Anne Braden chords by Flobots

SimplifiedAm · B · C · Bm · G

GuitarPianoUkulele

Verse 1

[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.

Verse 2
Am 
From the color of the faces
Bm 
in Sunday songs
C 
To the hatred they raised
all the youngsters on
Am 
Bm 
Once upon a time in this country, long ago
C 
She knew there was
something wrong
Am 
Because the song said "yellow,
B 
red, black, and white
C 
Every one precious in the path of Christ"
Am 
But what about the daughter
Bm 
Of the woman cleaning their house?
C 
Wasn't she a child they were
singin' about?
Am 
And if Jesus

New- Play with audio & scroll
Upgrade to play 20,000+ songs ads free, and enjoy playing with music.
Get now
Verse 3
B 
loves us, black
and white skin
C 
Why didn't her white mother
invite them in?
Am 
When did it become a room
Bm 
C 
for no blacks to step in?
How did she already know not
Am 
to ask the question?
C 
Left lasting impressions
At a lesson, comfort's gone
Am 
Bm 
She never thought things would ever change
B 
C 
Am 
But she always knew there was
something wrong

Verse 4

Always knew there was

somethin' wrong.

She always knew there

was somethin' wrong

Verse 5
Am 
G 
Am 
Bm 
Years later, she found herself
C 
Mississippi bound to help
Am 
Bm 
Stop the legalized lynching
C 
of Mr. Willy McGee
Am 
But they couldn't stop it
C 
So they thought that they'd talk to the
governor about what'd happened
Am 
Bm 
And say, "We're tired of being used as
C 
Am 
an excuse to kill black men"
B 
But the cops wouldn't let 'em past
C 
And these wo men,
they struck 'em as uppity
Am 
B 
So they hauled 'em all off to jail
C 
And they called in protective custody
Am 
Then from her

Verse 6
cell
B 
She heard her jailers
C 
Grumblin' about "outsiders"
Am 
When she called 'em out
Bm 
C 
And said she was from the south,
they shouted,
G 
Am 
"Why is  a nice,
Bm 
C 
Southern lady makin' trouble
For the governor?"
Am 
She said, "I guess I'm not
Bm 
your type of lady
C 
And I guess I'm not
your type of Southerner
Am 
Bm 
But be  fore you call me traitor,
C 
Well it's plain as just to say
Am 
I was a child in Mississippi
B 
G 
C 
But I'm ashamed of it today"
Am 
She always

Verse 7
C 
knew there was
Am 
Bm 
C 
somethin' wrong
Am 
G 
C 
She always knew there was somethin'
G 
Am 
B 
C 
Am 
wrong
C 
She always knew there
Am 
C 
was somethin' wrong
Am 
C 
G 
C 
She always knew there was somethin'
Am 
wrong
C 
([spoken] And, all of a sudden,
G 
Am 
I realized I was on the other side)

Verse 8
Imagine the world that you're
standing within
All of your neighbors,
they're family-friends
How 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

Verse 9
Am 
It was painful,
Bm 
but she never stopped loving them
C 
G 
Never stopped callin' their names
C 
Am 
And she never stopped being
B 
Bm 
a Southern woman
C 
And she never stopped
fighting for change
Am 
And she saw that her struggle was
Bm 
C 
in the tradition of ancestors
G 
never aware of her
C 
Am 
It continues today:
B 
Bm 
C 
The soul of a Southerner
Bm 
Am 
born of the other America

Verse 10
Am 
C 
She always knew there was
Am 
C 
somethin' wrong
Am 
C 
She always knew there was somethin'
Am 
Bm 
C 
wrong
Am 
C 
She always knew there
Am 
C 
was somethin' wrong
Am 
C 
She always knew there was
Am 
somethin' wrong

Verse 11
Am 
[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,
Bm 
C 
Am 
B 
G 
C 
Am 
B 
Bm 
C 
Am 
B 
C 
Am 
Bm 
G 
C 
Am 
B 
Bm 
C 
Am 
B 
C 
G 
C 
Am 
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!