention overwhelmed. My hope is that I can help these leaders feel strong and powerful so they can do the work they’ve always dreamed of. In so doing, I will be fulfilling a dream of my own: to use my skills to make a positive difference in the world for those who need it most.

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If you have a saboteur like Puleza who’s stealing your power, purchase my book From Sabotage to Success and learn how to take your power back.

If you would like to book me to speak at your next event, please contact me at sherizampelli [at] gmail.com.

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.