Time To Start a Movement Blog 2

Blog 2

You may have read this about me:

“Brian’s music has been heard on MTV, in a stadium of 17,000 and on national radio, but recently on local radio he confessed how he once had a panic attack thinking of struggles between black and white people in America, until he remembered his bright musical light could help black, brown, red, yellow, white & LGBTQ people see their oneness: “I had like, this knot in my chest. I couldn’t even breathe for like 25 minutes. The only thing I could do was write this song, called ‘I Appreciate.’ That was my only relief…”

Well, “I Appreciate” isn’t the only song born from this feeling in me. Before I had this panic attack, I remember driving through Montana with my Mom… We were about 50 miles south of Canada is some little town with one restaurant and one gas station. I jumped out of the car to pump the gas excited and refreshed by the clear mountain air, dman near whistling as I worked. It was then that my Mom calmly said, “Get in the car Brian”. I sensed something urgent in her voice, so I calming put the gas nozzle down, swiped my debit card, and immediately got in the passenger side as my Mom nearly peeled out. She told me a group of rugged drunks standing outside the bar across the street had been pointing at me, and were starting to walk over to me. Maybe they just wanted to say hi, but I’m glad she alerted me…

Or the time I visited Thailand for vacation, and in almost every convenience store my girlfriend and I entered the store manager would shamelessly follow me around as I browsed, as if to say “Don’t steal, I’m watching you.” My white girlfriend told me that didn’t happen to her earlier that day when she went in a convenience store, and it had never happened to her. I replied that it happens to me often in America as well. It sparked a discussion that reminded me that my favorite rap songs growing up called her, her mother, and every woman she knew a ho or a bitch.

And even though I knew it, her saying that to me in that moment sparked a re-realization in me that struggle is not limited to the Black experience, OR the female experience. I mean, need we talk about Mexicans automatically viewed as illegal immigrants in some states, gay-bashing, or the constant Asian racism commonly joked about in movies and among friends even in 2017? Not to mention that almost everyone since 2001 gets nervous seeing a brown man with a turban on an airplane, generally in the airport, or almost anywhere in public these days.

And at THAT moment, I had my EPIPHANY – we ALL started as babies, we are ALL innocent, and ANYTHING contrary to that is learned as we grown up. So check out this epiphany put into a song that was a HUGE turning point in my writing, and this song is called “Pre-Faded Jeans” from my album Dreaming Seed:

I’d like to think you are inspired by now, feeling the juice to show up in the world as your beautiful, powerful, innocent self that you were born as. You are here for greatness, and I can’t wait to see you plant and water your Dreaming Seed today 🙂 Let me hear how excited you are and please leave a comment below! I’ll get right back to you!

Talk soon,
Brian

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I’ve always felt the pressure of folks in certain towns staring at me for how I look, or an old lady on an elevator with me clearly frightened and uncomfortable about being “trapped” on their with me, or even overtly racist remarks made or clueless prejudices made like a convenience store owner following me around making sure I don’t steal anything.

But I know everyone is judged, women getting it the worst. Gay people being the topic of many injustices today, Asian people being belittled in movies still today, White people mistaken for being racist and being hated for no reason, clearly Mexican people being pegged as illegal without legitimate reason and people of Middle Eastern decent automatically being a terrorist when spotted in an airport, on a plane, or simply in public.

I know EVERYone has a story, and everyone is afraid of everyone else from time to time. But I happen to now EVERY ONE was once a baby, is pure innocence at the core, and anything other than innocence was learned and is not inherent in ANY person. Here’s a song about that:

Weigh in on the discussion below and leave a comment about the song or anything else you might have experienced along those lines. The song Pre-Faded Jeans is from my album Dreaming Seed, available by clicking here.

Talk soon,
Brian