Flobots - Anne Braden

LRC by lzh ,from jiangxi pingxiang

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From the color of the faces in Sunday songs

To the hatred they raised all the youngsters on

Once upon in this country long ago

She knew there was something wrong

Because the song said "Yellow, Red, Black, and White"

Everyone precious in the path of Christ

But what about the daughter of the woman cleaning their house?

Wasn't she a child they were singing 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 the ask the question?

Left lasting impressions, adolescence comforts gone

She never thought things would ever change but

She always knew there was something wrong

She always knew there was something wrong

She always knew there was something 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 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 them all off to jail

And they called it protective custody

And from her cell she heard her jailors grumblin' about outsiders

When she called them 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 its plainest just to say

I was a child in Mississippi but I'm ashamed of it today."

She always knew there was something wrong

She always knew there was something wrong

She always knew there was something wrong

She always knew there was something wrong

Imagine the world that you're standing within

All of your neighbors, your 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 lovin' them

Never stopped calling 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 something wrong

She always knew there was something wrong

She always knew there was something wrong

She always knew there was something wrong