Anne Braden
Flobots Song Lyrics

[Spoken]

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.

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

Adolescent's 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 cathedral you're building when you put your stone in.

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!