Talib Kweli, Dream Defenders - Turn Down For What? Turn Up For The Dream Defenders lyrics

I write this as I sit in the
Florida office of Governor Rick Scott
Live from the capitol it is 4am and
I am writing to the sound
Of a sleeping giant i decided to
Spend the night here with the
Dream Defenders
A student based activist group that
Organized around the George
Zimmerman trial and is pushing
To change Florida’s
Legislation to reflect racial profiling and
Have an impact on
The school to prison pipeline
Today is Day 25
They’ve spent every night here
For the last month

When I first heard Phillip Agnew from the
Dream Defenders speak about his organization
I was drawn in by the way he looked and spoke


Standing there at the podium with his
Snapback and tattoos explaining why the
Dream Defenders were occupying the capitol
Until their demands are met
He looked like someone who would
Give me dap at one
Of my concerts he was my peer
Not an elder or authority figure while
The rest of the world
Was re-trying Zimmerman in their head
And trying to figure out
The best way to express outrage
Over something that already happened
The Dream Defenders were
Being proactive about the future when Phillip
Agnew said "we are not demonstrators
We are not
Protestors, we are not trying to change
The verdict of the Zimmerman trial
We are only interested in
Moving forward" I was
All in they get that this is
Not about bitching and moaning
This is about necessary action they
Have put together a
Program of three specific goals- repeal Stand
Your Ground laws, repeal Zero Tolerance
The practice of criminalizing
And arresting school kids
And better community outreach from
Police to help with racial
Profiling issues together
They call this Trayvon’s Law while Stand
Your Ground wasn’t used in the
Zimmerman trial
The Dream Defenders believe that laws like
Stand Your Ground and Zero Tolerance
Contribute to a culture of violence and a
Prison industry that plagues Florida’s youth
Especially those of color

I am not from Florida many
Have asked me why are
You going to Florida when there are causes at
Home in NY you can support they say we should
Boycott Florida whether we boycott
Florida’s institutions or not
There are people in Florida who
Could use my voice and
I will not boycott them florida
Is on the front
Line of a struggle we’ve been
Facing for years i
Need to be in Florida now more than ever

I love Stevie Wonder and I love that his
Decision to boycott Florida was championed by
Many other artists good for them stevie has
Always stepped up to the plate
And I take my
Cues from artists like him who I grew up
Admiring he is using his status to shine
Light on the injustices here
I applaud that but
Mr wonder can afford to boycott Florida
He has achieved a certain status or level of
Celebrity privilege the people who
Live here cannot

I have met with backlash
Recently for speaking about
Privilege privilege is defined as
A special right
Advantage or immunity that is granted
Or available to only a
Particular person or group of people for
Example, education should be a right, not
A privilege we all have privilege to
Some degree as an American citizen
My passport
Grants me certain privileges that many
In the world not
Born here do not have as a man
I enjoy the privileges that come
With living in a patriarchal
Society as a celebrity I am privileged to
Travel the world and have my
Accommodations met i am privileged to have
A platform as someone with privilege, i have
A moral obligation to use it to
Shed light on those less
Unfortunate and expose injustice in our
World to acknowledge my
Privilege does not make me evil
Less compassionate or indifferent to
The suffering of those who don’t
Have it in fact
NOT acknowledging my privilege is
The worst way
For me to help anybody although I
Did not ask to be born a man
I still enjoy the privilege that
Comes with it white people
Did not ask to be born white but they damn
Sure enjoy white skin privilege in America it
Has been maintained as an American
Way of life by the slave trade
Jim Crow, the prison industrial complex
The politics of hate of a racist
Legal system that was set
Up by slave owners to recognize
It is humane and compassionate

Trayvon Martin had a right to
Walk home from the
Store without being racially profiled
George Zimmerman stripped
Him of his human and civil rights and decided
That his own privilege and fear was
Worth more than the freedom
Trayvon had to walk
Home george Zimmerman liked to
Call himself protecting
The neighbors but when you
Are murdering your neighbors
Children you are doing the exact opposite

I have heard young black
People question the intentions
Of folks who stand up for Trayvon
Saying that there are young black and brown
People dying in our hoods every day
That no one stands up for they bring
Up Chicago’s murder rate there have
Been charges of hypocrisy leveled
Against the movement
From our own communities they say that
The problem of black on black violence
In our communities is way bigger
Than what happened to Trayvon to them the
Lost of this young man’s life
Is nothing new even right wing conservatives
Are in on the act
All of sudden quoting black on
Black crime statistics that they
Never cared about before they could
Be used to bolster
An argument for why we shouldn’t care about
Trayvon i say to those people, you are right
I agree but, you aren’t talking about me
Or the people I stand with
You aren’t talking about
The Dream Defenders you are
Talking about yourself

If you find yourself saying these things
It would be hypocritical for YOU
To jump on the
Trayvon Martin bandwagon for a day then go
Back to making memes or watching reality
TV or it is you do
With your time so don’t do
That don’t be that hypocrite
But don’t use this an excuse
To be idle either
Invest yourself in your community
Invest in the movement
We are out here playing the long game
We are not interested in plugging holes
I have been doing this type
Of work in and outside of music for
My entire adult life way before this
Is my responsibility as an artist, it’s
My responsibility as a human being
As a MAN this is why what
Dream Defenders is doing is with Trayvon’s
Law is bigger than Trayvon remember
Just because you don’t know
About something doesn’t
Mean it doesn’t exist the Dream Defenders
Started this work when Trayvon was murdered
They didn’t wait until after the fact
When Zimmerman was acquitted harry Belafonte
Who hipped me to Dream Defenders
Had a meeting of like minded artists in
NYC June 10th to discuss how we could create
Art that would shed light on the
School to prison pipeline and
The mass incarceration
Of a generation this was a month
Before Magna Carta dropped AND a month before
Zimmerman’s acquittal the folks
You see standing
Here don’t wait for the next tragedy to
Occur they are constant and consistent
And that’s why I’m here

I love Harry Belafonte and I love
Jay Z as an artist and as a man I am
Influenced and greatly inspired by
Both of them people keep asking
Me which side of their
Feud I’m on i am on neither of their sides
I side with the people i
Know those gentleman do as
Well i refuse to get
Caught in the distraction

I am not an organizer i am
Musician i know how to be
The voice of the struggle and
Direct you to those who
Are the frontline but every once and
Awhile making songs is not
Enough there are times when we
Have to bring our bodies
To the struggle a movement is nothing
Without the flesh online activism
Is only a tool for actual
Activism because if it doesn’t
Exist in real life it doesn’t really
Exist this is the lesson
Of the Black Power and Civil
Rights movement this is
The lesson of the Arab Spring the
Dream Defenders have the benefit of
Hindsight and the experiences of those
Who have done this before
To study they are cherry picking the
Best parts of each movement
To create an unstoppable force if
You don’t get down
Now, you will get it later in the meantime
We will be over here talking the talk
And walking the walk i encourage
My peers who have platforms, fellow artists
Celebrities, bloggers, politicians
Teachers, parents
Everybody, to support Dream Defenders however
You can, thru donations
Tweets or visit's if you can make it to
Tallahassee everybody always wanna turn
Up we turn up for everything but our
Own self preservation
Let’s turn up for the Dream Defenders