Anne Braden Lyrics - Fight With Tools - Flobots

[Spoken] 

What I've realized since is that it's a very painful process but it is not destructive. It's the road to liberation. The 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. 

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 in 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] And, all of a sudden, I realized I was on the other side) 

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] 

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 (????? "oooh, ooooh"). 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!