From The Desk Of Hard Working Americans: Black Guys

Gonzo troubadour Todd Snider is the de facto leader of Hard Working Americans, a band that evolved out of his friendship with Widespread Panic bassist Dave Schools. The group’s self-titled debut began as a collection of Snider’s favorite songs, many from past tourmates like country traditionalist Kieran Kane (“The Mountain Song”) and the Bottle Rockets’ Brian Henneman (“Welfare Music”). Two of the album’s most memorable tracks (“Another Train” and “I Don’t Have A Gun”) are credited to Will Kimbrough, who played in Snider’s ’90s backup band, the Nervous Wrecks. Snider and Schools will be guest editing magnetmagazine.com all week. Read our brand new feature on them.

Snider: as our culture has grown and moved thru years and years and years
the one area we like to tell ourselves we are growing, but haven’t grown an inch
is in making the dream of freedom a reality for young black males.
they are suspects when they wake up in the morning and they are expected to be
working hard and pretending that the shitty fast-food place that reluctantly hired them may some day consider them for management position …
that’s an evil thing to ask of somebody and if you asked one rich white guy’s kid
to reduce himself and go beyond humbling himself to the point of enabling
his oppressors to pretend they have made progress so they don’t get uncomfortable and find some frivolous reason to fire you.
treat a rich man’s kid like that you’d probably vanish.
then to add insult to injury
they have to really consider what they wear if they want to fit in too
they are expected to keep up with what clothes are currently
frightening white people and not wear them. It’s disgusting to live among
such blantant angry reactions to the fears of the powerful
and i support the young black males own reaction of  fuck you whitey!
i think it’s the appropriate and fair response at this point in history
and i support any and all of the anger coming with it.
when white kids tell their parents they are gay sometimes the parents say they
don’t mind the “gayness”
but now fear for how there child will be treated by society
well that dynamic is not a “fear” for women
who have black baby boys
it’s a fact.
not only will they be as feared as ever
but they are now saddled with
the extra baggage of having had a black president
which has given racist white American an excuse to put
the black man’s struggle even further back than the back burner
on a hot plate full of hatred that they have no plan to turn off ever
this country will not change, and cannot survive
unless a strong white leader makes it a priority to change the reality
of american minories of all colors. our country needs
somebody from the majority to truly campaign with strength for the minorities
in our country and the minority that needs the most assurance
that he is wanted and needed for leadership roles in our country
is the long openly feared and unbelievably discriminated against young black male.